{"id":19997,"date":"2015-02-09T07:00:20","date_gmt":"2015-02-09T12:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/europes-jewish-population\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:45:34","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:45:34","slug":"europes-jewish-population","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2015\/02\/09\/europes-jewish-population\/","title":{"rendered":"The continuing decline of Europe\u2019s Jewish population"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jewish<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

It\u2019s been seven decades since the end of the Holocaust, an event that decimated the Jewish population in Europe. In the years since then, the number of European Jews has continued to decline for a variety of reasons. And now, concerns over renewed anti-Semitism on the continent have prompted Jewish leaders to talk of a new \u201cexodus\u201d<\/a> from the region.<\/p>\n\n

There are still more than a million Jews living in Europe, according to 2010 Pew Research Center estimates<\/a>. But that number has dropped significantly over the last several decades \u2013 most dramatically in Eastern Europe and the countries that make up the former Soviet Union, according to historical research by Sergio DellaPergola<\/a> of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.<\/p>\n\n

In 1939, there were 16.6 million Jews worldwide, and a majority of them \u2013 9.5 million, or 57% \u2013 lived in Europe, according to DellaPergola\u2019s estimates<\/a>. By the end of World War II, in 1945, the Jewish population of Europe had shrunk to 3.8 million, or 35% of the world\u2019s 11 million Jews. About 6 million European Jews were killed during the Holocaust, according to common estimates<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

Since then, the global Jewish population \u2013 estimated by Pew Research<\/a> at 14 million as of 2010 \u2013 has risen, but it is still smaller than it was before the Holocaust. And in the decades since 1945, the Jewish population in Europe has continued to decline. In 1960, it was about 3.2 million; by 1991, it fell to 2 million, according to DellaPergola\u2019s estimates. Now, there are about 1.4 million Jews in Europe \u2013 just 10% of the world\u2019s Jewish population, and 0.2% of Europe\u2019s total population.<\/p>\n\n

Measuring Jewish populations, especially in places like Europe and the United States where Jews are a small minority, is fraught with difficulty. This is due to the complexity both of measuring small populations and of Jewish identity<\/a>, which can be defined by ethnicity or religion. As a result, estimates vary, but Pew Research\u2019s recent figures are similar to those reported by DellaPergola, one of the world\u2019s leading experts on Jewish demography.<\/p>\n\n

\"Jewish<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

In Eastern Europe, a once large and vibrant Jewish population has nearly disappeared. DellaPergola estimates that there were 3.4 million Jews in the European portions of the Soviet Union as of 1939. Many were killed in the Holocaust, and others moved to Israel or elsewhere. Today, a tiny fraction of the former Soviet republics\u2019 population \u2013 an estimated 310,000 people \u2013 are Jews.<\/p>\n\n

Similar trends have occurred in Eastern European countries that were outside the USSR, including Poland, Hungary, Romania and several other nations. Collectively, they were home to about 4.7 million Jews in 1939, but now there are probably fewer than 100,000 Jews in all these countries combined.<\/p>\n\n

Much of the postwar decline has been a result of emigration to Israel, which declared its independence as a Jewish state in 1948. The Jewish population of Israel has grown from about half a million in 1945 to 5.6 million in 2010. But there are other possible factors in the decline of European Jewry, including intermarriage and cultural assimilation.<\/p>\n\n

In addition, Jewish populations have not decreased uniformly in every European country. For example, we estimate that there were about as many Jews in France as of 2010 (310,000) as DellaPergola estimates there were in 1939 (320,000), although recent reports have indicated a surge in Jewish emigration from France<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

The United Kingdom also continues to have a significant Jewish population (about 280,000 in 2010, down from DellaPergola\u2019s estimate of 345,000 in 1939). But a new report released this week found a record level of anti-Semitism in the U.K.<\/a>, with more than 1,000 anti-Semitic incidents recorded in 2014.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Jewish population in Europe has dropped significantly over the last several decades \u2013 most dramatically in Eastern Europe and the countries that make up the former Soviet 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