02 May, 2006
For the first time in almost 2,000 years, Israel has now the largest Jewish population of any country in the world. The country's Central Bureau of Statistics announced on Monday that about 5.3 million of the 7.3 million Israeli citizens are Jewish. The last survey of the US Jewish population put it at about 5.3 million in 2001, but Israeli statisticians think that the numbers may have since declined slightly. About 20 per cent Israelis are Arabs. "If current trends continue, there could be an absolute majority of world Jewry living in Israel within 25-30 years," Professor Sergio Della-Pergola of the A. Harmann Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University was quoted by "United Press International" as saying.
