TEL AVIV – In recent years, Israel has become a country from which a record number of residents are leaving. According to a recent report by the Knesset Research and Information Centre, presented at the end of November 2025, between 2020 and 2024, a total of 145,900 more people left the country than returned – one of the sharpest migration shifts in recent decades. The report states that departures increased significantly after 2022, with the largest increase coming after the outbreak of war in October 2023.
According to the report, 59,400 people left in 2022, and 82,800 left a year later — an increase of 39 per cent. Statistics from the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) confirm that the exodus continued at a similar pace in 2024. According to data from 2024, approximately 82,700 citizens left the country, while only about 23,800 people returned during the same period. This clearly deepened the „net outflow“ — the number of people leaving has long exceeded the number of those returning.
Chair of the Committee on Immigration and Diasporas in Parliament, Member of Parliament Gilad Kariv, described the situation as „a tsunami of Israelis who have decided to leave the country“. According to him, this is no longer a temporary wave, but a trend that has the potential to fundamentally change the demographic and social composition of the state.
At the same time, a new survey by the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) from November 2025 shows that roughly a quarter of Israeli citizens are actively considering emigration. Among the Arab minority, this proportion is even higher. The survey materials show that the willingness to leave is reported primarily by young, secular, university-educated people with expertise that can be used abroad, typically in the fields of high-tech, medicine or finance. Europe is often among the preferred destinations, suggesting that leaving Israel may not be temporary, but may mean permanent emigration.
The reasons cited by respondents include rising living costs, security concerns, political uncertainty and pessimistic prospects for their children's future. According to experts, these factors lead to decisions about radical life changes — often without a specific idea of where exactly to go.
While Israel has long been among the countries with high immigration, current statistical trends indicate that emigration from the country exceeds immigration — not only temporarily, but permanently. For Europe, including countries such as the Czech Republic, a new wave of emigration may be on the horizon.
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