World Jewish Population, 2020

Abstract

AbstractAt the beginning of 2020, the world’s Jewish population was estimated at 14,787,200—an increase of 92,400 (0.63%) over the 2019 revised estimate of 14,694,800. The world’s total population increased by 0.92% in 2019. The rate of increase of world Jewry hence amounted to two thirds of that of the total population. The Jewish population was highly concentrated in two countries: Israel (46% of the world total) and the US (39%). Nine percent lived in Europe, 5% in other North America and Latin America, and 1% in other continents. Steady demographic increase in Israel was matched by stagnation or decline elsewhere, explained by low birth rates, frequent intermarriage, identificational drift, aging, and emigration. Most Jews are increasingly found in a handful of developed and democratic countries, with tens of communities currently below sufficient critical mass needed to sustain viable community institutions. This chapter carefully reviews different approaches to Jewish population definitions and the highly variable availability and reliability of data sources. The critically important Jewish-Arab population balance in Israel and Palestine is analyzed. Estimates are provided for 102 countries with at least 100 Jews each, along with vignettes on the 14 largest Jewish populations each with 40,000 Jews or more—Israel, the US, France, Canada, the United Kingdom, Argentina, Russia, Germany, Australia, Brazil, South Africa, Hungary, Ukraine, and Mexico.KeywordsWorld JewryJewish populationJewish demographydata sources and qualityage compositioninternational migrationsize and density