This holiday celebrates the greatest miracle ever, the establishment of the State of Israel. Israel has been the focus of Jewish life, for more than 5,000 years.

    The population of Israel has reached 6,780,000 - more than an eight-fold increase since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, when the population numbered 806,000. Three million people have immigrated to Israel since 1948, more than one million of them since 1990; 21,000 immigrated in the past year. The Jewish population of Israel stands at almost 5.5 million (39% of world Jewry); the non-Jewish population is approximately 1.3 million (82% of them Muslims, 9% Christians and 9% Druze).

    A wave of Jewish immigration beginning in 1989, predominantly from the countries of the former U.S.S.R.,  brought nearly a million new citizens to Israel. These new immigrants, many of them highly educated, now constitute about 13% of Israel's 6.7 million inhabitants. Their successful absorption into Israeli society and its labor force forms a remarkable chapter in Israeli history. The skills brought by the new immigrants gave the Israeli economy a strong upward push in the 1990’s.  Israel is a global leader in the high-tech and medical sectors.