Worldwide Jewish population rises to 15.8 million

Nearly half of all Jews live in Israel, with another 40% residing in the United States and just 15% living outside the US and Israel.

By World Israel News Staff

More than 85% of the global Jewish population lives in either Israel or the United States, according to figures provided by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS).

On Sunday morning, the CBS released data on the global Jewish population ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day, which begins in Israel at sundown on Monday.

According to the CBS, there were 15.8 million Jews around the world at the beginning of 2025, marking a continuation of the upward trend in recent years, though the figure remains below the 16.6 million estimated around the world in 1939, prior to the outbreak of World War II.

While just 3% of all Jews lived in the Land of Israel in 1939, or about 449,000 people, Israel is now home to the largest Jewish community in the world – 7.2 million – accounting for 45.6% of the global Jewish population.

Another 6.3 million, or 40% of the global Jewish population, live in the United States.

Less than 15% of Jews live outside of Israel and the United States, with the third-largest community in France, where 436,000 Jews are estimated to live, constituting 2.8% of the global Jewish population.

A total of 407,000 Jews, or 2.6% of the global population, live in Canada, followed by the UK with 315,000 (2.0%), Argentina with 168,000 (1.1%), Germany with 126,000 (0.8%), Russia with 120,000 (0.8%), and Australia with 117,000, or 0.7%.

Of Israel’s 7.2 million Jews, 5.8 million, or 80.6%, were born in Israel, while 19.4% are immigrants.

Of those who immigrated to Israel, 70.2% were born in Europe or the Americas, 19.2% were born in Africa, and 9.7% were born in Asia.

As of April 2026, there are some 111,000 Holocaust survivors living in Israel, of whom 63% are women.

More than a third (37%) of Holocaust survivors in Israel are between the ages of 80 and 85, with 35% between the ages of 86 and 89 and the remaining 28% over 90.