According to the analysis by the Taub Center, population growth in Israel has rarely dropped below 1.5% annually since the 1950s, but estimates for this year point to growth of less than 1% for the first time, amounting to an increase of roughly 101,000 people, or about 1%.
Meanwhile, the Taub Center analysis and other reports attribute the decline to a combination of three factors, including a rise in deaths compared with previous years, a sustained slowdown in fertility rates among both Jews and Arabs, and negative net migration, as more Israelis leave the occupied territory than the number of new immigrants and returnees from abroad.
Analysts warn that the persistence of this trend could push it onto a demographic trajectory resembling that of European countries, marked by a pronounced slowdown in population expansion.
These demographic shifts occur amid Israel's genocidal war in Gaza, which has contributed to higher emigration rates due to significant international criticism and protests against Israel's criminal conduct in the conflict.