By Jeremy Sharon on The Jerusalem Post…

Ahead of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, new statistics published by the Jewish Agency showed that there are 15.2 million Jews in the world, up from 15.1 million last year. 

Of those, 6.9 million Jews live in Israel, up by one hundred thousand from the previous year, with another 8.3 million living in the Jewish Diaspora around the world, meaning 45.3 percent of the world’s Jews live in the Jewish state, an increase of half a percent over the previous year. 

The new data were provided by renowned Jewish demographer Professor Sergio Della Pergola of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and will be published in the American Jewish Year Book 2021.

The numbers include those who define themselves as Jews and who do not identify with another religion. 

When also including those who are eligible for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return, meaning someone with a Jewish grandparent, the world total rises to 25.3 million people, of which 7.3 million are in Israel and 18 million live outside Israel. 

 

Read the full article on The Jerusalem Post here.