The demographics of Israel, monitored by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, encompass various attributes that define the nation's populace. Since its establishment in 1948, Israel has witnessed significant changes in its demographics. Formed as a homeland for the Jewish people, Israel has attracted Jewish immigrants from Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
Circassians in Kfar Kama
Russophone shop in Haifa
Meeting between Sudanese refugees and Israeli students, 2007.
Image: Jerusalem Dome of the rock BW 14
In the years leading up to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and for just over a decade thereafter, a particularly large number of Jews emigrated from the Soviet Union and the post-Soviet countries. The majority of these emigrants made aliyah, while a sizable amount immigrated to various Western countries. This wave of Jewish migration followed the 1970s Soviet aliyah, which began after the Soviet government lifted the ban on the country's refuseniks, most of whom were Jews who had been denied permission to leave the country.
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin shakes hands with new Russian immigrants on their flight from Russia to Israel. 27 April 1994.
Jewish Agency Chairman Avraham Burg welcomes new Russian immigrants upon their arrival at Ben Gurion Airport. 10 May 1995.
Soviet immigrant children in the Caravan neighborhood of Bat Yam, July 1991.
Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib described the Russian immigrants as having "helped shift Israel to the right – to the disadvantage of peace possibilities".