World Jewry Today

In an effort to assure a thriving future for the Jewish People and Judaism, JPPPI (The Jewish People Policy Planning Institute) engages in professional strategic thinking and planning. In its report, "The 2005 Annual Assessment Executive Report: Facing a Rapidly Changing World", JPPPI assesses the challenges confronting the Jewish People today.

Demographics
The global Jewish population in 2005 is 13 million. By 2020, the global Jewish population is expected to be about 13.6 million, with 46 percent of the world’s Jews residing in Israel.

• About 80 percent of Jews today live in Israel and the United States. France hosts the world’s third largest Jewish community, consisting of about 495,000 Jews.
• Jewish communities worldwide will shrink in the coming years, while Israel’s Jewish community is expected to grow.
• In 2006 Israel’s Jewish community will become the largest in the world, for the first time in 2,000 years.

Intermarriage
What is the rate of intermarriage among Jews today?

• Russia and Ukraine: 80 percent
• United States: over 50 percent
• France and the United Kingdom: between 40-45 percent
• Australia and South Africa: about 20 percent
• Israel: 5 percent.

Jewish Education
What percentage of Jewish children today get a Jewish Day School education?

• Israel: 97 percent
• Mexico and South Africa: 85 percent
• Brazil: over 70 percent
• Australia: 65 percent
• United Kingdom: 60 percent
• Canada and Argentina: 50-55 percent
• France: 40 percent
• United States: 29 percent
• Russia and Ukraine: under 15 percent

Ties to Israel
What percentage of Jews today have visited Israel at least once?

• United Kingdom: 78 percent
• France, Mexico and South Africa: over 70 percent.
• Argentina, Brazil and Germany: over 50 percent
• United States: 35 percent

Prosperity

• Jews are among the world’s wealthiest nations. Overall, about 90 percent of world Jews reside in countries ranked in the top two tenths when it comes to wealth and development.
• The American Jewish community is the most influential Jewish community in the Diaspora.

American Jewry
The size of the American Jewish community is declining at a rapid rate.

• About 800,000 Jews out of a total population of approximately 5.3 million are Jewish but do not identify at all with the Jewish people or view themselves as part of it.
• The size of the American Jewish community declined by about 10 percent in the 1990's and continues to decline today. Lack of Jewish education and connection to Israel were cited as reasons for the increasing lack of affiliation.

Conclusions

In sum, today's Diaspora Jewry is wealthy, becoming increasingly unaffiliated with their Jewish roots and marrying non-Jews, and shrinking in size. Starting in 2006, most of the world's Jewry will live in Israel, where the rate of Jewish Day School attendance is 97 percent and the rate of intermarriage is 5 percent.