99,000 people left Israel over two years — CBC

In 2023–2024, 99,000 Israelis left Israel, according to a study by economist Itai Ater and his colleagues based on data from the country’s Central Bureau of Statistics. As CBC reports, 50,000 people left the country in 2023 and another 49,000 in 2024.

The authors counted Israelis who left for at least three months and remained outside the country for more than 270 days during the first year after departure. Ater, a professor at the Coller School of Management at Tel Aviv University, said preliminary data indicate that this trend will continue in 2025.

Outflow of specialists

The study also recorded an increase in the number of specialists leaving the country. In 2023–2024, the net outflow of engineers amounted to 2,360 people and that of doctors to 509. Ater called human capital critically important for the Israeli economy, particularly for the technology sector, academia and the healthcare system.

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Liam Schwartz, head of the corporate immigration department at the Goldfarb, Gross, Seligman law firm, said that some Israeli companies are considering moving part of their staff to North America or Europe. According to him, this is linked to investors’ concerns about the viability of business operations in the country.

Elections and uncertainty

Against the backdrop of upcoming parliamentary elections, Ater and Schwartz suggest that their outcome may affect the pace of emigration. According to polls, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc may fail to win the 61 seats in the Knesset needed to form a government. The bloc led by Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot is projected to win the most seats, but it will also not have a majority.

Schwartz links part of the public discontent to the judicial reform initiative proposed by the government in January 2023. In his view, the elections will be an important moment for the further dynamics of emigration.