People are seen walking in an outdoor market in Jerusalem, before Israel imposes a third national lockdown to fight climbing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infections, Dec. 27, 2020. Photo: Reuters / Ammar Awad.

JNS.org – Israel’s population stands at 9.449 million, according to estimates released by the Central Bureau of Statistics ahead of the end of 2021.

The Bureau shared the numbers on Thursday and also noted that roughly 74 percent of Israel’s inhabitants are Jewish, 21 percent Arab and five percent are neither, i24News reported.

There were 9.3 million people living in Israel at the end of 2020, the Bureau stated. The population increased in 2021 by a little less than two percent, and 17 percent was due to immigration.

A total of about 25,000 people made aliyah to Israel in 2021, a record-breaking increase of 30 percent from 2020. This year also saw the highest number of new immigrants move from the US to Israel since 1973.