The largest number of Russian Jews now live in Israel. Israel is home to a core Russian-Jewish population of 900,000, and an enlarged population of 1,200,000. The Aliyah in the 1990s accounts for 85–90% of this population. The population growth rate for Former Soviet Union immigrants were among the lowest for any Israeli groups, with a fertility rate of 1.70 and natural increase of just +0.5% per year. The increase in Jewish birth rate in Israel during the 2000–2007 period was partly due to the increasing birth rate among the FSU immigrants, who now form 20% of the Jewish population of Israel. 96.5% of the enlarged Russian Jewish population in Israel is either Jewish or non-religious, while 3.5% belongs to other religions and about 10,000 so-called "messianic Jews". The Total Fertility Rate for FSU immigrants in Israel is given in the table below. The TFR increased with time, peaking in 1997, then slightly decreased after that, and then again increased after 2000. In 1999, about 1,037,000 FSU immigrants lived in Israel, of whom about 738,900 immigrated after 1989. The second largest ethnic group numbered just 1,000,000. From 2000–2006, 142,638 FSU immigrants moved to Israel. While 70,000 of them emigrated from Israel to countries like the U.S. and Canada, bringing the total population to 1,150,000 by 2007 January. The natural increase was around 0.3% in late 1990s. For example 2,456 in 1996, 2,819 in 1997, 2,959 in 1998 and 2,970 in 1999. In 1999, the natural growth was +0.385%.. An estimated 45,000 illegal immigrants from the Former Soviet Union lived in Israel during the end of 2010, but it is not clear how many of them are actually Jews. Currently, Russia has the highest rate of aliyah to Israel among any other country. In 2013, 7,520 people, nearly 40% of all olim, immigrated to Israel from the former Soviet Union.
Political history
Russian Jews have been very dominant in Israeli politics, due to large number of Russian Jews occupied in the official positions of Israeli Government. Former Israeli Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, claimed ancestry from former Soviet Union's Moldova. Many Russian Jews maintain their tie with Russian motherland, and play an important role on the relationship between Russia and Israel.
Demographics
Russian-speaking Jews in Israel include an enlarged population of 1,200,000, if including Halakhally non-Jewish members of Jewish households. 96.5% of the enlarged Russian Jewish population in Israel is either Jewish or non-religious, while 3.5% belong to other religions and about 10,000 identifying as Messianic Jews separate from Jewish Christians.
Jews (of all Russian-speaking Jewish ethnic groups)
Soviet and Russian-origin Jews form a core population of around 900,000 in Israel, as of 2007.
Mixed families
Some 300,000 Halakhally non-Jewish members of Jewish households lived in Israel, as of 2007.
