Israel’s Population at 4.46 Million; Arabs Still Growing Twice As Fast

The Arab population in Israel continues to grow at twice the rate of the Jewish population, according to the Statistical Abstract of Israel for 1988.

Unveiled at a news conference here Friday by the government statistician, Professor Moshe Sicron, the abstract estimated the total population of Israel at the beginning of November 1988 at 4.464 million.

There were 3.650 million Jews, comprising 81.8 percent; 631,000 Moslems, or 14.1 percent; nearly 150,000 Christians, at 2.3 percent; and 78,000 Druze, at 1.7 percent.

The Jewish population grew by only 1.5 percent in 1987, compared with 3.3 percent for the Moslem population and 2.8 percent for the Druze. The Christian population also grew by 1.5 percent.

The report predicted that Israel’s population would rise to 5.37 million by the year 2000, and top 6 million by 2010.

There were nearly 100,000 births in Israel in 1987, of which about 74,000 were Jewish, slightly lower than in the previous two years.

The Moslem birthrate, though still significantly exceeding Jewish births, has declined dramatically in the last 15 years.

Births in the Jewish population fell to 2.78 per woman compared with an average of 2.85 between 1983 and 1986.

Births among Moslem women in 1987 averaged 4.6, a figure similar to 1986. But it was almost half the eight births per woman 15 years ago.

Jewish immigration was up in 1987 over 1986. A total of 13,000 arrived last year compared with 9,500 the year before.

At the same time, the rate of yerida — Jewish emigration — declined. The number of Israelis living abroad for more than one year increased by 9,200 in 1987, compared with 13,900 in 1986.

An additional 1,000 persons were deducted from the population to account for the difference between those departing and returning among potential immigrants and others.