Jerusalem Population is Two-Thirds Jewish

(July 1999)

Two-thirds of Jerusalem’s 633,000 residents are Jews according to a study released by the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies on July 26, 1999. In the last year, the city's Jewish population (433,600) grew by 1 percent, compared to a more than 3 percent growth rate among the city's Arab residents (just under 200,000). Since Jerusalem was unified in 1967, the city's Arab population has grown by 186%, while the Jews have increased by 119%, the report's editor, Dr. Maya Choshen, told Arutz-7.

Two key factors are the emigration of Jews from the capital, which totaled 7,600 in 1998, and the higher Jerusalem Arab birthrate — 32.5 births per thousand, as opposed to 25.2 per thousand Jewish births. According to Choshen, "Though the average haredi family has more babies than its Arab counterpart, haredim constitute only 30% of Jerusalem’s Jewish population."