World Jewish Population

Transcription

1 World Population J_T WAS NOT possible to ascertain the exact number of Jews in the various countries of the world in The figures presented below are based on local censuses, communal registrations, estimates of informed residents, and data obtained from a special inquiry conducted in They will have to be revised when more precise data become available. Questionnaires were sent to 43 major bodies in selected countries, requesting information about (a) the number of Jews in the country, including nationals and refugees; (b) figures for principal cities; (c) source of the data (census, communal registration, estimate); and (d) methods used in arriving at the estimate. Responses were received from 19 organizations. 1 Most of the data obtained through the inquiry were based on estimates varying in accuracy. In some cases the figures have been adjusted on the basis of known changes. Changes due to natural increase have been taken into account only to the degree reflected in data obtained from local sources. population movements decreased considerably in In that year only about 15,000 Jews from North Africa and some areas in Europe emigrated to Israel, as against some 32,000 in DISTRIBUTION BY CONTINENTS The estimated world population at the end of 1966 was 13,538,000. About 6,700,000 (50 per cent) were in the Americas; 4,025,000 (30 per cent) in Europe (including the Asian part of Turkey and the Soviet Union); 1 Australia: Executive Council of Australian Jewry Brazil: Confederacao Israelita do Brasil Chile: Comite Representative de la Colectividad Israelita Cyprus: Community of Cyprus Denmark: Mosaiske Troessamfund Finland: Helsingen Juutalainen Seurakunta France: Fonds Social Juif Unifie Gibraltar: Managing Board, Community Guatemala: Sociedad Israelita Maguen David Italy: Unione delle Communita Israelitiche Italiane Jamaica: United Congregation of Israelites Norway: Mosaiske Trossamfund Portugal: Communidade Israelita de Lisboa Republic of South Africa: South African Board of Deputies Singapore: Welfare Board, Singapore Switzerland: Federation Suisse des Communautes Israelites Turkey: Chief Rabbinate of Turkey Uruguay: Comite Central Israelita del Uruguay Yugoslavia: Savez Jevrejskih Opstina Jugoslavije 461

2 462 / AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK, ,460,000 (18 per cent) in Asia; 238,000 (1.5 per cent) in Africa, and 74,000 (0.5 per cent) in Australia. 2 Europe Of the 4,025,000 Jews in Europe, some 2,793,000 were in the Communist countries, including 2,543,000 in the Soviet Union. Over 1,225,000 were in the non-communist countries. France, with a estimated population of 520,000, had the largest community in Western Europe. In Great Britain there were an estimated 450,000 Jews; some local observers believed TABLE 1. ESTIMATED JEWISH POPULATION IN EUROPE, BY COUNTRIES, 1966 Albania 1,865, Austria 7,255,000 12,000 Belgium 9,464,000 40,500 Bulgaria 8,200,000 7,000 Czechoslovakia 14,240,000 18,000 Denmark 4,758,000 6,000b Finland 4,639,000 l,550» France 48,922, ,000b Germany 76,000,000 31,000c Gibraltar 22, b Great Britain 55,039, ,000 Greece 8,551,000 6,500 Hungary 10,179,000 80,000 Ireland 2,881,000 5,400 Italy 51,576,000 35,000b Luxembourg 331,000 1,000 Malta 319, Netherlands 12,455,000 30,000 Norway 3,723, b Poland 31,496,000 25,000 Portugal 9,199, b Rumania 19,105, ,000 Spain 31,870,000 7,000 Sweden 7,734,000 13,000 Switzerland 5,945,000 20,000b Turkey 32,901,000 43,900*> USSR 233,200,000 2,543,000a Yugoslavia 19,756,000 7,00Qb TOTAL 711,625,500 4,025,250 * United Nations, Statistical Office, Monthly Bulletin of Statistics and other sources, including local publications. b Questionnaire. c Includes about 1,300 in East Germany. d Includes Asian regions of the USSR and Turkey. 2 Figures in the tables below are rounded to the nearest 50, except in the case of Cyprus, where the number was obtained through the 1966 inquiry. Because of differences in sources and dates, some figures given here may not agree with figures in other sections of this volume.

3 WORLD JEWISH POPULATION / 463 that this figure was too high. About 120,000 Jews were in Rumania, and some 80,000 in Hungary. According to the latest estimate, the population of the Netherlands was some 30,000, including those not identified with any type of activity. Spain had approximately 7,000 Jews including new refugees from North Africa. North, Central, and South America The population of the United States was estimated at 5,720,000. There were some 275,000 Jews in Canada, and about 705,000 in South TABLE 2. ESTIMATED JEWISH POPULATION IN NORTH, CENTRAL, AND SOUTH AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES, BY COUNTRIES, 1966 Canada 19,919, ,000 Mexico 44,145,000 30,000 United States 196,842,000 5,720,000 North America 260,906,000 6,025,000 Barbados 244, Costa Rica 1,488,000 1,500 Cuba 7,833,000 2,100 Curacao 148, Dominican Republic 3,750, El Salvador 3,037, Guatemala 4,438,000 1,500b Haiti 4,485, Honduras 2,363, Jamaica 1,843, b Nicaragua 1,655, Panama 1,287,000 2,000 Trinidad 975, Central America and West Indies 33,546,000 10,100 Argentina 22,691, ,000 Bolivia 3,748,000 4,000 Brazil 84,679, ,000b Chile 8,567,000 35,000b Colombia 18,068,000 10,000 Ecuador 5,084,000 2,000 Paraguay 2,094,000 1,200 Peru 12,012,000 4,000 Surinam 335, Uruguay 2,749,000 50,000b Venezuela 9,030,000 8,500 South America 169,057, ,200 TOTAL 463,509,000 6,740,300 See Table 1, note. " See Table 1, note D.

4 464 / AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK, 1967 America. Argentine had 450,000 Jews, and Brazil 140,000 (some observers in Brazil believed this figure to be too low). There was a further decrease in the population of Cuba, from 2,400 to 2,100. Asia and Australia-New Zealand Of the 2,460,000 Jews in Asia, 2,344,500 lived in Israel, 80,000 in Iran, and some 16,000 in India. No other country in Asia (except for Turkey and Asian USSR) had as many as 10,000 Jews. Australia's population was 69,000, and New Zealand's, 5,000. TABLE 3. ESTIMATED JEWISH POPULATION IN ASIA, BY COUNTRIES, 1966 Aden 660, Afghanistan 15,352, Burma 25,246, China 700,000, Cyprus 603,000 30b Hong Kong 3,836, India 498,680,000 16,000 Indonesia 104,500, Iran 23,428,000 80,000 Iraq 8,262,000 4,000 Israel 2,656,800 2,344,500 Japan 97,960,000 1,000 Lebanon 2,400,000 6,000 Pakistan 105,044, Philippines 33,477, Singapore 1,914, » Syria 5,399,000 4,000 Yemen 4,555,000 2,000 TOTAL 1,633,972,800 2,460,480 * See Table 1, note ". b See Table 1, note. TABLE 4. ESTIMATED JEWISH POPULATION IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND, 1966 Country population* population Australia 11,541,000 69,000b New Zealand 2,677,000 5,000 «See Table 1, note». TOTAL 14,218,000 74,000 b See Table 1, note b.

5 Africa WORLD JEWISH POPULATION / 465 The population of Africa dwindled to some 238,000; of these about 116,000 were in the Republic of South Africa. At the end of 1966, 70,000 Jews lived in Morocco, 23,000 in Tunisia, 3,000 in Algeria, and 2,500 in Egypt. TABLE 5. ESTIMATED JEWISH POPULATION IN AFRICA, BY COUNTRIES, 1966 Algeria 12,093,000 3,000 Congo Republic 16,167, Egypt 29,600,000 2,500 Ethiopia 23,000,000 12,000 Kenya 9,643, Libya 1,677,000 4,000 Morocco 13,323,000 70,000 Republic of South Africa 18,296, ,050t> Rhodesia 4,260,000 5,500 Tunisia 4,675,000 23,000 Zambia (Northern Rhodesia). 3,710, TOTAL 136,444, ,150 See Table 1, note «. * See Table 1, note b. COMMUNITIES WITH LARGEST JEWISH POPULATIONS The three largest communities in 1966 were in the United States, the Soviet Union, and Israel. Together they accounted for more than 78 per cent of the world population. Only in four other countries were there communities of over 200,000: France, Great Britain, Argentina, and Canada. TABLE 6. COUNTRIES WITH LARGEST JEWISH POPULATIONS Country population United States 5,720,000 Soviet Union 2,543,000 Israel 2,344,500 France 520,000 Argentina 450,000 Great Britain 450,000 Canada 275,000

6 466 / AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK, 1967 TABLE 7. ESTIMATED JEWISH POPULATION, SELECTED CITIES a City population Amsterdam 12,000 Antwerp 10,000 Athens 2,850 Basle 2,300b Belgrade l,450 b Berlin 6,000 Berne 800 Bordeaux 6,400 Brussels 24,000 Budapest 65,000 Buenos Aires 360,000 Casablanca 52,000 Cochin 500 Copenhagen 6,000 Florence 1,500 Geneva 2,650 Glasgow 13,400 Guatemala City 1,500" Haifa 200,000 Helsinki 1,100 Izmir 4,000 b Istanbul 38,000b Jerusalem 187,500 Johannesburg 57,700b Kiev 220,000 Leeds 18,000c Leningrad 165,000 London (greater) 280,000 Luxembourg 850 Lyons 25,000 Manchester 28,000 Manila 300 Marseilles 60,000 Melbourne 35,000b Milan 9,000b Montreal 105,000 Moscow 285,000 Nice 20,000 Oslo 600" Paris 300,000 Plovdiv 1,000 Rio de Janeiro 55,000 Rome 13,000b Salonika 1,300 Sao Paulo 60,000

7 WORLD JEWISH POPULATION / 467 Santiago 30,000 b Sarajevo l,000 b Sofia 4,000 Stockholm 7,000 Strasbourg 14,000 Subotica 450 Sydney 28,000b Teheran 30,000 Tel Aviv-Jaffa 394,000 Toronto 88,000 Toulouse 20,000 Trieste 1,500 Valparaiso 4,000 Vienna 9,250 Warsaw 5,000 Zagreb 1,400b Zurich 6,150b «For cities in the United States, see p b See Table 1, note b. "Based on a survey by Louis Saipe in Leeds Jewry, Sixtieth Anniversary, , Leeds Representative Council, LEON SHAPIRO