TEL AVIV (Realist English). Israel, founded as a haven for Jews from around the world, is facing an unprecedented demographic challenge.
From 2023 to 2026, approximately 150,000 Israelis have left the country – the largest wave of emigration in the state’s history.
For the first time in 100 years, a sustained negative migration balance has been recorded for several consecutive years. The exodus, which experts are already calling an “exceptional phenomenon,” threatens not only the economy but also the social fabric and defence capabilities of the country.
Scale: more than 40,000 per year
According to a study by Tel Aviv University researchers, about 100,000 people left Israel in 2023–2024. In 2025, an estimated additional 45,000–50,000 emigrated, bringing the total number of those who have left over three years to 150,000.
According to alternative calculations (counting those leaving for more than three months), nearly 91,000 Israelis left in 2025 – compared to an annual average of 60,000 in the previous decade. The net migration balance was negative in both 2023 and 2024 – for the first time since the 1980s.
Reasons: war, politics and loss of hope
Three key factors are fuelling the exodus:
Ongoing war. Three years of conflict, which began on 7 October 2023, have turned life in Israel into a constant “fight or flight” existence. Thousands of rockets launched by Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran have made bomb shelters part of everyday reality. One emigrant, a 30‑year‑old real estate professional, admitted that the decisive moment came when a five‑year‑old neighbour boy told him he would see him in the bomb shelter that evening.
Political crisis and polarisation. The government of Benjamin Netanyahu, which has been pushing for judicial reform since 2023, has provoked the deepest internal crisis in the country’s history. For many Israelis, this was the last straw. As neuroscientist Hagai Agmon‑Snir, who moved to Italy, put it: “It is no longer possible to be part of what is happening here.” Researcher Lilash Liv‑Ari notes that the political climate has become one of the key reasons for emigration.
Economic pressure and brain drain. War and inflation have driven up the cost of living. But the authorities’ main concern is the loss of highly paid professionals. A recent study by Israel’s Tax Authority showed an increase in the number of high‑income emigrants. The high‑tech sector – the engine of Israel’s economy – is losing talent: according to the Innovation Authority, only 62% of employees in private high‑tech companies work in Israel, compared to 69% in 2019. For the first time in a decade, the number of R&D employees has declined – approximately 3,500 specialists have been lost. Financial posts and decision‑making centres are moving abroad.
Who is leaving: educated, affluent, young
Emigration has affected the most productive segments of society. According to CBS data, 83,000 people left the country in 2024, 81% of whom were under 49.
Among those leaving are doctors, engineers, teachers and entrepreneurs. There is a growing number of those leaving for ideological reasons – due to disagreement with the political course.
Government and public reaction
The authorities are alarmed. In 2025, an emergency meeting of the National Security Council was convened on the issue of “encouraging voluntary emigration.” However, data for 2025 has not yet been published, and analysts fear that the negative balance will persist.
Public concern is growing. Miriam Peretz, mother of two sons killed in military service, addressed potential emigrants: “What is the test of love? Not when it’s easy, but when it’s hard.” Other experts, however, warn that the current exodus may not be just a temporary wave, but the beginning of a structural crisis.
Israel finds itself in a paradoxical situation: a country created as a magnetic centre for Jewish immigration is now facing a sustained outflow of its own population. Netanyahu, who proclaimed himself a “guarantor of security,” is now forced to answer the question: why do his citizens prefer to seek peace abroad rather than in Tel Aviv’s shelters?
The economic consequences are already tangible: a shrinking tax base, capital flight and a weakening innovation sector. But the strategic challenge is deeper – if Israel ceases to be a magnet for Jews and becomes a country that its own citizens are leaving, its future as a national homeland will be called into question.
As emigration continues to gain momentum, the government is searching for answers. Time will tell whether the country can halt the exodus – or whether the “exodus” will become the new normal.
