Aliya from the Russian Federation: An Analysis of Recent Data

The article analyses in detail the numerical dynamics and demographic structure of the largest migration flow to Israel, that of migrants from Russia in 1990-2023. The annual change in the number of migrants over this period is studied. Peaks in migration caused by the events that took place in Russia in 1990-1991 and 1999-2000 and a new peak in 2022-2023 are identified. In order to analyse this recent spike, the dynamics of the number of migrants for individual months are considered and differentiated according to two groups: those who arrived in Israel with a repatriate visa ("direct aliyah") and those who first entered the country as tourists and later obtained repatriate status. The impact of negative net migration on the decline of the Jewish population in Russia between 1990 and 2023 is also assessed. The analysis shows that the current very old age structure of the Jewish population in Russia cannot lead to large-scale emigration. However, Israel’s Law of Return applies to a much wider range of persons of Jewish descent and their spouses. According to annual Israeli statistics, the share of Jews among immigrants from Russia fell throughout the period under study. Until the end of the last decade, the age structure of migrants from Russia to Israel was close to the age composition of the urban population of the country of origin; according to the most recent data, it has become even younger. For most of the period, women were numerically dominant in the overall composition of migrants, but in the most recent wave of migration, according to the 2022 data, men began to dominate slightly.

2020

Based on collected data, it was guesstimated that since 1970 almost two million Jews and their relatives emigrated from the former Soviet Union (FSU). Most of this mass emigration occurred since 1989—about 1.7 million. The analysis clearly shows the decisive role of the push factor in the migration movements from the FSU. Pronounced selectivity of Jewish migration by age and sex was found. Also studied were the dramatic shrinkage in the size of the Jewish population remaining in the FSU and the resettlement of ex-Soviet Jews mainly in three destination countries—Israel, the USA, and Germany. The largest group went to Israel, and the positive demographic transformation of this group—a sizable increase of fertility and fast decrease of mortality—was analyzed.

2019

Based on collected data, it was guesstimated that since 1970 almost two million Jews and their relatives emigrated from the former Soviet Union (FSU). The paper presents annual data on this emigration. Most of this mass emigration occurred since 1989 – about 1.7 million. The analysis clearly shows the decisive role of the push factor in the migration movements from the FSU. Pronounced selectivity of Jewish migration by age and sex was found. Also studied were the dramatic shrinkage in the size of the Jewish population remaining in the FSU and the resettlement of ex-Soviet Jews mainly in three destination countries – Israel, the USA and Germany. The largest group went to Israel, and the positive demographic transformation of this group – a sizable increase of fertility and fast decrease of mortality – was analyzed.

2009

In the 1990s most of the second largest Jewish Diaspora population, which resided in the former Soviet Union (FSU), changed their places of residence. Whereas the majority emigrated to Israel, the rest were divided mostly between the USA and Germany. In fact, this was a continuation of the mass migration which started in the 1970s, and was temporarily stopped in the 1980s. However, the emigration of the 1990s was much more numerous than that of the 1970s. The aims of this paper are to present (post-) Soviet Jewish resettlement, and to study the demographic transformation in the course of this mass migration. We shall study emigration to outside the FSU, and to Israel in particular, as well as out-migration from Israel of FSU immigrants. In our analysis we shall compare the demographic characteristics of Soviet Jewry at the onset of the recent mass emigration of the 1990s with those of (post-) Soviet immigrants in Israel, who have become the most populous group of the Jews originating from the FSU. For a better understanding of the problem we shall study the demographic changes among

Journal of Israeli History, 2008

The two mass immigrations to Israel are compared, demonstrating the failure of the Mizrahi immigrants of the 1950s versus the success of the Russian immigrants of the 1990s. Almost in every respect the Russian immigrants had advantages over the Mizrahi immigrants: they arrived with greater human resources, the state was more affluent and less discriminatory against them, the society was more culturally open and socially tolerant, and their proportion in the total population was much smaller and hence not threatening. Whereas the Mizrahim lost their culture and ended up in the lower strata of society, Russian immigrants are in the process of entering the middle class and in control of the pace and rate of their assimilation.

Arab World Geographer, volume 5, number 4, pp.249-264., 2002

With the migratory awakening of the Soviet Jewish population shortly after the events of 1989, Yitshak Shamir, the then prime minister of Israel, affirmed that ua great immigration requires a large Israel." This declaration has underlined the permanence of the close bond Iinking population and territorial strategy in Israel. State-bornfrom the Jewish immigration (Aliya) Israel has always supported the idea that the new immigrants represent aforce making it possible to ensure its securit y and its geo-strategical options. After more than a decade of a demography revivified by the immigration of almost a million of Soviet Jews, it seems pertinent to measure the results of the relation established between population and territorial control in Israel. To carry out this project, this paper will compare the logic of the state and the logic of the migrants by analyzing the dynamic of the immigrant population in Jerusalem and the West bank: high points of the crystallization of this relation.

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000

Average education of new immigrants from the East European countries and the former Soviet Union (FSU) in Israel declined during the last ten years. I present a simple two-period model of migration with uncertainty about future conditions in both countries and estimate a reduced form, using data from the Israeli 1995 Census and several years of the Israeli Labor Force Survey. Wages in Israel in each period are the result of a human capital investment decision. In this framework, the return to migrating early is higher, the higher the education of a potential migrant, but education also increases the option value of staying. Estimation of a Cox proportionate hazard model and a discrete time hazard model suggest that human capital investment considerations indeed influence the timing of migration. Other variables that make people migrate earlier are being Jewish, being married, and having no children. Economic conditions in the source countries and in the destination country, which are also included in the regressions, do not seem to matter and cover mainly time effects.

Post-Soviet Geography, 1992

A prominent authority on the Jewish population of the former USSR focuses on demographic trends and migration behavior (both within the former USSR and abroad), while also addressing the effect of Soviet state policy toward the Jewish population. Among the factors whose effects on population dynamics are examined, emphasis is placed on the Jewish population's concentration in large urban areas, the effects of emigration on age structure of the remaining population, selfidentification as a method in census enumeration, ethnic intermarriage and family characteristics, and the outlook and prospects for emigres in Israel and the United States. POPULATION DYNAMICS The Jewish population of the Russian empire was over five million according to the census of 1897, making it by far the largest single Jewish community in the world. Today, the Jewish population of the former USSR is about 1.1 million, and it is now the third largest Jewish population in the world, and the largest in Europe. It is also much less of a community than it was before the Bolshevik Revolution. All communal institutions, save less than 100 synagogues, were destroyed by the Soviets. It was only about 40 years after the abolition of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee (not at all designed to represent Soviet Jewry, but perceived as their voice by many Jews) that a Jewish organization, Va'ad, was set up (in 1989) to represent Soviet Jewry to the government and the outside world. Ironically, just as Va'ad was beginning to gain national and international acceptance, the USSR disintegrated as a state and at present it is an open question whether the Jewish organizations and representatives from the former republics will continue to be represented by Va'ad. The decline of the Soviet Jewish population has been precipitous. According to the 1939 census, there were 3,200,000 Jews living in the Soviet Union (pre-annexation borders). In 1939-1940 the USSR annexed the Baltic states, eastern Poland, and Bessarabia and Bukovina, the Jewish population of which totalled roughly 1,850,000. Some 200,000 Polish Jews arrived in the USSR as deportees or refugees. Thus, a total of 5,070,000 were on the territory of the pre-August 1991 USSR in 1941. We do not yet know how many of them fell victim to the Nazis. Only in recent years have foreign researchers been granted access to Soviet archives. Yad Vasheml specialists and others are now investigating the documentation in these archives, but until their findings are made available, we should assume that about 1.5 to 2 million Soviet Jewish civilians and about 120,000-180,000