The year 2014 marked not only the highest overall population for Israel, but it was also a record-breaking year for immigration.

As we begin the calendar year 2015, the population of Israel has reached 8.3 million, the highest it has ever been.

Jews comprise 6.2 million of the Israeli population, 1.7 million are Arab, and the approximately 400,00 others consist of non-Arab non-Jews, simply defined as “other” in the Central Bureau of Statistics’ year-end report.

During 2014, the population in Israel rose by two percent, or approximately 162,000 people.  Seventy-five percent of that increase was the result of babies being born, and the rest was due to the arrival of some 26,500 new immigrants, according to the Jewish Agency for Israel.

Ten years ago, the population of Israel was estimated at 6.86 million residents, which means that over the past decade there has been a population growth of 1.43 million people.

It was also a record-breaking year for aliyah (immigration to the Jewish State). This statistic has officials scratching their heads – in a year when there was a full-scale war as well as a marked increase in terrorism, it would seem logical for the numbers to go down.

War and Terror no Deterrent to Aliyah

However, it would appear that these events, combined with the current increase in anti-Semitism worldwide, seem to be fueling a type of “Aliyah fever,” resulting in a 32-percent increase in immigration.

In fact, according to Nefesh b’Nefesh, an organization that assists aliyah from English-speaking countries, applications during the month of November 2014 were double the number of November 2013, and that trend does not seem to be slowing down.

Of course, because of increased anti-Semitism around the world, it is not only immigration from English-speaking countries that is on the rise; aliyah from France also hit an all-time high. In fact, for the first time in the modern State of Israel’s history, France came in with the largest number of immigrants this year – 7,000, as opposed to 3,400 in 2013.

Second to France was the Ukraine with approximately 5,840 people arriving this year. Compared to just over 2,000 in 2013, this is nearly a 200% increase.

Sofa Landver, minister of Immigrant Absorption, stated: “We expect that some 10,000 new immigrants will come from France alone next year, and we will surpass 30,000 immigrants from around the world – and even more.”

By Penina Taylor, United with Israel