Israelis (; ) are the citizens, nationals, and permanent residents of the State of Israel, a multiethnic state. The largest ethnic group is Jews who account for 75% of the population, the second largest ethnic group is Arabs who represent 20% of the population, and the remaining 5% of the population are other ethnic and religious minorities such as Samaritans. Among Jews, 80% were born in Israel (sabras) and the rest are Jewish immigrants. Over 50% of the Jewish population is of at least partial Mizrahi descent.
Early Israeli culture was largely defined by communities of the Jewish diaspora who had made aliyah to British Mandatory Palestine from Europe, Western Asia, and North Africa in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. Later Jewish immigration from Ethiopia, the post-Soviet states, and the Americas introduced new cultural elements to Israeli society and have had a profound impact on modern Israeli culture.
Since Israel's independence in 1948, Israelis and people of Israeli descent have had a considerable diaspora, which largely overlaps with the Jewish diaspora but also with that of other ethnic and religious groups. A 2006 study found that almost 10% of the general Israeli population lives abroad, particularly in Russia (with Moscow housing the single largest Israeli community outside of Israel), India, Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, and throughout Europe..
Population
As of 2025, Israel's population is 10.148 million, of which the Israeli government estimates 7.76 million as Jews, 2.13 million as Arabs. Israel's official census includes Israeli settlers in the occupied territories (referred to as "disputed" by Israel). 280,000 Israeli settlers live in settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, 190,000 in East Jerusalem, and 20,000 in the Golan Heights.
Of Jewish immigrants, 20.5% were from Europe and the Americas, and 9.2% were from Asia, Africa, and Middle Eastern countries. Less than half of all Israeli Jews are descended from immigrants from the European Jewish diaspora. Approximately the same number are descended from immigrants from Arab countries, Iran, Turkey and Central Asia. Over 200,000 are of Ethiopian and Indian-Jewish descent.
The official Israel Central Bureau of Statistics estimate of the Israeli Jewish population does not include those Israeli citizens, mostly descended from immigrants from the Soviet Union, who are registered as "others", or their immediate family members. Defined as non-Jews and non-Arabs, they make up about 3.5% of Israelis (350,000), and were eligible for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return.
Israel's official language is Hebrew, which serves as the language of government and is spoken by the majority of the population. Arabic is spoken by the Arab minority and by some members of the Mizrahi Jewish community. English is studied in school and is spoken by the majority of the population as a second language. Other languages spoken in Israel include Russian, Yiddish, Spanish, Ladino, Amharic, Armenian, Romanian, and French."Language." Frommer's. 8 March 2016.
Between 600,000 and 800,000 Israelis have emigrated or live abroad, a phenomenon known in Hebrew as yerida ("descent", in contrast to aliyah, which means "ascent"). Emigrants have various reasons for leaving or living abroad, but there is generally a combination of economic and political concerns.
Ethnic and religious groups
The main Israeli ethnic and religious groups are as follows:
Jews
Among the Israeli-born Jewish population, most are descended from Ashkenazi Jews, Mizrahi Jews, Sephardic Jews, Ethiopian Jews, and other Jewish ethnic divisions. Due to the historically large Mizrahi population and decades of ethnic intermixing, over 50% of Israel's current Jewish population is of at least partial Mizrahi descent.My Promised Land, by Ari Shavit, (London 2014)
The CBS traces the paternal country of origin of Israeli Jews as of 2010 is as follows.
Country of origin Bornabroad Israeliborn Total % Total 1,610,900 4,124,400 5,753,300 100.0% Asia 201,000 494,200 695,200 12.0% Turkey 25,700 52,500 78,100 1.4% Iraq 62,600 173,300 235,800 4.1% Yemen 28,400 111,100 139,500 2.4% Iran/Afghanistan 49,300 92,300 141,600 2.5% India/Pakistan 17,600 29,000 46,600 0.8% Syria/Lebanon 10,700 25,000 35,700 0.6% Other 6,700 11,300 18,000 0.3% Africa 315,800 572,100 887,900 15.4% Morocco 153,600 339,600 493,200 8.6% Algeria/Tunisia 43,200 91,700 134,900 2.3% Libya 15,800 53,500 69,400 1.2% Egypt 18,500 39,000 57,500 1.0% Ethiopia 81,600 38,600 110,100 1.9% Other 13,100 9,700 22,800 0.4% Europe/Americas/Oceania 1,094,100 829,700 1,923,800 33.4% Soviet Union 651,400 241,000 892,400 15.5% Poland 51,300 151,000 202,300 3.5% Romania 88,600 125,900 214,400 3.7% Bulgaria/Greece 16,400 32,600 49,000 0.9% Germany/Austria 24,500 50,600 75,200 1.3% Czech Republic/Slovakia/Hungary 20,000 45,000 64,900 1.1% France 41,100 26,900 68,000 1.2% United Kingdom 21,000 19,900 40,800 0.7% Europe, other 27,000 29,900 56,900 1.0% North America/Oceania 90,500 63,900 154,400 2.7% Argentina 35,500 26,100 61,600 1.1% Latin America, other 26,900 17,000 43,900 0.8% Israel — 2,246,300 2,246,300 39.0%
Arabic-speaking minorities
Arab Palestinians A large part of Mandate-period Arab Palestinians remained within Israel's borders following the 1948 exodus and are the largest group of Arabic-speaking and culturally Arab citizens of Israel. The vast majority of the Arab citizens of Israel are Sunni Muslim, while 9% of them are Christian, and 7.1% of them are Druze.
As of 2013, the Arab population of Israel amounts to 1,658,000, about 20.7% of the population. This figure include 209,000 Arabs (14% of the Israeli Arab population) in East Jerusalem, also counted in the Palestinian statistics, although 98 percent of East Jerusalem Palestinians have either Israeli residency or Israeli citizenship.
According to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics census in 2010, the Arab population in Israel lives in 134 Arabic towns and villages; around 44% of them live in towns, while 48% of them in villages with the status of Local council, and around 4% live in small villages that are part of Regional council. The Arab population in Israel is located in five main areas: Galilee (54.6% of total Israeli Arabs), Triangle (23.5% of total Israeli Arabs), Golan Heights, East Jerusalem, and Northern Negev (13.5% of total Israeli Arabs). Around 8.4% of Israeli Arabs live in officially mixed Jewish-Arab cities (excluding Arab residents in East Jerusalem), in Haifa, Lod, Ramle, Jaffa-Tel Aviv, Acre, Nof HaGalil, and Ma'alot Tarshiha.
Negev Bedouin
The Arab citizens of Israel also include the Bedouin. Israeli Bedouin include those who live in the north of the country, for the most part in villages and towns, and the Bedouin in the Negev, who are semi-nomadic or live in towns or unrecognized Bedouin villages. In 1999, 110,000 Bedouin lived in the Negev, 50,000 in the Galilee and 10,000 in the central region of Israel.The Bedouin in Israel: Demography Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs 1 July 1999 As of 2013, the Negev Bedouin number 200,000–210,000.
Druze
There is also a significant population of Israeli Druze, estimated at 143,000 at the end of 2019.Table 2.2 , Statistical Abstract of Israel 2007, No. 58. All Druze in British Mandate Palestine became Israeli citizens upon the foundation of the State of Israel.
Maronites
There are about 7,000 Maronite Christian Israelis, living mostly in the Galilee but also in Haifa, Nazareth, and Jerusalem. They are mostly pro-Israeli Lebanese former militia members and their families who fled Lebanon after the 2000 withdrawal of IDF from South Lebanon. Some, however, are from local Galilean communities such as Jish.
Copts There are about 1,000 Coptic Israeli citizens.
Arameans
In September 2014, Israel recognized the "Aramean" ethnic identity of hundreds of the Christian citizens of Israel. This recognition comes after about seven years of activity by the Aramean Christian Foundation in Israel – Aram, led by IDF Major Shadi Khalloul Risho and the Israeli Christian Recruitment Forum, headed by Father Gabriel Naddaf of the Greek-Orthodox Church and Major Ihab Shlayan. The Aramean ethnic identity encompasses all the Christian Eastern Syriac churches in Israel, including the Maronite Church, Greek Orthodox Church, Greek Catholic Church, Syriac Catholic Church and Syriac Orthodox Church. Many Israelis who advocated for and identify as Aramean today are Maronites, with Assyrians identifying as well.http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=20169
Assyrians
There are around 1,000 Assyrians living in Israel, mostly in Jerusalem and Nazareth. Assyrians are an Aramaic-speaking, Eastern Rite Christian minority who are descended from the ancient Mesopotamians. The old Syriac Orthodox monastery of Saint Mark lies in Jerusalem. Other than followers of the Syriac Orthodox Church, there are also followers of the Assyrian Church of the East and the Chaldean Catholic Church living in Israel.
Other citizens
African Hebrew Israelites
The African Hebrew Israelite Nation of Jerusalem is a small religious community whose members believe they are descended from the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. Most of the over 5,000 members live in Dimona, Israel although there are additional, smaller, groups in Arad, Mitzpe Ramon, and the Tiberias area. At least some of them consider themselves to be Jewish, but Israeli authorities do not accept them as such, nor are their religious practices consistent with "mainstream Jewish tradition." The group, which consists of African Americans and their descendants, originated in Chicago in the early 1960s, moved to Liberia for a few years, and then immigrated to Israel.
Armenians
There are about 4,000–10,000 Armenian citizens of Israel (not including Armenian Jews). They live mostly in Jerusalem, including the Armenian Quarter, but also in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jaffa. Their religious activities center around the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem as well as churches in Jerusalem, Haifa and Jaffa. Although Armenians of Old Jerusalem have Israeli identity cards, they are officially holders of Jordanian passports.Joyce M. Davis. Jerusalem's Armenian Quarter . Catholic Near East Welfare Association.
Caucasians A number of immigrants also belong to various non-Slavic ethnic groups from the Former Soviet Union such as Tatars, Armenians, and Georgians.
Circassians
In Israel, there are also a few thousand Circassians, living mostly in Kfar Kama (2,000) and Reyhaniye (1,000). These two villages were a part of a greater group of Circassian villages around the Golan Heights. The Circassians in Israel enjoy, like Druzes, a status aparte. Male Circassians (at their leader's request) are mandated for military service, while females are not.
East Europeans Non-Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union most of whom are Zera Yisrael (descendants of Jews) who are Russians, Ukrainians, Moldovans and Belarusians, who were eligible to immigrate due to having, or being married to somebody who has, at least one Jewish grandparent. In addition, a certain number of former Soviet citizens, primarily women of Russian and Ukrainian ethnicity, immigrated to Israel after marrying Arab citizens of Israel who went to study in the former Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s. The total number of those primarily of Slavic ancestry among Israeli citizens is around 300,000.
Finns