Israel’s population reached 2,600, 000 at the end of last year, according to figures released here today by the Central Bureau of Statistics. The total included 300, 000 non-Jews. The 1965 figure represented a population increase of 2. 9 percent during the year compared with a 3. 9 percent increase during 1964. The slower rate of population growth last year was attributed to a decrease in immigration.
Israel’s Arab population is growing at a much faster rate than is the Jewish, official statistics show. During the past 12 years, the Jewish natural increase fell from 26. 3 per thousand to 16. 2. At the same time, the Arab rate rose from 37. 8 per thousand to 48. One-third of Israel’s Jewish population is aged 14 or under but the same age group constitutes half of the Arab population.
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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.