An Israeli flag at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. The population of Israel has reached 8,522,000 people on the eve of the country’s 68th anniversary. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – Israel’s population has reached 8,522,000 people on the eve of the country’s 68th anniversary, the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) reported on Monday.

According to the CBS, there are 6,377,000 Jews living in Israel (74.8 percent of the population), 1,771,000 Arabs (20.8 percent), and 374,000 people describing themselves as “other” — including non-Arab Christians and members of other religions — who comprise 4.4 percent of the population.

During the past year, 195,000 people were born in Israel and 47,000 died, while 36,000 immigrated to the Jewish state. Today there are 13 cities in Israel with more than 100,000 people, with eight of them having more than 200,000 residents, including Jerusalem, Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Haifa, Rishon Lezion, Petah Tikva, Ashdod, Netanya and Be’er Sheva.

When Israel was founded in 1948, the country only had 806,000 residents, and the CBS estimates that by 2035 there will be 11.3 million people living in Israel.

Additionally, the CBS said that among the roughly 14.3 million Jews worldwide, about 43 percent now reside in Israel. When Israel was founded in 1948, there were 11.5 million Jews in the world and only 6 percent lived in Israel.