Record expansion of Israeli towns in Judea & Samaria in 2025

While the overall growth rate of the Israeli population in Judea and Samaria continues to fall, due in part to its aging population, the growth rate was double that of Israel’s total population.

By World Israel News Staff

Israel’s settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria broke multiple records last year, according to activists both promoting and opposing Israel’s presence in the area.

The number of Israelis living in Judea and Samaria rose by 2.2% during 2025, increasing from 529,455 at the beginning of last year to more than 541,000 by the year’s end.

While the overall growth rate of the Israeli population in Judea and Samaria continues to fall, due in part to its aging population, the growth rate was double that of Israel’s total population.

By the end of 2026, Judea and Samaria’s Israeli population is expected to top 555,000, exceeding 602,000 by 2030 and reaching one million before 2050.

According to a report drafted by the far-left Peace Now organization, which opposes the expansion of Israeli towns in Judea and Samaria, the government approved 27,491 new housing units for Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria, almost twice the previous record, set in 2023 of 14,623.

The units approved included controversial plans to build in the contentious E1 area between Jerusalem’s eastern border and the Israeli city of Ma’ale Adumim.

In addition, 9,629 tenders for housing units were finalized in 2025, marking the final stage in the approval process for those homes.

Some 140 new outposts and shepherding ranches were set up across Judea and Samaria last year, by far the largest number in a single year, with the ranches used to graze Israeli-owned flocks on roughly 247,000 acres of land, four times the footprint of all existing Israeli towns in Judea and Samaria.

The government approved 54 new communities in Judea and Samaria, a figure six times higher than the previous annual record of nine new towns.

The newly approved communities included 26 pre-existing outpost communities granted retroactive recognition, 14 entirely new towns, and 14 towns that were previously registered as neighborhoods in other, larger towns.

Baruch Gordon, director of development for the Gluck IDF Preparatory Academy in Bet El and a pro-settlement activist, lauded the government for expanding Israeli control over Judea and Samaria, upgrading settlement infrastructure and declaring large swaths of territory as state land.

“These reforms have restored a sense of de facto sovereignty. Israel once again acts as the responsible owner of the land, shaping realities rather than reacting to them,” Gordon said.