Language:
English
Year of publication:
2022
Titel der Quelle:
American Jewish Year Book
Angaben zur Quelle:
121 (2022) 313-412
Keywords:
Jews Statistics, Vital
;
Jews Population
Abstract:
At the beginning of 2021, the world’s Jewish population was estimated at 15,166,200—an increase of 89,100 (0.59%) over the 2020 revised estimate of 15,077,100. Both these figures reflect an upward correction of 300,000 following a new study of Jews in the US (Pew Research Center. 2021. Jewish Americans in 2020. U.S. Jews are culturally engaged, increasingly diverse, politically polarized and worried about anti-Semitism. Washington, DC: Pew Research Center. https://www.pewforum.org/2021/05/11/jewish-americans-in-2020). The world’s total population increased by 1.1% in 2020. The rate of increase of world Jewry hence amounted to about half of that of the world’s total population. Jews were highly concentrated in two countries: Israel (45.3% of the world total) and the US (39.6%). 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 in most other countries, 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 small communities 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. Detailed analyses are devoted to the two largest Jewish populations in Israel and the US.
DOI:
10.1007/978-3-030-99750-2_8
URL:
Locate this publication in Israeli libraries
