In its first seven decades of existence as a modern independent state, Israel shows a nearly five to one positive immigration to emigration balance
Copyright: Hans Pinn [Public domain]
Since Judea was substantially (though never entirely) emptied out of its indigenous Jewish population by roughly the fifth century AD, the modern state of Israel had to be built and to a large degree populated by repatriants, Jews who have immigrated to it from the four quarters of the world.
According to official numbers published by the Israeli government on the occasion of the International Immigrant Day, 3.3 million Jews have repatriated to Israel since the state was born in 1948, 43.7% of those after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1990. This would put the total number of repatriants since Zionism as a movement began advocating for repatriation and creating the conditions for it at the end of the 19th century close to 4 million. Between 1948 and 2017, seven hundred thousand Israelis have left the country for good. The number of Israelis estimated to currently reside abroad is estimated between 550 and 600 thousand, not including any children that were born to them while in exile.
As of the end of 2016, Israel was the home of 106 thousand foreign workers, mostly in the construction and agriculture sectors of the economy.
