The Israeli flag. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – The Israeli  population has reached 8.9 million, the country’s Central Bureau of Statistics revealed in its annual report ahead of Rosh Hashanah. As of Sunday, the population of Israel was exactly 8,904,373 people, which is 173,811 more than the population at the same time last year.

The number of new immigrants to Israel over the course of this past Jewish year was 24,801, while 176,230 babies were born. Of those, babies 90,646 were boys and 85,584 were girls. The most popular name given to Israeli newborn boys this year was Yosef, and Tamar was the most popular girls’ bame. Other popular names included Daniel, Uri, Itai, and Omer for boys, and Noa, Shira, Adelle, and Talia for girls.