About 1.8% of the Israeli population, or 180,300 people, are Christian as of 2023. That’s according to data published yesterday by the Central Bureau of Statistics leading up to the Christmas holiday on Wednesday.
Around 79% of Christians in Israel are Arab, with Christians making up about 7% of the Arab population. More than two-thirds of Arab Christians live in Israel’s Northern District, and around 15% live in the Haifa District. Nazareth, Haifa, Jerusalem, and Nof HaGalil are the four cities in Israel with Arab Christian populations above 10,000.
More than 38,000 Christians in Israel are not Arabs. Most of those Christians moved to Israel with family members according to the Law of Return.
In 2023, the Christian population grew by 0.6%, while the Jewish population grew by 1.5%, and the Muslim population grew by 2%. The growth rate of the Arab Christian population in Israel was especially low, standing at just 0.2% in 2023. The growth rate for non-Arab Christians was 2.3%, with most of this increase coming from immigration. In absolute numbers, the Christian population in Israel grew by about 1,100 people in the past year.
Christians in Israel tend to get married later than other Israelis, with an average age of first marriage of 30.9 for men and 27.6 for women. The average household size for Christians is also smaller than Jewish or Muslim households. While the average Jewish family has 3.03 people and the average Muslim family has 4.30 people, the average Christian family has only 2.87 people.
The total fertility rate for Christian women in 2023 dropped to 1.64 children per woman, compared to 1.68 in 2022 and 1.85 in 2020. This continues a downward trend that began before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. The expected number of children for an Arab Christian woman was even lower, at 1.52 in 2023, while the fertility rate for non-Arab Christian women was 2.04.
For comparison, the fertility rate for Jewish women in 2023 was 3 children, for Muslim women it was 2.81, and for Druze women it was 1.75. In 2023, 2,193 babies were born to Christian women, of which 74% were born to Arab Christian women.
As a result, the age distribution of the Christian population in Israel differs from that of the Jewish and Muslim populations. The percentage of young people (under age 19) was 24.6%, compared to 35.1% among the Jewish population and 41.5% among the Muslim population. The percentage of people aged 65 and over in the Christian population was 13.8%, compared to 15% among Jews and 4.9% among Muslims.
In the 2023/24 school year, 26,417 Christian students were enrolled in elementary and secondary education, constituting 1.3% of all students. Around 87% of Christian high school graduates in 2023 were eligible for a matriculation certificate—higher than the percentage among Jewish and Muslim students (86% and 72%, respectively), but lower than the percentage among Druze students (91%).
The number of Christian students in higher education institutions was 6,700, or 2.2% of the total college student population. More than half Israel’s Arab Christian population continues to undergraduate studies within eight years of finishing high school. compared to 35% of all high school graduates in the Arab education system and 48% in the Jewish education system.
The percentage of women among Christian students was 61%, lower than among Muslim students (71%) but higher than among Jewish and other students (58%).
In 2023, the labor force participation rate among Christians aged 15 and over was 70% (72% for men and 69% for women). Among Arab Christians, the participation rate was 62% (68% for men and 57% for women). For comparison, the labor force participation rate among Jews aged 15 and over was 66% (67% for men and 65% for women).
The percentage of Christians recognized by the welfare system in 2023 was lower than in the general population (92 per 1,000 people among Christians compared to 123 per 1,000 among the general population). In 2023, about 16,500 Christians were registered with the Ministry of Welfare and Social Security.
This article was translated from Hebrew by Leah Schwartz.
