Israel's Population on Eve of Jewish New Year: 8.7 Million

(Ha'aretz) Ofer Aderet - On the eve of Rosh Hashanah, which begins at sundown on Wednesday, Israel's population stands at 8,743,000, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported. 6,523,000 are Jews (74.6%) and 1,824,000 are Arab (20.9%). The remaining 396,000 (4.5%) are non-Arab Christians and members of other religions or with no listed religion. About 25,000 new immigrants arrived during the year.