Which countries contributed the largest numbers of immigrants to Israel since 1948?
Executive summary
Since 1948 Israel has registered more than three million immigrants, with the largest single blocs coming from the former Soviet Union and from the Middle East/North Africa, and major later waves from countries such as Poland, Romania, Morocco, France, the United States and Ethiopia [1] [2] [3]. Historical surges after 1948 and after the Soviet thaw around 1990 shape the headline contributors: Eastern Europe and the FSU overall are dominant, while large, earlier transfers from Arab countries and North Africa constitute another massive cohort [4] [5] [6].
1. The former Soviet Union: the modern largest source
The biggest single modern source of immigrants to Israel has been the former Soviet Union: roughly one million Jews arrived in the large late-20th-century wave and continued inflows after 1990 account for a substantial portion of the three-plus million total, with Jewish Agency and other data enumerating hundreds of thousands of olim from the FSU in recent decades [7] [3] [5]. Central statistics and reporting emphasize that post-1989 migration from the Soviet bloc reshaped Israel demographically, and many sources treat the FSU as the largest overall contributor since statehood [7] [3].
2. Early post-independence surges: Poland, Romania and other Eastern Europeans
In the immediate years after 1948 the nascent state absorbed massive immigration from Eastern Europe; between 1948 and 1952 Poland and Romania alone supplied six-figure totals — for example Romania ~121,535 and Poland ~106,727 in that early window — and smaller but significant flows came from Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and others [4]. Those early waves — including survivors of the Holocaust and displaced persons — nearly doubled Israel’s Jewish population within a few years and are central to the claim that the new state’s population growth was propelled by immigration [4] [5].
3. Jews from Arab and North African countries: a foundational mass migration
A separate huge migration stream in the 1940s–1970s consisted of Jews leaving Arab and North African countries; scholars estimate roughly 650,000 of the approximately 900,000 Jews who left Arab lands in that period settled in Israel, making Morocco, Iraq, Yemen and other MENA states among the largest historical sources [5] [8]. Contemporary surveys and Pew analysis confirm that Morocco in particular has been a major historic source, and that many Jews from North Africa now reside in Israel [6].
4. Western and African contributors in recent decades: France, the U.S., Ethiopia and others
Since 1990 immigration patterns diversified: the Jewish Agency and media reporting show strong flows from France (notably a peak in the 2010s), tens of thousands from North America (the U.S. and Canada), and important aliyah from Ethiopia totaling roughly 10,000–140,000 depending on the period and program referenced — for example around 10,500 Ethiopian immigrants in the 2010s and earlier substantial airlifts in prior decades [7] [1] [9]. Decadal tabulations emphasize Russia/Ukraine, France, the U.S. and Ethiopia among top country sources in recent years [1] [7].
5. Caveats, competing framings and where the data come from
Official counts and narratives vary: the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, the Jewish Agency, academic studies and media reports sometimes count origin by country of birth versus last residence, combine the former Soviet republics in different ways, and periodically revise figures, which complicates direct country-to-country rankings across seven decades [10] [7]. Some outlets note that citizenship laws and temporary registrations can inflate short-term counts (for example claims that some Russian-speakers claimed citizenship and soon returned), so short-window rankings (a single decade or year) can differ from cumulative totals since 1948 [1].
6. Conclusion — who contributed the largest numbers overall
Bringing the evidence together: cumulatively since 1948 the largest contributors are the former Soviet Union as a bloc (including Russia and Ukraine in later tallies) and the combined North African/Middle Eastern Jewish communities (Morocco, Iraq, Yemen and others), with major earlier single-country contributors including Romania and Poland and later significant inputs from France, the United States and Ethiopia; these conclusions are supported by Central Bureau of Statistics summaries, Jewish Agency tallies and academic histories cited above [7] [4] [2] [6] [1]. Where precise country rankings shift depends on whether one aggregates the FSU as a unit or separates its successor states, and on the time window examined — limitations explicitly noted in the underlying sources [10] [7].