<P> While dozens of countries host at least a small Jewish population, the community is concentrated in a handful: Israel and the United States account for 83% of the Jewish population, while a total of 98 countries host the other 17% . </P> <P> With just over 6 million Jews, Israel is the only Jewish majority and explicitly Jewish state . Jewish population figures for the United States are contested, ranging between 5.7 and 6.8 million . (The core global total of Jews jumps above 15 million if the highest American estimates are assumed). Other countries with a significant Jewish population are, like Israel and the United States, typically well - developed Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development members with Jews concentrated in major urban centers . </P> <P> In 1939, the core Jewish population reached its historical peak of 17 million (0.8% of the global population). Due to the Holocaust, the number was reduced to 11 million in 1945 . The population grew to around 13 million by the 1970s, and then recorded near - zero growth until around 2005 due to low fertility rates and to assimilation . Since 2005, the world's Jewish population grew modestly at an annual rate of around 0.78% (to 2013). This increase primarily reflected the rapid growth of Haredi and some Orthodox sectors, who are becoming a growing proportion of Jews . </P> <P> Recent Jewish population dynamics are characterized by continued steady increase in the Israeli Jewish population and flat or declining numbers in other countries (the diaspora). The Jewish population of Israel increased from the country's inception in 1948 to 6,135,000 in 2014 while the population of the diaspora has dropped from 10.5 to 8.1 million over the same period . Current Israeli Jewish demographics are characterized by a relatively high fertility rate of 3 children per woman and a stable age distribution . The overall growth rate of Jews in Israel is 1.7% annually . The diaspora countries, by contrast, have low Jewish birth rates, an increasingly elderly age composition, and a negative balance of people leaving Judaism versus those joining . </P>

What is the percentage of jewish population in the world