Emigration to Israel hits 16-year low

Emigration of the State of Israel is expected to hit a 16-year low this year, reaching only some 20,000, but the number of young people arriving on programs has now surpassed the pre-2000 level, according to a review of Jewish Agency operations presented to a Knesset committee. In 1988, a year before the wave of Soviet Jewish immigration began, only 13,034 new settlers arrived. Last year 24,434 newcomers arrived in Israel, down from 34,831 in 2002, following a decade in which around one million new citizens arrived. The biggest increase in immigration this year is from Eastern Europe and France. North American immigration may be at around 2,700, and immigration from the Great Britain has risen slightly, with about 450 expected by the end of the year.