The majority of the Jews in England live in and around London, with almost 160,000 Jews in London itself and a further 20,800 in nearby Hertfordshire, primarily in Bushey (4,500), Borehamwood (3,900), and Radlett (2,300).
For more on religious switching in 36 countries, read our report “Around the World, Many Are Leaving Their Childhood Religions.” Around 80% of the world's Jewish population lives in Israel and the United States.
Geographic Jewish communities in New York City still flourish today, especially among those who maintain traditional religious observance. Today, Brooklyn has the largest Jewish population of all the city's boroughs.
Why Has The World Hated Jews For More Than 2000 Years?
Are there more Jews in Israel or New York City?
There are just over 1.3 million Jews in the New York metropolitan area, making it the second largest metropolitan Jewish community in the world, after the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area in Israel (however, Tel Aviv proper has a smaller population of Jews than New York City proper, making New York City the largest community ...
According to the 2021 United Kingdom census, there were 271,327 Jews in England and Wales, or 0.5% of the overall population, whilst in the 2021 Northern Irish census, there were 439 self-identified Jews comprising just 0.02% of the population, but marking a 31% increase in numbers since the census of 2011.
What was Israel before 1948 and how was it created? Britain took control of the area known as Palestine in World War One, following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, which had ruled that part of the Middle East. An Arab majority and a Jewish minority lived there, as well as other ethnic groups.
This religion is rooted in the ancient near eastern region of Canaan (which today constitutes Israel and the Palestinian territories). Judaism emerged from the beliefs and practices of the people known as “Israel”.
Results of the 2021 Census for England and Wales showed that Christianity is the largest religion (though it makes up less than half of the population at 46.2%), followed by the non-religious (37.2%), Islam (6.5%), Hinduism (1.7%), Sikhism (0.9%), Buddhism (0.5%), Judaism (0.5%), and others (0.6%).
Social and economic discrimination caused significant Jewish emigration from Palestine, and Muslim civil wars in the 8th and 9th centuries pushed many Jews out of the country. By the end of the 11th century the Jewish population of Palestine had declined substantially.
Over 800,000 Jews were forced to leave Arab and Muslim countries between 1948 and 1972 and many had their property confiscated. Approximately 600,000 of those Jews emigrated to Israel and Israel received no compensation for their resettlement.
Jews are a distinct ethnicity due to a combination of shared cultural, historical, and ancestral ties. Below are some examples of key factors that make Jews an ethnicity: Common Ancestry: Many Jews trace their ancestry to the ancient Israelites, who inhabited the historical Land of Israel.
The Palestinian National Council declared an independent Palestinian state on October 1, 1948 in all of Palestine region with Jerusalem as its capital. This government was recognised by Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen, but not by Jordan or any non-Arab country.
Israel's quality higher education and the establishment of a highly motivated and educated populace is largely responsible for ushering in the country's high technology boom and rapid economic development by regional standards.
Zionism is an ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in late 19th-century Europe to establish and support a Jewish homeland through the colonization of Palestine, a region corresponding to the Land of Israel in Judaism and central to Jewish history.
📊 The 2025 British Muslims in Numbers Census is here. 4 million British Muslims — that's 6% of the UK. 📍For the first time in census recording, over half are UK-born. The North of England leads with some of the highest UK-born populations, including Bradford (65%), Walsall (61%), and Oldham (59%).
Before World War II, Italy had a population of about 50,000 Jews, of whom approximately 8,000 were killed in the Holocaust. According the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, approximately 28,000 Jews live in the country today.
With the third-largest Jewish population in the world, France is home to around 500,000 Jews. About 350,000 of the country's Jewish population resides in Paris and its suburbs. Other significant Jewish communities include Marseilles (70,000), Lyon (25,000), Toulouse (23,000), Nice (20,000), and Strasbourg (16,000).
The Institute for Jewish Policy Research estimates that there were 12,900 Spanish Jews as of 2024. The major cities that Jewish life centers around are Madrid, Barcelona, and Malaga, with additional communities in Alicante, Cadiz, the Canary Islands, Oviedo, Marbella, Majorca, Torremolinos, Valencia, and Seville.
Both Jews and Arabs have claimed it as theirs alone. From a purely historical perspective, “Israel” predates “Palestine” by more than a millennium. But, with the Jewish people then dispersed from their homeland, “Palestine” became home to a substantial Arab population, again for more than a millennium.
