Report Shows British Jews Are Rapidly Decreasing in Numbers

British Jews are rapidly decreasing in numbers and the average age of the survivors is rising, according to a demographic survey published here. Between the early 1960’s and the late 1970’s, the Anglo-Jewish population fell from 410,000 to about 354,000, a massive drop of 56,000 in only 15 years, says the demography research unit of the Board of Deputies of British Jews.

The survey, based on an analysis of Jewish funerals between 1975 and 1979, was conducted by Steven Haberman, Barry Kosmin and Caren Levy.

Of the estimated British Jewish population of 354,000 in 1977, they estimate that only 260,000, little more than two-thirds, are what they call “religiously affiliated”; another 94,000 are “unaffiliated”; while an indeterminate number of people of Jewish descent line on the fringes of the community.

Drawing attention to the increasing agedness of Anglo-Jewry, they say that it is more pronounced than for that of all people in England and Wales. For example, only 12.7 percent of British Jewry are children of nine and under, compared with 14 percent for the population as a whole.

Similarly, while 5.8 percent of Anglo-Jewry is aged between 75 and 84 years, this category represents only 4.3 percent of the England and Wales population. This ageing trend in accompanied with an increase in Anglo-Jewry’s female population.

The contraction of the Anglo-Jewish community–put as nearly one percent a year — is attributable to falling birthrate. In the 1960’s, 5,100 children a year were being born. In the 1970’s, the average yearly total of births was down to 4,500.

Emigration, too, was sapping Anglo-Jewry’s numbers. The survey describes emigration as “a more important factor than has been thought in the past.” The survey is based on statistics of Jewish deaths rather than of the living. This is because since the Jews were resettled in England 300 years ago there has been no official attempt to organize a census of the Jewish population.