thumb|upright=1.5|Demographic history of Jerusalem by religion, based on available data <br />
thumb|right|Arab and Jew at Arab bazaar, Old City of Jerusalem
thumb|Jewish Orthodox children in Jerusalem
Jerusalem's population size and composition has shifted many times over its 5,000 year history.
Most population data pre-1905 is based on estimates, often from foreign travellers or organisations, since previous census data usually covered wider areas such as the Jerusalem District. These estimates suggest that since the end of the Crusades, Muslims formed the largest group in Jerusalem until the mid-19th century. Between 1838 and 1876, a number of estimates exist which conflict as to whether Jews or Muslims were the largest group during this period, and between 1882 and 1922 estimates conflict as to exactly when Jews became a majority of the population.
In 2020, the population was 951,100, of which Jews comprised 570,100 (59.9%), Muslims 353.800 (37.2%), Christians 16.300 (1.7%), and 10,800 unclassified (1.1%).
Overview
Jerusalemites are of varied national, ethnic and religious denominations and include European, Asian and African Jews, Arabs of Sunni Shafi'i Muslim, Melkite Orthodox, Melkite Catholic, Latin Catholic, and Protestant backgrounds, Armenians of the Armenian Orthodox and Armenian Catholic, Assyrians largely of the Syriac Orthodox Church and Syriac Catholic Church, Maronites, and Copts. Many of these groups were once immigrants or pilgrims that have over time become near-indigenous populations and claim the importance of Jerusalem to their faith as their reason for moving to and being in the city.
Historical population by religion
The tables below provide data on demographic change over time in Jerusalem, with an emphasis on the Jewish population. Readers should be aware that the boundaries of Jerusalem have changed many times over the years and that Jerusalem may also refer to a district or even a subdistrict under Ottoman, British, or Israeli administration, see e.g. Jerusalem District. Thus, year-to-year comparisons may not be valid due to the varying geographic areas covered by the population censuses.
Persian period
The population of Jerusalem during Persian rule in Judea (province of Yehud Medinata) is estimated at between 1,500 and 2,750.
1st century Judea
During the First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE), the population of Jerusalem was estimated at 600,000 persons by Roman historian Tacitus, while Josephus estimated that there were as many as 1,100,000 who were killed in the war—though this number included people who did not belong to the city itself. Josephus also wrote that 97,000 Jews were sold as slaves. After the Roman victory over the Jews, as many as 115,880 dead bodies were carried out through one gate between the months of Nisan and Tammuz.
Modern estimates of Jerusalem's population during the final Roman Siege of Jerusalem in 70 (CE) are variously 70,398 by Wilkinson in 1974, 80,000 by Broshi in 1978, and 60,000–70,000 by Levine in 2002. According to Josephus, the populations of adult male scholarly sects were as follows: over 6,000 Pharisees, more than 4,000 Essenes and "a few" Sadducees. New Testament scholar Cousland notes that "recent estimates of the population of Jerusalem suggest something in the neighbourhood of a hundred thousand". A minimalist view is taken by Hillel Geva, who estimates from archaeological evidence that the population of Jerusalem before its 70 CE destruction was at most 20,000.
Middle Ages
Al-Maqdisi, a 10th-century native of Jerusalem writing prior to the crusades, reports that "everywhere the Christians and Jews have the upper hand and the mosque is void of congregation".
Under Crusader rule, the Jewish presence in Jerusalem was nearly eradicated. Following the city's conquest in 1099, many Jews were killed, and those who survived were expelled. Baldwin I of Jerusalem (r. 1100–1118) formally reinstated the prohibition on Jewish settlement in the city. As a result, Jewish life in Jerusalem came to a near standstill during the 12th century. Based on contemporary Jewish travelers, including Benjamin of Tudela and Petachiah of Regensburg, by the 12th century, there were almost no Jews remaining in the city.
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<nowiki>*</nowiki> Indicates families.
Early Ottoman era
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year !! Jews !! Muslims !! Christians !! Total !! Original source !! As quoted in
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 1525–1526 || 1,194 || 3,704 || 714 || 5,612 || Ottoman taxation registers* || Cohen and Lewis
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 1538–1539 || 1,363 || 7,287 || 884 || 9,534 || Ottoman taxation registers* || Cohen and Lewis
|}
Modern era
Muslim "relative majority"
Henry Light, who visited Jerusalem in 1814, reported that Muslims comprised the largest portion of the 12,000-person population, but that Jews made the greatest single sect. In 1818, Robert Richardson, family doctor to the Earl of Belmore, estimated the number of Jews to be 10,000, twice the number of Muslims.
thumb|Arab boys at Jerusalem [[YMCA, 1938]]
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year !! Jews !! Muslims !! Christians !! Total !! Original source !! As quoted in
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 1806 || 2,000 || 4,000 || 2,774 || 8,774 || Ulrich Jasper Seetzen, Frisian explorer || Sharkansky, 1996
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 1815 || 4,000–5,000 || ? || ? || 26,000 || William Turner || Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 1821 || || >4,000 || || 8,000 || James Silk Buckingham ||
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 1824 || 6,000 || 10,000 || 4,000 || 20,000 || Fisk and King, Writers ||
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 1832 || 4,000 || 13,000 || 3,560 || 20,560 || Ferdinand de Géramb, French monk || Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001 In 1843, Reverend F.C. Ewald, a Christian traveler visiting Jerusalem, reported an influx of 150 Jews from Algiers. He wrote that there were now a large number of Jews from the coast of Africa who were forming a separate congregation.
From the mid-1850s, following the Crimean War, the expansion of Jerusalem outside of the Old City began, with institutions including the Russian Compound, Kerem Avraham, the Schneller Orphanage, Bishop Gobat school, and the Mishkenot Sha'ananim, events that marked the beginning of permanent settlement outside Jerusalem's Old City walls.
Between 1856 and 1880, Jewish immigration to Palestine more than doubled, with the majority settling in Jerusalem. The majority of these immigrants were Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe, who subsisted on Halukka.
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 1844 || 7,120 || 5,000 || 3,390 || 15,510 || Ernst-Gustav Schultz, Prussian consul ||
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 1845 || 7,500 || 15,000 || 10,000 || 32,000+ || Joseph Schwarz ||
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 1846 || 7,515 || 6,100 || 3,558 || 17,173 || Titus Tobler, Swiss explorer || Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001 ||
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 1850 || 13,860 || ? || ? || ? || Dr. Ascher, Anglo-Jewish Association ||
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 1851 || 5,580 || 12,286 || 7,488 || 25,354 || Official census (only Ottoman citizens) || Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 1856 || 5,700 || 9,300 || 3,000 || 18,000 || Ludwig August von Frankl, Austrian writer || Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 1857 || 7,000 || ? || ? || 10–15,000 || HaMaggid periodical || Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 1866 || 8,000 || 4,000 || 4,000 || 16,000 || John Murray travel guidebook || Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 1867 || 4,000–<br />5,000 || 6,000 || ? || ? || Ellen-Clare Miller, Missionary ||
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 1869 || 3,200* || n/a || n/a || n/a || Rabbi H. J. Sneersohn || New York Times
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 1869 || 9,000 || 5,000 || 4,000 || 18,000 || Hebrew Christian Mutual Aid Society ||
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 1869 || 7,977 || 7,500 || 5,373 || 20,850 || Liévin de Hamme, Franciscan missionary || Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 1876 || 13,000 || 15,000 || 8,000 || 36,000 || Bernhard Neumann || Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001 After living in the Old City for several years, they moved to the hills facing the City of David, where they lived in caves. In 1884, the community, numbering 200, moved to new stone houses built for them by a Jewish charity.
The Jewish population of Jerusalem, as for wider Palestine, increased further during the Third Aliyah of 1919–23 following the Balfour Declaration. Prior to this, a British survey in 1919 noted that most Jews in Jerusalem were largely Orthodox and that a minority were Zionists.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year !! Jews !! Muslims !! Christians !! Total !! Original source !! As quoted in
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 1882 || 9,000 || 7,000 || 5,000 || 21,000 || Wilson || Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 1885 || 15,000 || 6,000 || 14,000 || 35,000 || Goldmann || Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 1893 || >50% || ? || ? || ~40,000 || Albert Shaw, Writer || Shaw, 1894
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 1896 || 28,112 || 8,560 || 8,748 || 45,420 || Calendar of Palestine for the year 5656 || Harrel and Stendel, 1974
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 1905 || 13,300 || 11,000 || 8,100 || 32,400 || 1905 Ottoman census (only Ottoman citizens) || U.O.Schmelz
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 1922 || 33,971 || 13,413 || 14,669 || 62,578 || Census of Palestine (British) || Harrel and Stendel, 1974
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 1931 || 51,200 || 19,900 || 19,300 || 90,053 || Census of Palestine (British) || Harrel and Stendel, 1974
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 1944 || 97,000 || 30,600 || 29,400 || 157,000 || ? || Harrel and Stendel, 1974
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 1967 || 195,700 || 54,963 || 12,646 || 263,307 || || Harrel, 1974
|}
After Jerusalem Law
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year !! Jews !! Muslims !! Christians !! Total !! Proportion of Jewish residents !! Original source
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 1980 || 292,300 || ? || ? || 407,100 || 71.8% || Jerusalem Municipality
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 1985 || 327,700 || ? || ? || 457,700 || 71.6% || Jerusalem Municipality
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 1987 || 340,000 || 121,000 || 14,000 || 475,000 || 71.6% || Jerusalem Municipality
|- style="text-align:center;"
|1988
|353,800
|125,200
|14,400
|493,500
|71.7%
|Jerusalem Municipality
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 1990 || 378,200 || 131,800 || 14,400 || 524,400 || 72.1% || Jerusalem Municipality
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 1995 || 417,100 || 182,700 || 14,100 || 617,000 || 67.6% || Jerusalem Municipality In 1999, the Jewish total fertility rate was 3.8 children per woman, while the Palestinian rate was 4.4. This led to concerns that Arabs would eventually become a majority of the city's population.
Between 1999 and 2010, the demographic trends reversed themselves, with the Jewish fertility rate increasing and the Arab rate decreasing. In addition, the number of Jewish immigrants from abroad choosing to settle in Jerusalem steadily increased. By 2010, there was a higher Jewish than Arab growth rate. That year, the city's birth rate was placed at 4.2 children for Jewish mothers, compared with 3.9 children for Arab mothers. In addition, 2,250 Jewish immigrants from abroad settled in Jerusalem. The Jewish fertility rate is believed to be still currently increasing, while the Arab fertility rate remains on the decline.
See also
- Demographics of Jerusalem by quarter
- Demographic history of Palestine (region)
- History of Jerusalem
- List of people from Jerusalem
References
Bibliography
- Salo Baron, A Social and Religious History of the Jews, Columbia University Press, 1983.
- Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics information page
- Jerusalem: Jewish, Muslim, and Christian Population (1910–2000) at israelipalestinianprocon.org
- Bruce Masters, Christians And Jews In The Ottoman Arab World, Cambridge University Press, 2004.
- Population of Jerusalem until 1945 (Table 10) at mideastweb.org
- Runciman, Steven (1980). The First Crusade. Cambridge. .