Israel

Founded in 1948 as a restored homeland for the Jewish people and a refuge from persecution, Israel is organized under a constitution that guarantees freedom of religion.  Yet Israeli politics and culture are also designed to ensure the country’s status as a Jewish state.  For Catholics, the land is tied to the central events of Christian revelation, including the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, which makes Israel an especially compelling and complicated place to live.   

The Catholic population today includes Palestinian, Hebrew-speaking, and migrant worker and refugee communities. Read more...

    Religious Affiliation
    Chart source: Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project, 2010
    Total Population
    8,452,841 1
    Urban
    92.40% 1
    Rural
    7.60% 1
    Immigrants as % of Population
    24.9% 2
    Homicides
    1.36 per 100,000 people (global median 6.9) 3
    Level of Public Corruption
    28 (1=lowest, 176=highest corruption) 4
    Gender Equality in the Economy, Health, Education and Politics
    49 (1=most equal, 144=least equal) 7
    Fertility Rate
    3.01 births per adult woman 5
    Children Who Do Not Live to Age 5
    0.40% 5
    Life Expectancy at Birth
    83 years 5
    Internet Users
    71% 5
    Gross National Income per Capita
    US$35,320 5

    These statistics are derived from the Vatican's official publication, Statistical Yearbook of the Church 2020 (Vatican City: Librera Editrice Vaticana, 2022). The numbers may differ from data reported by other sources on this site.

    Baptized Catholics
    316,000
    Baptized Catholics as % of Total Population
    3.43
    Baptisms per Year (Under age 7)
    915
    Baptisms per Year (Over age 7)
    5
    First Communions per Year
    1,234
    Confirmations per Year
    883
    Students Enrolled in Catholic Primary Schools
    19,026
    Students Enrolled in Catholic Secondary Schools
    17,412
    Students Enrolled in Catholic Higher Education
    3,666
    Church Marriages per Year
    405
    Church Marriages in Which Both Spouses are Catholics
    323
    Priests
    440
    Women Religious (Nuns & Sisters)
    870
    Catholics per Priest
    718
    Parishes
    86
    Catholic Hospitals
    6
    Homes for Aged, Handicapped, Invalids
    5
    • 1 United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2018). World Urbanization Prospects: The 2018 Revision, Online Edition.
    • 2 United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Trends in International Migrant Stock: The 2015 revision.
    • 3 United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, Homicide Statistics 2015.
    • 4 Transparency International, Corruption Perceptions Index 2016.
    • 5 UNICEF, State of the World's Children, 2016.
    • 6 Statistical Yearbook of the Church 2020 (Vatican City: Librera Editrice Vaticana, 2022).
    • 7 World Economic Forum, The Global Gender Gap Report, 2016.