Abstract
With a population of 8.8 million, Israel is a small country situated in Western Asia. Jews form the majority of the population, however, there are significant Muslim, Christian and Druze minorities. Israel is well served by information on internal migration, with data collected by population register, census and surveys. Annual register data suggest that the Israeli population is relatively mobile by Asian standards, with an ACMI averaging around 7% per annum in the thirty years to 2015. There are, however, significant differences between Jews and non-Jews, with the latter less mobile than the former. Compared with other Asian countries, migration peaks at slightly older ages, reflecting late departures from the parental home. With more than 90% of its population resident in cities, Israel is at a late stage in the urban transition. As a consequence, there are significant urban-to-urban and counter-urban flows. Overall, however, mobility is relatively well balanced across the settlement system. These low levels of migration effectiveness offset moderate intensities, limiting population redistribution between sub-districts to less than 0.2% annually. Despite its low impact, differences in the intensity and spatial patterns of mobility across religious and ethnic groups have led to both segregation and assimilation in the population, with important policy implications.
In memory of Sidney Goldstein (1927–2019).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
Throughout this chapter, the term ‘Jews’ or ‘Jewish Population’ refers to a distinct and defined category in all official data in Israel of people who are Jewish according to the Jewish religious law (Halacha) namely, have a Jewish mother or underwent an Orthodox conversion.
- 2.
Unless otherwise specified, in the following text Jerusalem refers to both the West and East parts of the city.
- 3.
Due to space limitation we do not present a table with these findings. The data are available on request from the author
- 4.
MERRU = (MRU-URr)/(MRU + MUR)∗100 where MRU is the number of migrants from rural to urban localities and MUR is the number of migrants from urban to rural localities. The values of this measure vary from −100 to +100, with positive values signifying a net gain for urban areas and negative values a net balance for rural areas. The magnitude of the indicator reflects the power of movement in redistributing the population (see Chap. 3 in this volume).
References
Alfendari, T., & Shefer, D. (1992). Migration to and from developing towns in Israel. Haifa: Technion – Israel Institute of Technology (In Hebrew).
Baron, M. (1990). Labor force participation in non-metropolitan disadvantage towns (Vol. 7). Jerusalem: Israel Social Science Research.
Bartal, A. P., & Koch, M. J. (1991). Internal migration of the U.S. immigrants. In J. M. Abowd & R. B. Freeman (Eds.), Immigration, trade, and the labor market (pp. 121–134). Chicago/London: The University of Chicago Press.
Bell, M., Blake, M., Boyle, P., Duke-Williams, O., Rees, P., Stillwell, J., & Hugo, G. (2002). Cross-national comparison of internal migration: Issues and measures. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society A, 165(3), 435–464. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-985X.t01-1-00247.
Ben-Moshe, E. (1989). Internal migration processes in Israel: Demographic, ethnic and social aspects. Jerusalem: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. PhD thesis (In Hebrew).
Bernard, A., & Bell, M. (2018). Educational selectivity of internal migrants: A global assessment. Demographic Research, 39(29), 835–854. https://doi.org/10.4054/DemRes.2018.39.29.
Bogue, D. J. (1959). The population of the United States. New York: Free Press.
Borukhov, E. (1995). Immigrant housing and its impact on the construction industry. In M. Sicron & L. Elazar (Eds.), Profile of an immigration wave: The absorption process of immigrants from the former Soviet Union, 1990–1995 (pp. 207–231). Jerusalem: Magnes Press.
Braude, K., & Navon, G. (2006). Internal migration in Israel. Jerusalem: Research Department, Bank of Israel (In Hebrew).
Brown, D. L., & Schafft, K. A. (2011). Rural people and communities in the 21st century: Resilience and transformation. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Charles-Edwards, E., Bell, M., Bernard, A., & Zhu, Y. (2019). Comparing internal migration in the countries of Asia: Levels, ages and spatial impact. Asian Population Studies, 15(2), 150–171.
Cohen, E. (1970). The city in the Zionist ideology. Jerusalem: Institute for Urban and Regional Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
DellaPergola, S. (2017). World Jewish population, 2017. In A. Dashefsky & I. Sheskin (Eds.), American Jewish year book 2017 (Vol. 117, pp. 297–377). Cham: Springer.
Eisenstadt, S. N. (1973). Israeli society: Background, development, problems. Jerusalem: Magnes Press.
Fulton, J. A., Fuguitt, G. V., & Gibson, R. M. (1997). Recent changes in metropolitan-nonmetropolitan migration streams. Rural Sociology, 62(3), 363–384.
Goldscheider, C. (2015). Israeli society in the 21stcentury: Immigration, inequality, and religious conflict. Waltham: Brandeis University Press.
Gurak, D. T., & Kritz, M. M. (2000). The interstate migration of U.S. immigrants: Individual and contextual determinants. Social Forces, 78(3), 1017–1039.
Hasson, S. (1995). Geographic patterns of the immigrants’ internal migration. In M. Sicron & L. Elazar (Eds.), Profile of an immigration wave: The absorption process of immigrants from the former Soviet Union, 1990–1995 (pp. 270–290). Jerusalem: Magnes Press.
Hleihel, A. (2011). Fertility of Jewish and Muslim women in Israel by their level of religiosity during 1979–2009 (Central Bureau of Statistics Working Paper, series 60). Jerusalem (In Hebrew).
ICBS Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. (2018). Statistical summary. http://www.cbs.gov.il/ts/ID95ce118a110d13/.
ICBS Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. (various years). Statistical abstract of Israel. https://www.cbs.gov.il/en/publications/Pages/2019/Statistical-Abstract-of-Israel-2019-No-70.aspx
Kirschenbaum, A. (1992). Migration and urbanization: Patterns of population redistribution and urban growth. In C. Goldscheider (Ed.), Population & social change in Israel (pp. 65–88). Boulder: Westview Press.
Kritz, M. M., & Nogle, J. (1994). Nativity concentration and internal migration among the foreign-born. Demography, 31(3), 509–524.
Lee, E. S. (1966). A theory of migration. Demography, 3, 47–57.
Lichter, D. T., & Brown, D. L. (2011). Rural America in an urban society: Changing spatial and social boundaries. Annual Review of Sociology, 37(1), 565–592.
Lipshitz, G. (1991). Internal migration in Israel within a core-periphery structure. The Pennsylvania Geographer, 29, 34–35.
Lipshitz, G. (1998). Country on the move: Migration to and within Israel, 1948–1995. Dordrecht/Boston/London: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Long, L. (1988). Migration and redistribution mobility in the United States. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Newbold, B. K. (1996). Internal migration of the foreign-born in Canada. International Migration Review, 30(3), 728–747.
Newman, D. (2000). Internal migration in Israel: From periphery to center – From rural to urban. In D. J. Elazar & M. Weinfeld (Eds.), Still moving: Recent Jewish migration in comparative perspective (pp. 205–226). New Brunswick/London: Transaction Publishers.
OECD. (2017). Secretary-General’s report to ministers, 2017. Paris: France.
Rebhun, U. (1989/1990). Changes in the geographical distribution of the Israeli population in 1972–1983. Horizons: Studies in Geography, 30, 21–46 (In Hebrew).
Rebhun, U. (2004). Major trends in the development of Israeli Jews: A synthesis of the last century. In U. Rebhun & C. I. Waxman (Eds.), Jews in Israel: Contemporary social and cultural patterns (pp. 3–19). Hanover/London: Brandeis University Press/University Press of New England.
Rebhun, U. (2006). Nativity concentration and internal migration among the foreign-born in Israel, 1990–1995. Revue Europeenne des Migrations Internationales (REMi), 22(1), 107–130.
Rebhun, U. (2015). Geographic dispersion and mobility of Jews in Israel. In E. Lederhendler & U. Rebhun (Eds.), Research in Jewish demography and identity (pp. 326–354). Boston: Academic Studies Press.
Rebhun, U., & Brown, D. L. (2015). Patterns and selectivities of urban/rural migration in Israel. Demographic Research, 33(5), 113–144.
Rees, P., Bell, M., Kupiszewski, M., Kupiszewska, D., Ueffing, P., Bernard, A., Charles-Edwards, E., & Stillwell, J. (2017). The impact of internal migration on population redistribution: An international comparison. Population, Space, and Place, 23(6), 1–22.
Rogers, A., Henning, S., & Little, J. (1995). The formal demography of immigration and spatial population redistribution in the United States (Working Paper 95-1). Population program, Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado at Boulder.
Schwartz, D. (1990). A town profile – A new classification of the development towns. Economic Quarterly, 145, 194–209 (In Hebrew).
Senor, D., & Singer, S. (2009). Start-up nation: The story of Israel’s economic miracle. New York/Boston: Twelve.
Shachar, A. (1975). Patterns of population densities in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. Environment and Planning A, 7, 271–291.
Shapira, A. (2012). Israel: A history. Waltham: Brandeis University Press.
Shefer, D., Frenkel, A., & Roper, S. (2001). Innovation and plant characteristics of high-technology firms in Israel and Ireland. In D. Felstein, R. McQuaid, P. McCann, & D. Shefer (Eds.), Public investment and regional economic development (pp. 109–119). Cheltenham/Northampton: Edward Elgar.
Shryock, H. S., Stockwell, E. G., & Siegel, J. S. (1976). The methods and materials of demography. San Diego: Academic.
Sicron, M. (2004). Demography: Israel’s population – Characteristics and trends. Jerusalem: Carmel (In Hebrew).
Trading Economics. (n.d.). https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/home-ownership-rate
United Nations. (2016). Human development report 2016. New York: United Nations Development Programme.
United Nations. (2019). World population prospects. New York: United Nations Development Programme.
White, M. J., & Mueser, P. R. (1994). Changes in the demographic determinants of US population mobility: 1940–1980. Review of Regional Studies, 24, 245–264.
Yakobson, A., & Rubinstein, A. (2008). Israel and the family of nations: Jewish nation-state and human rights. London: Routledge.
Acknowledgments
I wish to thank Dr. Ahmad Hlihel and Yifat Shani from the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics for their kind help in preparing some of the raw data utilized in this chapter.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rebhun, U. (2020). Internal Migration in Israel. In: Bell, M., Bernard, A., Charles-Edwards, E., Zhu, Y. (eds) Internal Migration in the Countries of Asia. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44010-7_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44010-7_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-44009-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-44010-7
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)