Number of repatriates from Ukraine in 2014 increases by almost three times

In total, the number of immigrants to Israel increased by 32% to 26,500 people, a record number for the last ten years.

The chairman of the Jewish Agency Natan Sharansky called this a “historic breakthrough”.

“For the first time in history, there have been more immigrants to Israel from free world countries than immigrants who fled countries in a disastrous situation. This trend shows the attractiveness of Israel aas a place where life is good, and also the effectiveness of our efforts to assist repatriation and strengthen ties between Jews around the world and the State of Israel,” he said.

For the first time since the foundation of Israel, France was the leader by number of repatriates: in 2014 over 6,000 French Jews made Aliyah, compared to 3,400 in 2013. According to the Israeli Ministry for Absorption and Aliyah, in total immigration from Western European countries increased by 88% to 8,640 people, compared with 4,600 in the previous year. The number of repatriates from countries of the former Soviet Union increased by 50%, from 7,610 to 11,430 people.

The age of over half the people who made Aliyah in 2014 did not exceed 35, among them 5,300 children and around 8,200 adults. The largest group of immigrants settled in Tel-Aviv (around 3,000), Netaniya and Jerusalem.

Since the founding of Israel in 1948, over 3 million Jews have immigrated to the country, including one million from former Soviet republics.

Source: www.haaretz.com