According to a report of the Central Bureau of Statistics in Israel, which was released in time for the Jewish New Year, the population growth for 2009 was 1.8% which included 14,572 Jewish immigrants and about 161,000 births.

In terms of religious backgrounds: 75.5% are Jewish, 20.3% Arabs and 4.2% Christian or other,

New Jewish immigrants arriving in 2009 showed an increase of 6% compared to 2008. Most of the immigrants came from (in descending order) Russia, the US, Ukraine, France and Britain.