The Current Wave of Former Soviet Union Immigrants: Their Absorption Process in Israel — An On-Going Survey (1990-1995) *

Israel’s demographic make-up is virtually unique in that Israel is not only a country with immigrants, but essentially a country of immigrants. ¹ Indeed, statistical evidence indicates that immigration has been, and still remains, one of the main sources of population increase in Israel, whose Jewish population grew from 649,600 upon the establishment of the state (15 May 1948) to 3,373,200 in 1982, and 4,441,100 in 1994 (Statistical Abstract of Israel 1995: 43). Immigration accounted for more than 2,443,325 persons, or approximately 55 percent of this increase. In 1994, 39 percent of the Israeli population was foreign born, and 76 percent of the inhabitants were either immigrants or immigrants’ children (Statistical Abstract of Israel, 1995:98).