Monday 20 September 2010

22nd century - a Europe without Jews ?

In 2080 there will only be 600,000 Jews left in Europe.

Is is estimated that at present there are just over one million Jews in Europe. Every year a significant number of them leave Europe to settle in Israel, the United States, Canada, Australia. (Take the steady flow of departures from France to Israel in 2005: 2,951, 2006: 2,801, 2007: 2,715, 2008: 1;867, 2009: 1,909).  It is anticipated that by 2080 only 600,000 Jews will be living in Europe. It seems that the world will see a 22nd century Europe without Jews.

André Kaspi, a French historian teaching the history of North America at the Sorbonne, writes in his book about American Jews ("Les Juifs américains"):

"After the Holocaust, there were 11 million Jews in the entire planet. Sixty years later, the total rose to 13 million, or 0.20% of world population. In 2080, it is forecast that there will be 15.5 million Jews in the world, assuming an average fertility rate. In addition to the 4 or 5 million that it is assumed will be living in the United States; 10.5 million in Israel, i.e. 67.8%; and 600,000 in Europe. "

Given this demographic trend, a number of controversies which agitate so many Europeans and European Jews - a slowly vanishing population - seem irrelevant.

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