Yossi Schwartz ISL (RCIT section in Israel/Occupied Palestine) 04.08.2026
According to a study conducted at Tel Aviv University, “the number of long-term departures remains high in 2025, standing at more than 90,000. per year “
The number of Israelis who left Israel in 2025 for a period of three consecutive months or more is 90,922 – a number similar to the number of Israelis who left in 2024 (91,499), and slightly higher than in 2023 (86,509) – according to a new study conducted by researchers at Tel Aviv University and published today (Monday).
After many years of relative stability in the migration balance, the data indicate a departure from equilibrium, and a significant increase in the number of people leaving in the past three years compared to previous years. In comparison, in the years 2023-2025, an average of about 90,000 people left the country each year, compared to about 60,000 people per year during the decade between 2010 and 2019. The study, which is based on data processing by the Central Bureau of Statistics, was conducted by Prof. Itay Atter of the Koller Faculty of Management and head of the Economists for Democracy Forum, Prof. Nitai Bergman, head of the School of Economics, and Doron Zamir, a doctoral student at the Koller Faculty of Management, all at Tel Aviv University.
The study was conducted in the research room of the Central Bureau of Statistics and is based on data on immigration to and from Israel, along with various data at the individual level: education data from the Council for Higher Education, license data from the Ministry of Health, and income and tax data from the Tax Authority. The study includes data on the Israeli population between 2009 and 2025.
The researchers have not yet completed the segmentations according to which it is possible to characterize those who leave, and these will be published later. In a previous document they published, they identified a significant and worrying increase in doctors, Ph.D. holders, engineers, academics, and high-income people among those leaving.
According to Prof. Ater, “In 2025 as well, we are seeing very disturbing numbers of Israelis who left the country for a significant period of time, and these are added to the wave of immigration in 2023 and 2024. These figures in and of themselves do not yet pose a threat to Israel’s resilience. However, from a forward-looking perspective – and if there is no change – there is growing concern that immigration from Israel will increase in a way that will endanger Israel’s security and economy.”
It is very hard to believe that Israelis who remain will be able to replace those who leave, since education in Israel is at a low level, 25% are addicted to hard drugs, large part are suffering from post-trauma and every week some solders commit suicide.
Zionism, Stalinism and Fascism have been proven to be dangerous and destructive ideologies and practice. The only way for the Israeli Jews to survive is to break with Zionism and join the Palestinian struggle for a democratic socialist Palestine from river to the sea. This of course will not happen in the next few years. It will happen when Israel will be defeated very badly or when the Arab revolution will win.
Already the Palestinians citizens of Israel together with the Haredim who Anti Zionists are almost as many as the secular Zionists.
As of 2025, the number of ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel is estimated at about 1.35 million, about 13.3% of the country’s total population. The growth rate of the ultra-Orthodox population is high, with a birth rate of about 6 children per Haredi woman. Forecasts indicate that in 2040, the number of ultra-Orthodox Jews will be about 2.5 million, and in 2065 they are expected to constitute about a quarter of the country’s population.
2.037 million Arabs (21.1%) and 513,000 others (Armenians, Druze who are Arabs)
Secular Jews (formerly Liberals) are a demographic and sociological category in Israel, which refers mainly to Jews who do not lead a religious lifestyle. According to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics and Surveys of Research Institutes, secular Jews constitute the largest group of the Jewish population in Israel, and make up about 40%- of adult Jews.
The secular affinity for religion, if it exists, is expressed mainly in cultural, or symbolic folkloristic aspects, rather than in obligatory religious practices. Many secular Jews celebrate Jewish holidays in family or cultural settings, adapting them to a secular character. Many of them believe in God, or some higher power, but do not see it as a religious affiliation. The group is diverse and reflects a wide range of attitudes, from symbolic traditional affiliation to total indifference to religion. Thus, many of them are light religion and not atheists. As former MP Zakhalka said aptly, “atheist Zionists do not believe in God, but they do believe that God promised them this land”.