The Jewish birth rate in Israel is rising but it still lags behind the Arab birth rate and the country continues to depend heavily on immigration to assure a Jewish majority, figures released by the Central Bureau of statistics revealed today. The Bureau announced that the population of Israel now stands at 3,050,000. Of this total, 2.3 million are Jews. At present rates of increase, the total population should reach 4,250.000 by 1985 including 3.5 million Jews. The rate of increase among Jews is 25-27 per 1,000 while the Arab rate is 40 per 1,000. While the Arab rate derives entirely from natural increase, the Jewish rate from natural increase is only 17 per thousand, the rest being the result of immigration.
The statistics showed that the fertility of the Jewish community is on the rise. Birth expectancies per mother were 3.2 in 1967 and 3.4 last year. The Jewish community is also moving toward a more uniform birth rate. In 1960 Jews from Asian and African countries had double the natural increase of Jews from Europe and America but last year the excess was down to 40 percent. The birth rate of Oriental Jews was declining and that of Western Jews on the rise. According to the statistics there are more men than women in Israel up to the age of 29 but the sexes are equal in number among persons aged 30 and over. In the 30-34 bracket, only four percent of women are unmarried compared to 6-7 percent of men. Of those over 35, only 2.5 percent of both sexes are without a spouse.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
