There were some upbeat aliya statistics from Argentina, Britain and the U.S. during the first third of this year, but generally the figures are slow and sluggish with Soviet aliya still close to rock-bottom. More than 380 Argentine olim were registered between January and April — a rise of 25 percent on the first third of last year. In April alone 117 Argentines arrived — 50 percent up from April 1981. From Britain the January-April figure was 313, a 60 percent rise on the same period last year, and the U.S. figure, 597, was a 20 percent hike.
But overall, the statistic for the first third of the year was 3738 — representing a three percent rise on last year, according to the Jewish Agency.
Soviet aliya was only 324 in the January-April period compared to 760 in the same period last year. The 324 were out of 1,150 Soviet Jews who reached Vienna. The dropout rate declined slightly over the January-April period and now stands at around 73 percent, the Agency said.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
