The Jewish population of the United States, whose total numbers have leveled off, is beginning to move in increasing numbers from the Northeast to the Sun Belt, comparable to the general population.
The reality of Jewish zero population growth and the trend of American Jews to migrate to the South and West are demonstrated in demographic reports on Jewish population in the United States which appear in the 1979 edition of the American Jewish Year Book. The new edition, Volume 79 in the annual series, has just appeared.
Figures on the world Jewish population in the Year Book show an estimated increase of only 26,475 over 1976, a negligible proportion of the overall figure of 14, 286,000. The Year Book is published jointly by the American Jewish Committee and the Jewish Publication Society of America. Its editors are Morris Fine and Milton Himmelfarb, and the associate editor is David Singer.
Analyzing the population figures in the new volume, Alvin Chenkin and Maynard Miran, research consultant and associate, respectively, of the Council of Jewish Federations, paint out that this year’s estimate of the Jewish population of the United States, 5, 781, 000. is virtually the some as last year’s 5, 776, 000. Jews comprise 2.7 percent of the total population. They add that the 1970 National Jewish Population Study Found that the number of Jews in the United States had leveled off and it predicted no significant shift within the next decade. This has now been confirmed, they suggest, with the recent population figures published in the Year Book.
POPULATION FIGURES FOR THE U.S.
Turning to the movement of Jews within the United States, Chenkin and Miran point out that in 1978, the number of Jews residing in the Northeast and North Central states was about two percent less than in 1977. Likewise, the South and West accounted for about two percent more of the total Jewish population in 1978 than in 1977. The two states showing the greatest increase in the South and West, respectively, are Florida and California, “the authors declare.
Among the Jewish population figures for U.S. cities listed in the Year Book’s tables are; Greater New York, 1,998,000; Los Angeles, 455,000; Philadelphia, 295,000; Chicago, 253,000; Miami, 225,000, Boston, 170,000; Washington, 160,000; Bergen County (NJ), 100,000; Essex County (NJ), 95,000; Baltimore, 92,000; Cleveland, 80,000; Detroit, 80,000; San Francisco, 75,000; Montgomery County (Md), 70,000; and St. Louis, 60,000.
WORLD POPULATION FIGURES.
The world Jewish population statistics, compiled by Leon Shapiro, professor of Russian and Soviet Jewish History at Rutgers University, show that after the United States, countries with significantly large numbers of Jews are Israel, 3,076,000; Soviet Union, 2,678,000; France, 650,000; Great Britain, 410,000; Canada, 305,000; Argentina, 300,000; Brazil, 150,000; and South Africa, 118,000; Forty-seven percent of world Jewry is located in North, Central and South America, 29 percent in Europe, 22 percent in Asia, 1.5 percent in Africa, and 0,5 percent in Australia and New Zealand.
In Europe, including Asiatic USSR and Turkey, there are 4,163,370 Jews. Figures for other European countries include Austria, 13,000; Belgium, 41,000, Bulgaria, 7000; Czechoslovakia, 13,000; Denmark, 7500, Germany, 34,000; Greece, 6000, Hungary, 80,000; Ireland, 4000; Italy. 39,000; Netherlands, 30,000; Poland, 6000; Rumania, 60,000; Spain; 10,000; Sweden, 16,000; Switzerland, 21, 000; Turkey, 27,000; and Yugoslavia, 6000.
Estimated population for major centers of Jewish concentration in the Americas, outside the United States, include: Uruguay, 50, 000; Mexico, 37,500; Chile, 27,000; Venezuela, 15,000; Colombia, 12, 000; and Peru, 5200.
In Asia, the only major centers of Jewish population, except for Israel, are Iran, 80,000; and India, 8000. In Africa, there are substantial numbers of Jews in Ethiopia, 28,000; Morocco, 18,000; Tunisia, 7000; and Rhodesia, 3800. There are about 70,000 Jews in Australia and 5000 in New Zealand.
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