Israeli Jewish population now biggest

For the first time in almost 2,000 years, Israel has the largest Jewish population of any country in the world. The Central Bureau of Statistics announced Monday that about 76 percent of the population of 7.3 million is Jewish, about 5.3 million people. The last survey of the U.S. Jewish population put it at about 5.3 million in 2001, but Israeli statisticians think that the numbers may have declined slightly. Professor Sergio Della-Pergola of the A. Harmann Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University said that about 138,000 babies have been born to Israeli Jews since last Independence Day, adding a net of about 70,000 to the population. He said that Israel is the only country in the world with a "natural increase" in the Jewish population. "If current trends continue, there could be an absolute majority of world Jewry living in Israel within 25-30 years," said Professor Sergio Della-Pergola of the A. Harmann Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University. About 20 percent of the Israeli population is Arab, 1.39 million people.