Nearly one-third of Israelis will be non-Jewish by 2030, according to government projections.
Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics released data Tuesday suggesting that by 2030, 24 percent of the population will be Arab Muslims or Arab Christians and another 4.2 percent will be non-Arab gentiles. The remaining 71.8 percent will be Jews.
Jews now comprise nearly 80 percent of Israel’s population, and Arabs and other non-Jews the rest.
Many demographers have warned that Israel’s Jewish majority is at risk given the relatively higher birthrates of the Arab minority, which could be boosted by Palestinian numbers if Israel does not succeed in disengaging from the West Bank as it did from the Gaza Strip.
At least one Israeli politician, Avigdor Lieberman of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, has proposed ceding jurisdiction over large Israeli-Arab population centers to any future Palestinian state, but this has been rejected by the Olmert government.
Israel’s overall population in 2030 will be approximately 10.1 million, up from the current 7 million.
