Israelis
Israelis are the citizens, nationals, and permanent residents of the State of Israel, a multiethnic state. The largest ethnic group is Jews who account for 75% of the population, the second largest ethnic group is Arabs who represent 20% of the population, and the remaining 5% of the population are other ethnic and religious minorities such as Samaritans. Among Jews, 80% were born in Israel and the rest are Jewish immigrants. Over 50% of the Jewish population is of at least partial Mizrahi descent.
Early Israeli culture was largely defined by communities of the Jewish diaspora who had made aliyah to British Mandatory Palestine from Europe, Western Asia, and North Africa in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. Later Jewish immigration from Ethiopia, the post-Soviet states, and the Americas introduced new cultural elements to Israeli society and have had a profound impact on modern Israeli culture.
Since Israel's independence in 1948, Israelis and people of Israeli descent have had a considerable diaspora, which largely overlaps with the Jewish diaspora but also with that of other ethnic and religious groups. A 2006 study found that almost 10% of the general Israeli population lives abroad, particularly in Russia, India, Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, and throughout Europe.
Population
As of 2025, Israel's population is 10.148 million, of which the Israeli government estimates 7.76 million as Jews, 2.13 million as Arabs. Israel's official census includes Israeli settlers in the occupied territories. 280,000 Israeli settlers live in settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, 190,000 in East Jerusalem, and 20,000 in the Golan Heights.Of Jewish immigrants, 20.5% were from Europe and the Americas, and 9.2% were from Asia, Africa, and Middle Eastern countries. Less than half of all Israeli Jews are descended from immigrants from the European Jewish diaspora. Approximately the same number are descended from immigrants from Arab countries, Iran, Turkey and Central Asia. Over 200,000 are of Ethiopian and Indian-Jewish descent.
The official Israel Central Bureau of Statistics estimate of the Israeli Jewish population does not include those Israeli citizens, mostly descended from immigrants from the Soviet Union, who are registered as "others", or their immediate family members. Defined as non-Jews and non-Arabs, they make up about 3.5% of Israelis, and were eligible for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return.
Israel's official language is Hebrew, which serves as the language of government and is spoken by the majority of the population. Arabic is spoken by the Arab minority and by some members of the Mizrahi Jewish community. English is studied in school and is spoken by the majority of the population as a second language. Other languages spoken in Israel include Russian, Yiddish, Spanish, Ladino, Amharic, Armenian, Romanian, and French.
Between 600,000 and 800,000 Israelis have emigrated or live abroad, a phenomenon known in Hebrew as yerida. Emigrants have various reasons for leaving or living abroad, but there is generally a combination of economic and political concerns.
Ethnic and religious groups
The main Israeli ethnic and religious groups are as follows:Jews
Among the Israeli-born Jewish population, most are descended from Ashkenazi Jews, Mizrahi Jews, Sephardic Jews, Ethiopian Jews, and other Jewish ethnic divisions. Due to the historically large Mizrahi population and decades of ethnic intermixing, over 50% of Israel's current Jewish population is of at least partial Mizrahi descent.The CBS traces the paternal country of origin of Israeli Jews as of 2010 is as follows.
| Country of origin | Born abroad | Israeli born | Total | % |
| Total | 1,610,900 | 4,124,400 | 5,753,300 | 100.0% |
| Asia | 201,000 | 494,200 | 695,200 | 12.0% |
| Turkey | 25,700 | 52,500 | 78,100 | 1.4% |
| Iraq | 62,600 | 173,300 | 235,800 | 4.1% |
| Yemen | 28,400 | 111,100 | 139,500 | 2.4% |
| Iran/Afghanistan | 49,300 | 92,300 | 141,600 | 2.5% |
| India/Pakistan | 17,600 | 29,000 | 46,600 | 0.8% |
| Syria/Lebanon | 10,700 | 25,000 | 35,700 | 0.6% |
| Other | 6,700 | 11,300 | 18,000 | 0.3% |
| Africa | 315,800 | 572,100 | 887,900 | 15.4% |
| Morocco | 153,600 | 339,600 | 493,200 | 8.6% |
| Algeria/Tunisia | 43,200 | 91,700 | 134,900 | 2.3% |
| Libya | 15,800 | 53,500 | 69,400 | 1.2% |
| Egypt | 18,500 | 39,000 | 57,500 | 1.0% |
| Ethiopia | 81,600 | 38,600 | 110,100 | 1.9% |
| Other | 13,100 | 9,700 | 22,800 | 0.4% |
| Europe/Americas/Oceania | 1,094,100 | 829,700 | 1,923,800 | 33.4% |
| Soviet Union | 651,400 | 241,000 | 892,400 | 15.5% |
| Poland | 51,300 | 151,000 | 202,300 | 3.5% |
| Romania | 88,600 | 125,900 | 214,400 | 3.7% |
| Bulgaria/Greece | 16,400 | 32,600 | 49,000 | 0.9% |
| Germany/Austria | 24,500 | 50,600 | 75,200 | 1.3% |
| Czech Republic/Slovakia/Hungary | 20,000 | 45,000 | 64,900 | 1.1% |
| France | 41,100 | 26,900 | 68,000 | 1.2% |
| United Kingdom | 21,000 | 19,900 | 40,800 | 0.7% |
| Europe, other | 27,000 | 29,900 | 56,900 | 1.0% |
| North America/Oceania | 90,500 | 63,900 | 154,400 | 2.7% |
| Argentina | 35,500 | 26,100 | 61,600 | 1.1% |
| Latin America, other | 26,900 | 17,000 | 43,900 | 0.8% |
| Israel | — | 2,246,300 | 2,246,300 | 39.0% |
Arabic-speaking minorities
Arab Palestinians
A large part of Mandate-period Arab Palestinians remained within Israel's borders following the 1948 exodus and are the largest group of Arabic-speaking and culturally Arab citizens of Israel. The vast majority of the Arab citizens of Israel are Sunni Muslim, while 9% of them are Christian, and 7.1% of them are Druze.As of 2013, the Arab population of Israel amounts to 1,658,000, about 20.7% of the population. This figure include 209,000 Arabs in East Jerusalem, also counted in the Palestinian statistics, although 98 percent of East Jerusalem Palestinians have either Israeli residency or Israeli citizenship.
According to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics census in 2010, the Arab population in Israel lives in 134 Arabic towns and villages; around 44% of them live in towns, while 48% of them in villages with the status of Local council, and around 4% live in small villages that are part of Regional council. The Arab population in Israel is located in five main areas: Galilee, Triangle, Golan Heights, East Jerusalem, and Northern Negev. Around 8.4% of Israeli Arabs live in officially mixed Jewish-Arab cities, in Haifa, Lod, Ramle, Jaffa-Tel Aviv, Acre, Nof HaGalil, and Ma'alot Tarshiha.