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Israel accommodates 45,000 repatriates in 2023, 70% from Russia — bureau of statistics

In all, Israel's population in the outgoing year grew by 1.9%

TEL AVIV, December 28. /TASS/. About 45,000 repatriates arrived in Israel in 2023.

A vast majority of them were natives of former Soviet republics, including 70% from Russia, Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics has said.

"During 2023, about 45,000 repatriates arrived in Israel, almost half as many as in 2022 (73,000 repatriates). During 2022 and early 2023, the number of immigrants was relatively higher than in previous years. This increase can be attributed to the hostilities between Russia and Ukraine. Starting from September 2023, there was a significant decrease in the number of repatriates arriving in Israel. The main countries where the migrants came from this year were Russia (70.3%), Ukraine (4.5%), Belarus (3.8%) and France (2.1%)," the report reads.

In all, Israel's population in the outgoing year grew by 1.9%. The rate showed a certain decline as compared to the previous year’s 2.2%, the bureau noted. Experts attribute the decline in the population growth rate "mainly to the number of repatriates in 2023, which was relatively high, but smaller than in 2022."

According to the report, Israel currently has a population of 9.842 million: 7.208 million Jews (73.2%), 2.080 million Arabs (21.1%), and 0.554 million representing other nationalities (5.7%).

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