Jerusalem continues to grow: after a decade of decline, there has been steady growth in the number of pupils in Zionist education alongside an increase in all communities in the past seven years.

Jerusalem the start-up capital – the number of start-ups has doubled in the past two years from 250 to 500 companies. The negative migration from the city is the lowest in the past six years; 89% of the city’s residents are satisfied with their lives.

NIS 850 million will be invested in the Jerusalem 2020 Plan of the city’s growth and development initiated by Mayor Nir Barkat

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat: “Despite the difficult past year, Jerusalem and its residents have demonstrated real strength and what it means to be a Jerusalemite. We have returned to routine and continue the positive trend of growth, and we will implement the Jerusalem 2020 Plan in the coming years to develop the city’s potential and place it among the world’s top cities. Happy Jerusalem Day.”

On the 49th year since the reunification of the capital of Israel, Jerusalem is growing in education, economy and business, in high tech and the life sciences, culture and the arts, housing and construction, and tourism.

Overview

The negative migration from the city is the lowest in the past six years, at 6,700 people in 2014.

More and more families are choosing to establish their homes in Jerusalem: after a decade of decline, there has been steady growth in the number of pupils in state and religious state education, from 58,607 pupils in 2009 to 64,518 pupils in 2016, alongside continued growth by all communities.

In the past seven years, there has been a steady and continuous 36% increase in the number of children in kindergarten (pre-mandatory and mandatory) in the Zionist community, from 8,656 children in 2010 to 11,821 children in 2016.

This increase has resulted in the opening of more than 100 new kindergartens in the Zionist sector – a 37% increase in the number of kindergartens in the Zionist sector in the city.

The number of start-ups in Jerusalem doubled in 2014-2015, from 250 to 500 companies and investment in Jerusalem companies grew from $58 million to $250 million.

The number of the life sciences companies in Jerusalem has increased by 40% within two years, to number 130 companies.

78% of tourists who visited Israel in 2015 visited Jerusalem.

Implementation of the NIS 850 million Jerusalem 2020 Plan, initiated and steered by Mayor Nir Barkat, will begin this year.

The Municipality issued building permits for 2,662 housing units in 2015, and the construction of 2,447 housing units was completed in 2014. These figures continue to position Jerusalem as Israel’s top city for construction.

100 playgrounds were built in the city in the past year, and 25 more playgrounds will be built in 2016.

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, 89% of people 20 and over in Jerusalem are satisfied with their lives.

49th Jerusalem Day

The Net Negative Migration from the City Has Been Stemmed.

The net negative migration from the city was the lowest in six years, at 6,700 people in 2014. 10,400 new residents moved to Jerusalem in 2014, and 17,100 residents left the city.

Jerusalem is the largest city in Israel, with 870,000 residents at the end of 2015, about 10% of the country’s total population.

Jerusalem’s population was 859,800 people at the end of 2014, of whom 533,900 (63%) were Jews and others (not Arabs) and 315,900 (37%) were Arabs.

Education in Jerusalem is Breaking Boundaries

After a decade of decline, there has been steady growth in the number of pupils in state and religious state education, from 58,607 pupils in 2009 to 64,518 pupils in 2016, alongside continued growth by all communities.

The education system in Jerusalem is the largest and most complex in Israel, with 274,600 pupils (including approximately 21,000 pupils in private Arab education).

In the past seven years, there has been a steady and continuous 36% increase in the number of children in kindergarten (pre-mandatory and mandatory) in the Zionist community, from 8,656 children in 2010 to 11,821 children in 2016.

This increase has resulted in the opening of more than 100 new kindergartens in the Zionist sector – a 37% increase in the number of kindergartens in the Zionist sector in the city.

The growth in 12th grade students taking matriculation exams is continuing: 96% of students in both state and state religious education.

The growing proportion of 12th grade students eligible to matriculate is continuing: 75% of students in state religious education, compared with 74% in 2013; and 72% in state education compared with 68% in 2013.

Higher education: 38,500 students studied in institutions of higher education in Jerusalem in the 2013-2014 academic year, amounting to 14.6% of all students in Israel. 20,600 students studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, amounting to 54% of all students in the city; 12,200 students studied at eight colleges (32%), and 5,700 students studied at teacher colleges (15%).

Realizing the Potential of Jerusalem – Jerusalem 2020

In the coming year, the Municipality will begin implementation of the Jerusalem 2020 Plan, steered and led by Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat. The government approved the plan on the 48th Jerusalem Day, and the NIS 850 million five-year budget for its implementation was approved last week.

The Jerusalem 2020 Plan was initiated by Barkat, who recruited a team of international experts under Prof. Michael Porter and Prof. Richard Florida to develop the plan. The team identified Jerusalem’s relative advantages and growth potential, defined the foci for the investment of resources over the next five years, which will continue the economic development of the capital. The basis of the plan is Jerusalem’s relative advantages in culture and tourism, the life sciences, medical science, high tech, and the development of the city’s academic institutions.

Business and the Economy

4,728 new businesses opened in Jerusalem in 2015, for a total of 37,674 businesses operating in the city.

The difference between the number of businesses opening and the number of businesses closing has averaged over 600 a year in the past six years.

According to RIS, there was a 25% increase in sales in the Jerusalem city center over Passover 2016 compared with the corresponding period in 2015, more than double the national average.

Jerusalem – The Capital of Start-Ups and the Life Sciences

The number of start-ups in Jerusalem has doubled in the past two years from 250 to 500 companies (more than 100 companies per year), and investment in Jerusalem companies grew from $58 million to $250 million, after years in which 25 companies were founded per year.

The number of life sciences companies in the city has increased by 40% in the past two years, from 90 companies to 130 companies.

Tourism

Jerusalem hosted almost 900,000 foreign guests at its hotels in 2015 and there were almost three million hotel overnights.

78% of the tourists who visited Israel in 2015 visited Jerusalem.

47% of the tourists who visited Israel in 2015 stayed overnight in Jerusalem.

Leaders in Construction

The Municipality issued building permits for 2,662 housing units in 2015, and the construction of 2,447 housing units was completed in 2014. These figures continue to position Jerusalem as Israel’s top city for construction, following several years in which there was a decline in the number of housing units.

100 playgrounds were built in the city in the past year, and 25 more playgrounds will be built in 2016.

Jerusalem was the first city to establish an Urban Renewal Administration, which is advancing vacate-and-build projects to add approximately 9,000 housing units to the city. More than 1,000 housing units in the plans have already been approved.

The Jerusalem Municipality was the first municipality in Israel to implement online licensing, and is a leader in the field. The Municipality developed a system, the first of its kind in Israel, for the filing of a building permit online, without the need to go to the Municipality offices. More than 2,000 applications have been filed to date, and more than 1,000 files have been opened.

Green Jerusalem

100 playgrounds were built in the city in the past year, 25 more playgrounds will be built in 2016, and 600 playgrounds in the city will be renovated and upgraded in the coming years.

The multiyear plan to replace all the city’s trash bins with underground bins is continuing. 110 trash bins were put underground in past year, and there are now 294 underground trash bins across the city.

Tens of thousands of flowers and seedlings were planted on city streets, boulevards, and squares.

The Jerusalem Municipality will soon begin a plan to turn Sacher Park into a smart park that will include electric bicycle and mobile phone charging stations, free advanced Wi-Fi, an energy-saving solar energy system, smart and cost-saving lighting, and remote operation of all of the park’s systems from the municipality control center.

Jerusalem Leads in Culture

The Jerusalem Municipality supports more than 60 cultural institutions with approximately NIS 50 million through diverse support programs.

Jerusalem has more than ten museums and is the top city in the number of diversity of its museums – two of the country’s most important museum are located in the city: the Israel Museum and Yad Vashem, which alone have more than two million visitors annually.

Jerusalem has seven schools of the arts and the country’s largest concentration of art schools. Each year, more than 300 students graduate in a range of arts, creating the next generation of creators, trendsetting Israeli creation, and cultural consumers in Jerusalem.

Jerusalem has more than ten orchestras, choruses, and musical ensembles, which create a rich musical puzzle. Two new orchestras joined this diversity in 2016: The Andalusian Mediterranean Orchestra and the Firqat Al-Noor Orchestra, which has revived the musical heritage of Zozo Musa.

Jerusalem has ten theaters and theater troupes, including the famous Repertoire Khan Theater, the youthful and contemporary satirical Incubator Theater, founded by graduates of the Nissan Nativ Acing Studio.

Jerusalem has an abundance of festivals. Some are longstanding events, such as the Israel Festival, the world-class International Chamber Music Festival, the Biennial for Drawing, the Jerusalem International Oud Festival, the Piyyut Festival, and the International Book Fair. Some are new or renewed events, such as the Jerusalem Jazz Festival, the Piano Festival, which offers a stage for Israeli performers who are famous overseas but who rarely perform in Israel, and the International Biennial for Jewish Art.

The Municipality is now establishing the Jerusalem Arts Campus at Beit Ha’Am. The planned campus will serve the performing arts and house four schools which are currently scattered across the city: The Sam Spiegel Film and Television School, the School of Visual Theater, the Nissan Nativ Acting Studio, and the Center for Classical Oriental Music and Dance. The campus is in the advanced stages of construction and is scheduled to be completed in 2018.

At the same time, work has begun on the new Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design campus at the Russian Compound in the city center. When these projects are completed, the face of Jerusalem’s city center will become a thriving center for students and the young.

Another project in the planning stages is the construction of the Central Children’s Theater at the Train Theater in Liberty Bell Park, and the permanent home of the Aspaklaria Repertory Theatre, which performs for the religious sector, at Beit Harofe at the corner of Strauss Street and Haneviim Street.

Sports

This year, the Municipality began to renovate and upgrade approximately 70 sports facilities in the city and drawn up a plan to build 130 small neighborhood community sports facilities.

The construction of new sports arenas began this year and four more are in the advanced planning stages.

The Municipality is building three neighborhood swimming pools and three more pools are in the planning stages.

Jerusalem has become a top city for hosting international sports events, including the International Jerusalem Marathon with the participation of approximately 30,000 runners from 64 countries worldwide. Jerusalem is preparing to host the 20th Maccabiah Games in July 2017 and the International Children Games, which will be held in Israel for the first time in 2018.

Transportation and Roads – Building the Future

Crossing Jerusalem without traffic lights – the construction of Begin Road was completed this year, making it possible to transverse Jerusalem in 12 minutes. The road greatly eases traffic congestions between Jerusalem’s north and south, improving access to the International Sport Kirya and Jerusalem Mall in Malcha.

Development of the light rail continues. The Municipality has approved the Blue Line from Gilo through Malcha, Emek Refaim, the Khan, and the city center to Ramot. The 20-km. line will serve 250,000 passengers daily. The Blue Line joins the light rail network: The Red Line, which is already in operation, and the Green Line, which is in the advanced approval stages at the Jerusalem Regional Planning and Building Commission.

Narrowing Gaps in Eastern Jerusalem

In the past few years, the Jerusalem Municipality has been leading measures to narrow gaps in Jerusalem’s Arab neighborhoods in all walks of life, after 50 years of neglect by Israeli governments, with unprecedented investments in scope and budget.

In the Barkat era, more than 800 new classrooms have already been built and 1,000 more are in the planning and construction stages.

Dozens of streets have been built and paved in eastern Jerusalem at an investment of hundreds of millions of shekels.

Heavy investments are being made to improve municipal services, the opening of child care family care centers, the provision of welfare and community services, postal services, and more.

This year, the Municipality completed a wide-ranging measure in cooperation with the residents to name about 900 streets in eastern Jerusalem, which had been unnamed for decades. Naming the streets makes it possible to number the homes in every building in eastern Jerusalem to improve services for the residents.

Over the past two years, the Municipality has been running long school day program at high schools in eastern Jerusalem until 17:30. The program was a great success last year, and was doubled this year. Students can obtain after-school and enrichment activities in a range of subjects and organized structures until late in the day.

Immigrants Choose Jerusalem

2,771 new immigrants settled in Jerusalem in 2014, 12% of all new immigrants to Israel that year.

A Happy Life in Jerusalem

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, 89% of people 20 and over in Jerusalem are satisfied with their lives (92% of Jews and 82% of Arabs), similar to the proportion nationwide (88%).

54% of Jerusalem’s residents are satisfied with their financial situation (60% of Jews and 42% of Arabs), compared with 59% of the general population.

77% of Jerusalem’s residents are satisfied with their area of residence (85% of Jews and 63% of Arabs). In other towns, 84% of the residents are satisfied with their area of residence (87% of Jews and 72% of Arabs).

Jerusalem on Social Networks

The Jerusalem Municipality’s Facebook page has 27,515 new likes since last Jerusalem Day!

The data: Jerusalem Municipality, the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, the Central Bureau of Statistics.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)