A decade of aliyah: In 2010s, 250,000 immigrants from 150 countries
2019 marked a record year for the decade's aliyah, with 34,000 olim moving to the country.
By ROSSELLA TERCATINIsaac Herzog meeting with olim from the 2010s and their children on December 18, 2019.(photo credit: JEWISH AGENCY)
Over 250,000 olim immigrated to Israel from 150 countries in the 2010s, the Jewish Agency announced on Saturday.The organization added that 2019 marked the record year for aliyah of the decade, with 34,000 new immigrants moving to the country, over 3,000 more than in 2015, which previously had held the record, and 3,500 more than in 2018.In 2010s, 250,000 immigrants from 150 countries“You have come here from all corners of the world to fulfill the Zionist dream and strengthen the State of Israel,” Jewish Agency Chairman Isaac Herzog said Wednesday while meeting a group of people who moved to Israel over the last decade, many of them accompanied by their Israeli-born children and babies wearing t-shirts reading “Made in Israel.”“It is always exciting to meet the next generation,” he added.In the decade that is coming to a close, the top five countries from which the most immigration originated were Russia (66,800), Ukraine (45,670), France (38,000), the United States (32,000) and Ethiopia (10,500).Over 130,000 immigrants moved to Israel from the former Soviet Union, 55,000 from European countries, and 36,000 from North America.Moreover, 13,420 came from Latin America, over 2,500 from South Africa and almost 2,000 from Oceania (mostly from Australia).The Jewish Agency also stated that some 3,000 people immigrated to Israel from other Middle Eastern countries, 1,200 from India and 190 from China and Hong Kong.Remarkably, over 3,000 immigrants made aliyah from countries with which Israel does not maintain diplomatic relations.If in the first four years of the 2010s the annual number of olim never reached 20,000, from 2014 on, the figure has always been higher than 26,500 and exceeded 30,000 in 2015, 2018 and 2019.
According to a report on the Israeli news website Ynet, 3.3 million people have immigrated to Israel since 1948, with around 44 % of them having arrived since 1990.JTA contributed to this report.
