Immigration to Israel bounces back in 2017

Immigration to Israel has picked up again slimly in 2017, because of a rise in the number of new arrivals from the former Soviet bloc countries, especially Ukraine.

On the other hand, the number of migrants from France continued to decline, after a reaching an all all-time high two years ago.

Haaretz quotes estimates, which were based on the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption’s numbers, as saying that by the end of 2017, the number of immigrants arriving in Israel would number around 28,400, an increase of five percent compared to 2016.

Immigration fell by 13 percent in 2016 owing to a sudden slump in the number of Jewish people entering the Asian country from France. Earlier, increased inflows of Jews from France were seen for quite a few years, owing to an economic slump and anti-Semitic sentiments in that country.

Although the Israeli government had expected that French Jews would continue to enter the country, it did not happen.

In fact, a lot of Jews of French descent who relocated to Israel in the recent past had gone back, citing difficulties in adjusting in that country.

It was estimated that 3,400 immigrants from France would come to Israel by the end of 2017, around 28 percent less than the previous year. In 2015, around 7,500 immigrants arrived from France.

But the immigrant numbers arriving from Ukraine is estimated to touch 6,700 by the end of 2017, a rise of 14 percent compared to the previous year. The number of Russian immigrants to Israel, however, is expected to be stable at around 7,000 this year. If it happens, the largest source country of immigrants to the Holy Land would be Russia for the second consecutive year.

The number of Brazilian immigrants also increased as these people too were relocating to Israel to escape from the increasing crime rate and economic problems. About 670 Jews are said to be arriving in Israel from the South American country by the end of this year. Last year and 2015 saw 630 and 460 Jews arriving from Brazil, respectively.

The number of immigrants from America is expected to stay stable, as around 2,900 Jews from the US migrated to Israel this year.

Sofa Landver, the Minister of Immigrant Absorption, said that despite ups and downs this year, it was a successful year for their country as far as immigration was concerned.

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