Jewish Agency: Number of Jewish immigrants to Israel reach record high due to Ukraine war

The Jewish Agency said yesterday that the year 2022 witnessed “the arrival of 70,000 new immigrants to Israel from 95 different countries, most of them thanks to the war in Ukraine.”

The agency stated that “it was the largest number of olim to arrive in 23 years and a dramatic increase over the previous year when only 28,600 new immigrants were welcomed.”

According to the Jewish Agency’s figures, “Most of the immigrants came from Russia and Ukraine, according to the report that also showed that the rate of aliyah from most countries has returned to pre-pandemic levels.”

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The agency stated that between January and December 2022, 37,364 immigrants arrived in Israel from Russia, 14,680 from Ukraine, 3,500 from North America, 2,049 from France, 1,993 from Belarus, 1,498 from Ethiopia, 985 from Argentina, 526 from the UK, 426 from South Africa, and 356 from Brazil.

It noted that about 27 per cent of these immigrants are “young people aged 18-35, including professionals in fields where there is a labour shortage in Israel, such as medicine, engineering and education. Around 24 per cent (16,500) are children and teenagers aged 0-17, 22 per cent are 36-50, 14 per cent are 51-64, and 13 per cent are 65 and over.”

“In light of the surge in new arrivals, the Jewish Agency said it was preparing to operate a new model of “open absorption centres” where young olim will live in the same apartment building and receive community support services,” it added.

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