In addition, the average marriage age has increased, and Muslim women have more degrees than their male counterparts.
The growth in Israel’s Muslim population is slowing, according to government statistics released in mid-June. Muslims now account for 18.1 percent of the country’s population, or a total of 1.782 million people, as estimated by the Central Bureau of Statistics.
The total Muslim population grew by 2.0% during 2023, a slight decrease on the 2.2% growth the previous year and close to half the 3.8% rate of growth recorded in the year 2000.
The overall trend is towards a more gradual increase, as reflected in the population’s total fertility rate — the number of children born per woman in the population. The figure for Muslim women was 2.91 in 2022 (the latest available figures) compared to 3.03 children for a Jewish woman, 1.85 for a Druze woman, 1.68 for a Christian woman and 1.26 for women not classified by religion.
