Haredi world population around 2.1 million out of global Jewish population of 15 million – report
The high growth rate among Haredi Jews has pushed the Haredi population past 2 million and accounts for as much as 80% of the total growth of the world’s Jewish population.
The report is the first-ever attempt to create estimates of the global Haredi population
A new report released by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research – JPR – calculates and estimates the size of the Jewish Haredi (strictly Orthodox) population today at about 2,100,000 people worldwide, out of a total global Jewish population of 15 million.
It projects that the Haredi population could double in size by the year 2040, rising to over a fifth of the total by that time. “This report capitalises on new resources and advances made in the methods of estimation, and is the first time in the history of this subject that such estimates have been calculated”, said the report’s author Dr Daniel Staetsky.
Some of the key findings in this report:
• The global Haredi Jewish population is estimated at 2,100,000, constituting about 14% of the total Jewish population in the world.
• Together, Israel and the US account for about 92% of all Haredi Jews. Europe hosts 5% of the global Haredi population, while the rest live mainly in Latin America, South Africa, Canada and Australia.
• Outside of Israel and the USA, the three largest Haredi populations are located in the UK (about 75,000, or 25% of all British Jews), Canada (30,000, 8%) and France (12,000, 3%).
• While the world Jewish population has been growing by approximately 0.7% per year over the past decade, the Haredi population is currently growing by about 3.5%-4.0% annually.
• Today, a large part of the growth of the global Jewish population as a whole is due to the Haredi population: perhaps as much as 70%-80% of the total growth worldwide.
• Haredi rates of growth are very high not simply due to high fertility, but rather to the combined effects of very high fertility and very low mortality.
Dr Jonathan Boyd, JPR Executive Director said: “The rapid growth of the Haredi population is changing the nature of the Jewish world. It has significant implications for how Jewishness is understood and seen going forward, both by Jews and others, and it has to be understood fully to ensure that the needs of the growing Haredi community are met in terms of housing, education and other community services. Community leaders need to pay much more attention to these demographic dynamics, and start preparing for what is likely to be a very different future.”
The Institute for Jewish Policy Research is a London-based research organisation, consultancy and think-tank. It aims to advance the prospects of Jewish communities in the United Kingdom and across Europe by conducting research and informing policy development in dialogue with those best placed to positively influence Jewish life. Its European Jewish Demography Unit exists to generate demographic data and analysis to support Jewish community planning and development throughout the continent.
Dr Daniel Staetsky is a Senior Research Fellow at JPR and Director of its European Jewish Demography Unit. His expertise spans the disciplines of demography, applied statistics and history, and he is a former researcher and analyst at the Central Bureau of Statistics in Israel and RAND Europe.
JPR
