Israel’s population grew by 1.8 percent in 1989, with the Moslem and Christian communities growing at a faster rate than the Jewish community, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported this week.
It also said that the Jewish population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is now growing at a slower rate than it has in several years.
At the end of 1989, there were 3,717,000 Jewish residents of Israel, making up 81.5 percent of the total population of 4.6 million. The Jewish population grew slightly more rapidly in 1989 than the year before, registering a 1.6 percent increase, compared to 1.3 percent the year before.
By contrast, the Moslem population grew 3.2 percent, totaling 665,000. And the Christian community grew 1.9 percent, to 107,000 people. Druse and other groups accounted for 80,000 Israeli residents, up 2.8 percent over 1988.
The Jewish population in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip increased by 9.8 percent in 1989 and now totals 73,000 Jewish residents.
But the growth in those disputed areas was considerably slower than the three preceding years, which saw increases of 10.3 percent in 1988, 12.8 percent in 1987 and 15.8 percent in 1985 over the previous years.
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