In depth · What you probably didn’t know

The world’s Jewish population stood at 15.8 million in 2025, below its 1939 level

In 2025, the world’s Jewish population remained smaller than in 1939. Where do those 15.8 million people live, and how do demographers count them?

9 November 2026La rédaction9 min read

Read this article in: Français Español Italiano עברית العربية فارسی Русский हिन्दी

Translated from French. Read the original.

The Ghriba Synagogue on Djerba, Tunisia, home to one of the Arab world’s oldest surviving Jewish communities, May 2024. Photo: Dr. Ondřej Havelka (cestovatel), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

At the start of 2025 there were 15.8 million Jews worldwide, according to figures published in April 2026 by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics. For 1939, on the eve of the Second World War, the same agency gives a figure of 16.6 million. In 1945 about 11 million Jews remained. The world’s Jewish population has grown since then but has yet to return to its pre-Holocaust level ¹²³⁵.

At the end of 2024, Istanbul province alone had nearly as many inhabitants: 15.7 million. The UN puts the world’s population at about 8.2 billion in 2025. Jews therefore make up about 0.2% of humanity, or two people in every thousand ¹²¹³¹⁴.

Where do the world’s Jews live?

At the start of 2025, about 45% of the world’s Jews lived in Israel and about 40% in the United States. Israel ranks first among individual countries, although a majority of Jews still live in the diaspora, meaning outside Israel. Of the roughly 8.6 million diaspora Jews, about 6.3 million live in the United States. That leaves about 2.3 million in all other countries combined, calculated from the rounded estimates ¹².

Country of residence	Estimated Jewish population at the start of 2025 ¹²
Israel	7,200,000
United States	6,300,000
France	436,000
Canada	407,000
United Kingdom	315,000
Argentina	168,000
Germany	126,000
Russia	120,000
Australia	117,000

The table includes residents of all ages. The Israeli series, based on the population register, includes Jewish residents of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Golan Heights. For the diaspora, demographers estimate what they call the “core” Jewish population. This includes Jews of no religion ¹³¹⁰¹²¹⁷.

The United States illustrates how much this choice matters. In its 2020 US survey, Pew estimated a Jewish population of 7.5 million, including children. For example, it included children whose parents said they were raising them both Jewish and in another religion ¹⁶. Using that survey, Sergio DellaPergola initially estimated the US core Jewish population at about 6.0 million. After examining individual-level data he revised the estimate to 6.3 million ¹²¹⁶. A figure can thus change on paper without a single birth or departure ³¹²¹⁶.

France, home to Europe’s largest Jewish community

On 1 January 2000, the American Jewish Year Book estimated that 521,000 Jews lived in France ⁶. Following a national survey in 2002, researchers put the core Jewish population at about 500,000. At the start of 2025 the figure was 436,000. France still has Europe’s largest Jewish community and the world’s third largest. Part of its history goes back to the 1950s and 1960s, when many North African Jewish families settled in France during decolonisation ¹²³⁵⁶.

The French census does not ask about religion. Alongside the core Jewish population, the 2002 survey identified about 75,000 non-Jewish members of Jewish households. Those relatives matter to an organisation that serves families. For its country rankings the yearbook counts the core population ³⁵.

In figures published before the end of December 2019, the Jewish Agency estimated that over 38,000 people had made aliyah from France in the decade 2010–2019. Its series peaked in 2015 at 7,892 arrivals. For the same year, a series based on last country of residence counted 6,627 arrivals from France. Among those it excludes are Israeli citizens born abroad who settle in Israel for the first time. The peak year is the same in both series. For the 2025 calendar year, Israel’s Immigration Ministry reported a revised total of about 3,360 arrivals from France ³⁴⁷¹².

These figures explain part of the decline in France. Some emigrants return to France. Others go to Canada or the United States. And those who make aliyah include spouses or descendants admitted under the Law of Return. Subtracting every arrival in Israel from France’s core Jewish population would therefore give a misleading result ³⁵⁷.

Across the Mediterranean

In Morocco, DellaPergola estimates the core Jewish population at 45,000 in 1970 and 2,100 at the beginning of 2024. In Iran, his estimate fell from 72,000 to about 9,000 over the same period. Iran, which is not an Arab country, thus has more Jewish residents than the three Arab countries below combined ³¹².

Country	Core Jewish population on 1 January 2024, rounded estimates ³¹²
Morocco	2,100
Tunisia	1,000
United Arab Emirates	500
Iran	9,000

The three Arab countries in the table had a combined total of about 3,600 Jewish residents at the start of 2024 ³¹². For 2023, the Jewish Virtual Library published a total of fewer than 4,000 for a broader group. Its table covers Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Libya, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, the Emirates and Yemen, including Aden. It omits Lebanon and the other Gulf states ⁸. The yearbook generally lists only communities with at least about 100 permanent residents separately. A community can therefore survive without appearing under its country’s name. Short-term visitors to the Emirates fall outside the estimate ³¹².

To explore family origins beyond birthplace, Pew interviewed Jewish adults in Israel between October 2014 and May 2015. Of those surveyed, 48% identified as Sephardi or Mizrahi and 45% as Ashkenazi. Respondents could also report mixed origins. A child born in Israel to parents from Morocco can be counted as Israeli-born and identify as Sephardi. Sephardi historically refers to the Iberian Peninsula, Mizrahi to origins in the Middle East or North Africa. Both histories can be present in the same family. These percentages describe how respondents identified themselves in 2014–15. For the migration routes, see the exodus of Jews from Arab countries ¹⁹.

The gap between the figures and public perceptions

Between July 2013 and February 2014, the Anti-Defamation League surveyed over 53,000 adults in 102 countries and territories. Interviewers asked what proportion of the world’s population was Jewish. According to the weighted global results published in 2014, 18% believed Jews made up more than 10% of the world’s population ¹¹. The ADL’s benchmark at the time was 0.19%. Respondents who chose that answer therefore overestimated the proportion by more than a factor of 50 ¹¹.

The ADL also asked whether respondents agreed with 11 anti-Jewish stereotypes. They met the threshold for its index if they considered at least six probably true. Among those who put Jews at more than 10% of humanity, 38% met that threshold. Among those who put the figure below 1%, 28% did. Because the answers were collected at the same time, the direction of the relationship remains open ¹¹.

In its survey of world religions for 2020, Pew estimated that there were about 2 billion Muslims and 14.8 million Jews, or roughly 135 Muslims for every Jew. Outside Israel, Pew relies mainly on self-reported religious affiliation. In Israel it uses the population register. Dividing the Muslim population from that study by the core Jewish population in 2025 would mix two years and two definitions ³¹⁰.

Brittany offers a comparison of land area. The figure reproduced by the UN for 2023 gives Israel an area of 22,072 square kilometres, using the Israeli definition that includes East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. In its 2025 edition, France’s statistics institute, INSEE, puts the administrative region of Brittany at 27,209 square kilometres. On those definitions Israel covers about 81% of Brittany’s area, some 5,100 square kilometres less ¹⁴¹⁵.

Chronology

1880 — Of about 7.8 million Jews worldwide, nearly three-quarters live in Eastern Europe. Migration to the Americas changes that distribution in the following decades ³⁵¹².
1900 — The revised world series estimates the core Jewish population at 10.6 million, up by nearly 3 million since 1880 ³¹².
1939 — On the eve of war, the Israeli bureau puts the world’s Jewish population at 16.6 million. About 449,000 live in Mandatory Palestine, close to 3% of the total ¹².
1945 — By 1 May the global estimate has fallen to 11 million. The Nazis, their allies and their collaborators murdered about six million Jews during the Holocaust. The difference between two global population figures also reflects births and other deaths in the intervening period ³⁵¹².
1948 — On the eve of the founding of the State of Israel, the Israeli bureau estimates the world’s Jewish population at 11.5 million. Some 650,000 Jews live in the territory of the future state, about 6% of the total ¹.
1970 — The world’s core Jewish population reaches about 12.7 million. Nearly one in five Jews lives in Israel ³¹².
2000 — On 1 January, the revised world series reaches about 13.6 million. Just over a third live in Israel ³¹².
2025 — At the start of the year, the world’s 15.8 million Jews still number about 800,000 fewer than the Israeli bureau’s estimate for 1939. About 85% now live in Israel or the United States ¹².

What is established, what is still debated

What is established

In the diaspora, the core Jewish population includes people who identify as Jewish and have no other religious affiliation, including Jews of no religion. Under the yearbook’s criteria it also includes people born to Jewish parents who have adopted no other religious or ethnic identity ¹³¹².
The enlarged Jewish population also includes people with a Jewish parent who do not identify as Jewish, along with non-Jewish members of the households counted. The Law of Return answers a different question, that of eligibility to immigrate to Israel. Subject to its conditions, it extends in particular to the children and grandchildren of a Jewish person and to the relevant spouses. A spouse who reports neither Jewish ancestry nor Jewish identity can therefore count in the enlarged population and be potentially eligible under the Law of Return ³⁵¹².

What is still debated

For 1939, DellaPergola’s revised yearbook puts the number of Jews at 16.5 million and the Israeli bureau at 16.6 million. Both historical estimates put the pre-war population above the level at the start of 2025. The difference between the series is reason to round the comparison ¹²³¹².
Precision also varies by country. A small sample, an old survey and residents who divide their lives between two countries introduce different uncertainties. For each country, the yearbook gives the type and age of the available data. A single margin of error would be misleading ³⁵¹².

What this tells us

If you imagine that one person in ten worldwide is Jewish, a few familiar names can seem to confirm the impression. In the ADL survey, this overestimate went hand in hand with more frequent agreement with anti-Jewish stereotypes ¹¹. Belief in a coordinated Jewish power requires a further step: attributing a common intention to people who do not know one another. That is the premise of the forgery examined in our feature on the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Sources

Marina Sheps, Bureau central des statistiques d’Israël, « On the Occasion of Holocaust Day, 2026 », 12 avril 2026, p. 1–2, https://www.cbs.gov.il/he/mediarelease/DocLib/2026/105/11_26_105e.pdf
Yaron Drukman, « Global Jewish population at 15.8 million, still below pre-Holocaust levels, new data shows », Ynet, avril 2026, https://www.ynetnews.com/jewish-world/article/ryw2ygkhzg
Sergio DellaPergola, « World Jewish Population, 2024 », American Jewish Year Book 2024, Springer, 2025, notamment tableaux 8.1 et 8.17, https://www.cbs.gov.il/he/Documents/World%20DellaPergola%202024%20complete.pdf
Zev Stub, « 2025 immigration total revised upward to 22,522 », The Times of Israel, 28 juin 2026, https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/2025-immigration-total-revised-upward-to-22522/
Sergio DellaPergola et L. Daniel Staetsky, « Jews in Europe at the turn of the Millennium », Institute for Jewish Policy Research, octobre 2020, https://www.jpr.org.uk/sites/default/files/attachments/JPR_2020.Jews_in_Europe_at_the_turn_of_the_Millennium.pdf
Sergio DellaPergola, « World Jewish Population, 2000 », American Jewish Year Book, 2000, tableau 7, https://www.jewishdatabank.org/api/download/?mediaId=bjdb%5C2000_World_Jewish_Population_%28DellaPergola%2C_AJYB_2000%29.pdf&studyId=944
Agence juive pour Israël, « The Jewish Agency Summarizes a Decade of Aliyah », communiqué du 22 décembre 2019, https://www.jewishagency.org/the-jewish-agency-summarizes-a-decade-of-aliyah/
American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, « Jewish Populations in the Arab World », Jewish Virtual Library, série 1948–2023, colonne 2023, https://jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jewish-populations-in-the-arab-world
Pew Research Center, « Israel’s Religiously Divided Society », 8 mars 2016, notamment p. 75, https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2016/03/Israel-Survey-Full-Report.pdf
Pew Research Center, « How the Global Religious Landscape Changed From 2010 to 2020 », 9 juin 2025, synthèse et chapitres sur les musulmans et les Juifs, https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/PR_2025.06.09_global-religious-change_report.pdf
Anti-Defamation League, « ADL Global 100: An Index of Anti-Semitism », enquête mondiale, mai 2014, synthèse et résultats croisés, https://www.osservatorioantisemitismo.it/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/ADL-Global-100-Executive-Summary.pdf
Sergio DellaPergola, « World Jewish Population, 2023 », American Jewish Year Book 2023, Springer, 2024, p. 309–422, https://www.jewishdatabank.org/api/download/?mediaId=bjdb%5C2023_World_Jewish_Population_%28DellaPergola%2C_AJYB%29.pdf&studyId=1285
Anadolu, « İstanbul 15,7 milyon nüfusuyla 131 ülkeden daha kalabalık », données du registre de population turc, 7 février 2025, https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/ekonomi/istanbul-15-7-milyon-nufusuyla-131-ulkeden-daha-kalabalik/3474688
Division de statistique des Nations unies, World Statistics Pocketbook 2025, fiches Monde et Israël, 2025, https://unstats.un.org/UNSDWebsite/publications/pocketbook/world-stats-pocketbook-2025.pdf
Insee Bretagne, « Chiffres clés Bretagne 2025 », novembre 2025, https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/fichier/2016662/bretagne_chiffres_cles.pdf
Pew, enquête américaine sur les Juifs de 2020, https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/05/11/the-size-of-the-u-s-jewish-population/
Berman Jewish DataBank, World Jewish Population 2024, https://www.jewishdatabank.org/api/download/?mediaId=bjdb%5CWorld_Jewish_Population_2024_AJYB.pdf&studyId=1399

The story in 30 seconds

Read the main facts at a glance and share the link.

Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics estimated the world’s Jewish population at 15.8 million at the start of 2025, compared with 16.6 million in 1939.
At the start of 2025, about 45% of the world’s Jews lived in Israel and 40% in the United States.
With an estimated core Jewish population of 436,000 at the start of 2025, France is home to Europe’s largest Jewish community.

Share WhatsApp Telegram X Facebook E-mail Download summary card (image)

Diaspora Israel France History

Spotted an error or a missing source? Write to us : we publish corrections in the article.