The population of Israel will be over 4,000,000 by 1970, if its birth rate and immigration are maintained, according to estimates of a world population research project reported today by George Washington University here. Prof. Harold I. Geisert, head of the University’s sociology department, directed the study.
The survey showed that heavy immigration into Israel has produced a rapid increase in population, an annual rate of increase of over 6.5 percent which is “the highest in the world.” The study determined that “even without immigration Israel would be growing rapidly, with a reported birth rate of 32 per thousand.”
A prediction was made that “if this combination of immigration and high natural increase is maintained, the population will double in eleven years.”
It was found that, in density of population, Israel’s 217 people per square mile is only exceeded by Lebanon, which has a density of 355 per square mile. At the other extreme is Saudi Arabia which the report estimated, has a population of only 11 persons per square mile.
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