2006 : Israel’s population almost 7m

The Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) reported last week that Israel’s population at the beginning of the Gregorian calendar year 2006 is 13,700 persons short of 7 millions.
 
The CBS also noted that Israel's population grew in 2005 by 166,800, or 1.7%, which is the lowest growth rate since 1990.
 
In a detail report the CBS noted that 76% of Israel’s 6,986,300 citizens are Jewish (5.31 million), 20% are Arab (1.38 million), and 4% are categorized as “other” (302,400). This category includes are new immigrants and their families that the Ministry of the Interior does not classify as Jewish.
 
20,500 new immigrants arrived in Israel during 2005, the lowest number since 1990, on the eve of the mass immigration from Russia and other CIS states.18% of new immigrants came from Russia, 17% from Ethiopia, 12% from France, 10% from Ukraine, and 8% from the US.