According to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Israel’s Muslim community continues to maintain the highest birthrate. The CBS released the statistics ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice).

In Israel, there are 1.534 million Muslims, representing 17.7% of the total population. The Muslim growth rate remains the highest, albeit it is dropping, reportedly increased in 2016 by 36,000. The annual rate of growth of the Islamic community is 2.4% annually.

The Muslim birthrate continues to drop, from 4.7 children per woman in 2000 to 3.29 in 2016. This is still greater than the Jewish, Druse or Christian birthrates.

The city with the larges Islamic population is Jerusalem, with 320,000 Muslims, who compromise 36.2% of the city’s population and 21% of the total Muslim population of the nation.

The Muslim rate of unemployment is also the highest. Figures are based on data from 2016. Unemployment in the Muslim community stands at 6.7% as compared to Druse (6.2%) and Christian (4.5%).

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)