In advance of Independence Day, researchers from the Haredi Policy Research Institute compiled some of the statistics related to population growth in the haredi community up to the current day.
The Institute’s researchers note that precise figures dating back to the early years of the State are not available, as official data on haredim as a sub-set of the population were not collected until many years later. The earliest date for which reasonably reliable data exist is 1979, when the haredi community numbered some 212 thousand souls, comprising 5.6 percent of the total population.
Since then, the haredi community has increased by 509 percent and today numbers around 1.29 million people, 12.9 percent of the total population. By way of comparison, the general population (non-haredi Jews and Arabs combined) increased by 135 percent between 1979 and 2023.

According to projections, by the time the State reaches its 90th birthday, haredim will number 2.15 million people, 18 percent of the population. When the State reaches its centenary, in 2048, there will be around 2.86 million haredim, 21.2 percent of all Israelis.
Haredim were only counted separately in official data from the late Nineties, but using data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), one can gain a certain impression from early years as well, although the Institute’s researchers stress that the numbers are likely to be an underestimate. They note that the CBS began to record such data with greater accuracy in 2002.