The Jewish Agency for Israel has announced that the number of United Kingdom Jews emigrating to Israel, or making Aliyah, in 2009 was, at 853, the highest recorded figure in 26 years and 37 per cent above the 2008 level. About one-quarter of these olim arrived in Israel on three special Aliyah flights, in August, October and December 2009. The head of the Agency’s delegation in the United Kingdom has attributed the increase to the relatively good economic situation in Israel and to a new tax package reform.
The 2009 figure brings to 37,293 the number of United Kingdom Jews who have emigrated to Israel since the latter’s establishment as a state in 1948. Only in 1969-72, 1978-79 and 1982-83 did the annual total exceed 1,000. The United Kingdom accounts for just 1.2 per cent of all Jewish emigrants to Israel since 1948, the former Soviet Union countries (at 38.4 per cent) being the largest single component. The number of British Jews at the 2001 census was 267,373 or 0.5 per cent of the population.
Full details of Aliyah statistics since 1948 will be found at:
http://www.jewishagency.org/JewishAgency/English/About/Press+Room/Aliyah+Statistics
