--- description: Roughly 70 years after the close of World War II, global Jewish population returns to 16.5 million title: Global Jewish Population Nears Pre-Holocaust Levels image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [faith](/tag/faith/) ## faith Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Global Jewish Population Approaches Pre-Holocaust Levels by [Alexandra Sifferlin](/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 29, 2015 4:10 PM CUT by [Alexandra Sifferlin](/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 29, 2015 4:10 PM CUT The global Jewish population is nearly as large as it was before the Holocaust, according to a new tally released by an Israeli think tank on Monday. A report by the Jerusalem-based Jewish People Policy Institute estimates that the global Jewish population has reached 14.2 million people. If accounting for people with one Jewish parent and people who identify as partially Jewish, the number reaches close to pre-Holocaust levels of 16.5 million, [the Associated Press reports](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML%5FISRAEL%5FJEWS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT "undefined"). The report says that the rise is due to natural growth, mainly in Israel. In addition, 59% of adult children in the U.S. who have one Jewish parent say they identify as Jewish. About 6 million Jewish people were killed during the Holocaust. \[[_AP_](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML%5FISRAEL%5FJEWS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT "undefined")\] ### World War II Erupts: Color Photos From the Invasion of Poland, 1939  Refugees near Warsaw during the 1939 German invasion of Poland. (Sign reads, 'Danger Zone -- Do Not Proceed.') Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Burned-out tank, Warsaw, 1939. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Adolf Hitler (right) prepares to fly to the Polish front, 1939. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Post-invasion Poland, 1939. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Unfinished Polish bombers, 1939. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Near Sochaczew during the German invasion of Poland, 1939. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Polish soldiers captured by Germans during the invasion of Poland, 1939. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Polish soldiers and a Red Cross nurse captured during the invasion of Poland, 1939. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Captured Polish soldiers, 1939. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  German troops prepare for victory parade after the invasion of Poland, 1939. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  German victory parade in Warsaw after the invasion of Poland, 1939\. (Hitler is on platform, arm raised in Nazi salute.) Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Adolf Hitler views victory parade in Warsaw after the German invasion of Poland, 1939. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Right to left, front row: Adjutant Wilhelm Brueckner, Luftwaffe fighter ace Adolf Galland, Gen. Albert Kesselring and Gen. Johannes Blaskowitz view the victory parade in Warsaw after the German invasion of Poland, 1939. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Head of the SS Heinrich Himmler (right), one of the chief architects of the Holocaust, speaks with an unidentified officer in Warsaw after German invasion of Poland, 1939. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Warsaw citizens buried their dead in parks and streets after the invasion of Poland, 1939. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Warsaw citizens buried their dead in parks and streets after the invasion of Poland, 1939. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Street scene following the German invasion of Poland, 1939. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  German nationals prepare for repatriation during the invasion of Poland, 1939. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Polish farmers and peasants flee German military during invasion of their country, 1939. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Polish women clean captured Polish guns in Modlin Fortress, north of Warsaw, 1939. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Jewish women and children in Gostynin, Poland, after the German invasion, 1939. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Polish refugees, Warsaw, 1939. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Warsaw, 1939. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Near Modlin Fortress, Poland, 1939. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Near Modlin Fortress, Poland, 1939. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene in post-invasion Poland, 1939. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Poles stand beneath monument to Polish patriot, Jan Kiliński, 1939. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Near Sochaczew during the German invasion of Poland, 1939. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Near Danzig after the German conquest of Poland, 1939. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Flea market in post-invasion Warsaw Ghetto, 1940. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Near Warsaw, fall 1939; sign points to the battle front. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3939972/global-jewish-population/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3939972/global-jewish-population/"},"headline":"Global Jewish Population Approaches Pre-Holocaust Levels","datePublished":"2015-06-29T16:10:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:02:44.375Z","description":"Roughly 70 years after the close of World War II, global Jewish population returns to 16.5 million","url":"https://time.com/3939972/global-jewish-population/","keywords":["faith","Jewish","Holocaust"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/faith/","name":"faith"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3939972/global-jewish-population/","name":"Global Jewish Population Approaches Pre-Holocaust Levels"}}]}] ```