Record birth rate in Israel over past year

From Israel Hayom Newsletter, April 25, 2012, by Zeev Klein:

As Israel turns 64, it takes the command to "be fruitful and multiply" to heart • Population reaches 7.8 million, an almost tenfold increase since the state's establishment in 1948, when it was home to 806,000 people.

Baby boom: Israel's population is almost 10 times larger than on its first Independence Day in 1948.

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Photo credit: Yehoshua Yosef

Baby boom: Israel's population is almost 10 times larger than on its first Independence Day in 1948. | Photo credit: Yehoshua Yosef

On the eve of Israel's 64th birthday, the country's population stands at 7,881,000 people, according to statistics published by the Central Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday. That is 9.77 times the size of the country's population on Israel's first birthday in 1948, when it was home to 806,000 people.

There are 5,931,000 Jews living in Israel today, accounting for 75.3 percent of the overall population, and 1,623,000 Arabs living in the country, which is 20.6% of the overall population.

New immigrants and their offspring who are not registered by the Interior Ministry as Jews include 327,000 people, which is 4.1% of the general population.

Since Independence Day last year, 161,000 babies have been born, an all-time record for the country.

The Interior Ministry registered 19,000 new immigrants who arrived in the country over the past year, while 39,000 Israelis died over the past year, according to the Interior Ministry. The number of people who emigrated from the country and were no longer counted as residents reached 8,000 people.

Since its 63rd birthday, Israel has grown by 137,500 people, which constitutes a growth rate of 1.8%.

More than 70% of the population was born in the country and more than half are at least second-generation Israelis, as opposed to only 35% in 1948.

When Israel was established, only one city had a population of more than 100,000 people -- Tel Aviv. Today, 14 cities have more than 100,000 people; six of these have populations exceeding 200,000 -- Jerusalem, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Haifa, Rishon Lezion, Petach Tikva and Ashdod.

More than 90% of Israelis live in 75 cities, with one-third of the overall population residing in the central Gush Dan area.

Jerusalem has 788,000 residents, which is 10% of Israel's overall population, and the city with the smallest population is Or Akiva, with 16,000 residents.

In the past two years, the cost of living in Israel has seen a sharp increase. A middle-income family in the country now spends an average of NIS 14,252 ($3,800) a month. Wealthier families in the top two-tenths of the income scale spend NIS 22,501 ($6,000) per month, which is 2.6 times the NIS 8,726 ($2,325) spent by families in the lower two-tenths of the income scale.

The average wage of employees in the country is currently NIS 8,883 ($2,366) per month, and the unemployment rate is 6.5%.

There are 3.28 million employees in the country, a record high, and the country's Gross National Product is currently NIS 880 billion ($234 billion), also a record high.