From Daniel to Shira: Israel's most popular baby names
Interior Ministry says 176,230 babies born in Jewish year 5774, as Tamar tops most popular girl name.
Figures released Sunday by the Population, Immigration and Border Authority show an increase of nearly 200,000 people. he Interior Ministry said the total population stood at 8,904,374, a marked increase from 8,730,562 last year.
In previous years, a gap of some half million Israelis existed between the ministry data and the figures released by the Central Bureau of Statistics – which presents a lower number.
The differing figures are likely caused by the number of Israelis who reside abroad, which are counted by the Interior Ministry but not by the CBS.
In the Jewish year 5774 – minus the few days left to its end – 176,230 babies were born.
The most popular name of the year was Tamar, for girls, and Yosef, for boys. They were followed by Noa and Daniel, respectively.
Aliyah to Israel also helped boost the population figure, with 24,801 arriving in the Jewish year 5774.
"For the first time in the history of Israel, there are more than 6 million Jews in the country; that number has a double meaning given the history of our people over the past century," said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the start of the weekly ministerial meeting.
"While we never lack constant challenges from all sides I think that we proved over the past year that we can overcome them. Our strongest quality is the unity of the people and the heroism of our soldiers in repelling one of these threats and dealing a severe blow to our enemies on the southern border," said Netanyahu.
Netanyahu extended a holiday greeting for Rosh Hashana. "On the eve of our holiday, I would like to send our best wishes for a full and rapid recovery to the wounded IDF soldiers and citizens and at the same time send our deepest condolences to the families of the fallen.
"I would also like to commend the entire people of Israel for the determination and unity that they showed during Operation Protective Edge. I would like to send them greetings from the ministers and myself that they should now have the vacation that was denied them during the summer. Be with your families and above all, have a happy, quiet and safe year."
In the past year, 18,638,796 people passed through Israel's borders, including 7,893,749 foreigners.
Michal Margalit and Yaron Druckman contributed to this report.
