Israel's population nears 8 million

JERUSALEM - Israel's population neared 8 million on the eve of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported on Wednesday.

The population stands at 7,993,200, of which 5.9 million (75 percent) are Jewish and 1.6 million (around 21 percent) are Arabs, with some 318,000 (4 percent) categorized as "other" -- among them Christians and non-Jews with one Jewish grandparent, the annual report said.

Growth among the country's ethnic sectors continued at different rates during the year. The Jewish population grew 1.8 percent -- a largely steady growth rate in comparison to recent years -- while the Arab population grew at 2.4 percent, a figure representing a significant decline from the 3.4 percent growth rate registered from 1996 to 2000.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who Monday received the 2012 Statistical Abstract of Israel, noted that the country's Jewish population is expected to exceed 6 million in 2013 -- largely attributable to a high positive net migration (16,892 new immigrants in 2011, including from Russia, Ethiopia and the United States) -- while the life expectancy of men is the second-highest among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member states.

The bulk of Israel's population continues to reside in the country's center (40 percent), while most Arab communities are concentrated in the north. However, more people are gradually migrating to the country's periphery, the report said.