http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4425333,00.html

The country grew by about 148,000 inhabitants: On New Year’s Eve 5773, Israel’s population stands at 8.081 million people – approximately 6.066 million of them Jews, 1.67 million Arabs and some 345,000 defined as “other.” This according to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics, published on Monday. On the eve of Rosh Hashana 5773, there are 7.9332 million Israelis living in the country, the year before – in 5772 – there were 7.7974 million Israelis.

The data indicate that 75.1% of the population are Jews, 20.7% are Arab; and 4.2% are “others,” which include Christian Arabs, other religions and those listed with no religious affiliation at the Interior Ministry. Since Rosh Hashana in the previous year, the CBS reported that Israel’s population grew by 1.8%, a figure similar to previous years.

Data from the Population, Immigration and Border Authority shows that over the past year, 160,749 babies were born – 82,437 boys and 78,312 girls. The most popular names were Itay, Daniel, Ori, Yosef, and Noam for boys; Noa, Shira, Tamar, Talia and Yael for girls.

The number of new immigrants, according to the Immigration Authority at the Interior Ministry was 16,968. The survey also shows that through the year’s end, 127,052 Israelis wed and 29,616 divorced.

According to the Immigration Authority, there are 8,730,562 registered Israelis in total. The gap in numbers between those of the CBS and the Interior Ministry is most likely due to Israelis currently living abroad, who are counted in Interior Ministry data, but are not included in CBS statistics.

Yaron Druckman contributed to this report

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