The world Jewish population is estimated at about 14,145,000 according to the American Jewish Year Book, whose 1977 edition has just been published. This figure represents a drop of 86,000 from the population cited in last year’s issue. The United States, with approximately 5,845,000 Jews, has the largest Jewish population in the world.
The Year Book, the record of events and trends in Jewish life, is published jointly by the American Jewish Committee and the Jewish Publication Society of America edited by Morris Fine and Milton Himmelfarb. Martha Jelenko is the Executive Editor.
The world Jewish population estimates were compiled by Leon Shapiro, who teaches Russian and Soviet Jewish History and is a member of the faculty on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe Program at Rutgers University. The U.S. figures were supplied by Alvin Chenkin, Supervisor of the Statistics Unit, Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds.
After the United States, countries with the largest Jewish populations are: Israel, 2,953,000 Soviet Union, 2,680,000; France, 550,000; Great Britain, 410,000; Canada, 305,000; and Argentina, 300,000. Forty-eight percent of world Jewry is located in North, Central and South America, 29 percent in Europe, 21 percent in Asia, 1.5 percent in Africa, and 0.5 percent in Australia and New Zealand.
In the United States, Jews comprise 2.7 percent of the total population. Among the Jewish population figures for U.S. cities listed in the Year Book’s tables are: Greater New York. 1,998,000; Los Angeles, 455,000; Philadelphia, 350,000; Chicago, 253,000; Miami, 225,000; Boston, 180,000; Washington, 112,500; Bergen County (N.J.), 100,000; Essex County (N.J.). 95,000; Baltimore, 92,000; Cleveland, 80,000; Detroit, 80,000; San Francisco, 75,000; St. Louis, 60,000; and Montgomery County (Md.). 50,000.
FIGURES FOR EUROPEAN JEWRY
In Europe, according to Shapiro, there are 4,059,345 Jews. Of these, 2,680,000 are in the Soviet Union. In an ongoing debate on Soviet Jewish population statistics, Professor U. O. Schmelz of the Jewish demography department of the Institute of Contemporary Jewry, Hebrew University, maintains in an exchange of correspondence with Mr. Shapiro in the Year Book that the Soviet Jewish population today is “some what below two millions.”
Figures for other European countries include: Austria, 13,000; Belgium, 40,500; Bulgaria, 7,000; Czechoslovakia, 12,000; Denmark, 7,000; France, 550,000; Germany, 33,000; Great Britain, 410,000; Greece, 6,000; Hungary, 80,000; Ireland, 4,000; Italy, 35,000; Netherlands, 30,000; Poland, 6,000; Rumania, 60,000; Spain, 9,000; Sweden, 15,000; Switzerland, 21,000; Turkey, 30,000; and Yugoslavia, 6,000.
Estimated population for major centers of Jewish concentration in the Americas, outside the United States, include: Canada, 305,000; Argentina, 300,000; Brazil, 165,000; Uruguay, 50,000; Mexico, 37,500; Chile, 27,000; Venezuela, 15,000; Colombia, 12,000; and Peru, 6,000. The figure for Argentina, which is 175,000 less than that cited in last year’s volume, reflects the view that the previous total may have been higher than warranted.
JEWS IN OTHER COUNTRIES
In Asia, the only major centers of Jewish, population, except for Israel, are Iran, 80,000 and India, 10,000. In Africa, there are substantial numbers of Jews only in South Africa, 118,000; Morocco, 30,000; Ethiopia, 20,000; Tunisia, 8,000; and Rhodesia, 4,800. There are 72,000 Jews in Australia, and 5,000 in New Zealand.
Among the major world cities outside the United States where Jews are located are: Amsterdam, 20,000; Antwerp, 13,000; Brussels, 24,500; Bucharest, 40,000; Budapest, 65,000; Cape Town, 25,650; Glasgow, 13,000; Haifa, 210,000; Istanbul, 22,000; Jerusalem, 266,000; Johannesburg, 63,000; Kiev, 170,000; Leeds, 18,000; Leningrad, 165,000; London, 280,000; Lyons, 20,000; Manchester, 35,000; Marseille, 65,000; Melbourne, 34,000; Mexico City, 32,500; Milan, 10,000; Montevideo, 48,000; Montreal, 114,000; Moscow, 285,000; Nice, 20,000; Paris, 300,000; Rio de Janeiro, 50,000; Rome, 15,000; Sao Paulo, 65,000; Strasbourg, 12,000; Sydney, 28,000; Teheran, 50,000; Tel Aviv-Jaffa, 394,000; Toronto, 110,000; Toulouse, 18,000; and Winnipeg, 18,500.
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