Aliyah on the Rise: 16% Increase in Immigration to Israel in 2015

Over the course of 2015, Israel has experienced an increase in the number of Jews from around the world who have chosen to call it their new home.

Statistics published by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday show that 27,908 Jews have immigrated to Israel during 2015, consisting of a 16-percent rise over the number of Jews who have made Aliyah (immigrated) to Israel in 2014.

The majority of the Olim (immigrants), 53 percent, came from Russia and Ukraine, many of them fleeing the conflict in the area.

France came in second with 24 percent, as France’s Jewish population is leaving the country in wake of the rampant anti-Semitism and the advent of Islam and Islamic terror in the country. Only nine percent of the Olim came from the U.S.

The Olim chose Israel’s cities as their new home, with 12 percent moving to Tel Aviv, 11 percent to Jerusalem, 11 percent to Netanya, 8 percent to Haifa and 6 percent to Ashdod.

The majority of the Olim, 65 percent, have an academic education.

Since the establishment of the Jewish State, Israel has absorbed some 3.2 million Olim, and 42 percent of them arrived after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, when Soviet Jews were free to return to their homeland.

By: Max Gelber, United with Israel