Israel population tops 7.8 million

The population of Israel, including annexed Arab east Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, topped 7.8 million at the end of 2011, according to figures published Friday by the Central Bureau of Statistics. The 7,836,000 total was made up of 5,901,000 Jews (75.3%), 1,610,000 Arabs (20.5%) and 325,000 others (4.2%).
The total marked a 141,000 increase on the end of 2010 and represented an average population growth rate of 1.8% a year since 2003. The Central Bureau of Statistics counts among Israel's residents the roughly 270,000 Palestinians living in east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed in a move not recognised by the international community. It also counts the approximately 18,000 Druze residents of the Syrian Golan Heights, which Israel also captured in the Six Day War and later annexed. Nearly all have declined to take up Israeli citizenship.