Worldwide population of 14.7 million Jews falls short of pre-Shoah numbers
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Worldwide population of 14.7 million Jews falls short of pre-Shoah numbers

Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics reports that today's Jewish population, ahead of Yom HaShoah, is still short of the 16.6m before the war

The empty Warsaw Ghetto Square at Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem is seen empty of people due to the Covid-19 virus pandemic during the Holocaust Remembrance Day on April 21, 2019.  Photo by: JINIPIX
The empty Warsaw Ghetto Square at Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem is seen empty of people due to the Covid-19 virus pandemic during the Holocaust Remembrance Day on April 21, 2019. Photo by: JINIPIX

Worldwide population of 14.7 million Jews falls well short of pre-Shoah numbers

The worldwide population of Jews stands at 14.7 million, still fall short of the pre-Second World War numbers, according to a report by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics.

The figures, which are similar to the population of world Jewry in 1925, were released ahead of Yom Hashoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day. The numbers are current to the end of 2018.

World Jewry reached a population of 16.6 million right before the start of the Second World War in 1939.

Israel’s 6.7 million Jews make up 45 percent of the world total. Some 5.2 million Jews were born in the country, while about 1 million are natives of either Europe or the Americas, as well as about 293,000 of Africa and 164,000 of Asia.

The United States has the second-largest Jewish population with 5.7 million, followed by France at about 450,000 and Canada at some 392,000. Next is the United Kingdom (292,000), Argentina (180,000), Russia (165,000), Germany (118,000) and Australia (116,000).

In 1948, on the eve of the establishment of the State of Israel, the number of Jews in the world was 5.11 million, including 650,000 in pre-state Palestine, according to the report.

Also on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, Israel’s Ministry of Finance reported that there are about 189,500 Holocaust survivors living in Israel, with some 31,000 over the age of 90 and more than 800 over 100 years old. In the past year, some 15,170 survivors have died.

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