Israel’s population may have exceeded 10 million in 2024 for the first time, yet the ongoing war and domestic political turmoil have led to an unusually high number of residents leaving the country over the past year.

According to data published by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) 82,700 veteran Israelis moved abroad, an increase from 55,000 the year before.

The figure is up from the previous decade, where on average 35,000 people left each year, according to the Times of Israel.

The war with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, along with rocket and missile attacks from other Iranian-based proxies, has slowed population growth in the Jewish state.

The total grew by 1.1 per cent in 2024, down from 1.6 per cent in the previous year and 2.2 per cent in 2022, largely due to the increased number of Israelis who left the country.

Some 32,800 people immigrated to Israel last year, down 15,000 from 2023, perhaps due to sharp decline in people making aliyah from the former Soviet Union, according to the Jewish News Syndicate.

The CBS announced that Israel’s population had reached 10,027,000, topping 10 million the first time by the end of 2024.

Around 181,000 children were born in Israel last year, 76% to Jewish mothers and 24% to Arab mothers. This is up from 179,000 last year.

Approximately 76.9% of the population (7.707 million people) are Jewish, and 21.0% (2.104 million people) of the population is Arab.

Two percent (210,000 people) identify as “other”, a category which includes non-Arab Christians and those not classified by religion in the state’s population registry.

Meanwhile, 23,800 Israelis returned home in 2024.

51,400 people died in 2024, slightly higher than last year’s figure of 49,500 deaths.