At the end of 2021, the population of Ethiopian origin in Israel numbered 164,400 residents. Approximately 90,600 were born in Ethiopia, and 73,800 were Israeli-born with fathers born in Ethiopia.
In 2021, 1,755 immigrants arrived in Israel from Ethiopia.
Approximately 63% of the population of Ethiopian origin lives in two main districts: about 37% live in the Central District and about 26% live in the Southern District. At the end of 2021, the urban locality with the highest number of residents of Ethiopian origin was Netanya (approximately 12,000 persons). However, the highest percentage of residents of Ethiopian origin out of the total population in a locality was found in Qiryat Mal'akhi (15.5%).
Live births: In 2021, 3,895 infants were born to women of Ethiopian origin in Israel. That year, the average number of children that a woman of Ethiopian origin is expected to bear during her lifetime was 2.72.
During the 2020/21 school year, 32,619 students of Ethiopian origin – 2.3% of the total population of students in the Hebrew education system – were enrolled in primary and secondary schools.
The percentage of 12th-grade students of Ethiopian origin taking matriculation exams was 94% in 2020/21, compared with 95.3% of the overall Hebrew education sector (excluding Ultra-Orthodox supervision). The percentage of those eligible for a matriculation certificate that meets university entrance requirements has been rising in recent years.
The percentage of those who went on to study for a first degree at academic colleges was higher among persons of Ethiopian origin than the percentage of all students in the Hebrew education sector (54.8% versus 40.8%, respectively).
The number of students of Ethiopian origin in institutions of higher education (excl. the Open University) has been increasing in recent years: from 3,194 in 2016/17 to 3,962 in 2021/22, an increase of 24.0%. The number of students overall increased by 11.7%.
In 2020, 984 students of Ethiopian origin attended vocational training courses, which is 2.6% of all students in training in that year.
There were 1,836 active athletes of Ethiopian origin in 2020/21, approximately 1.8% of the total number of active athletes.
Approximately 25,000 Ethiopian-born persons (a rate of about 279.4 per 1,000 persons) and 18,200 of the Ethiopian-born persons (a rate of approximately 251.0 per 1,000 persons) were registered at the Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs in 2021.
The percentage of persons of Ethiopian origin who were judged in criminal trials constituted 7.1% of the total number of residents of Israel in the Jewish and Other population who were judged. The percentage of juveniles of Ethiopian origin was much higher than that of adults (11.1% versus 6.7%, respectively).
