Jerusalem, 24 December, 2025 (TPS-IL) — On Christmas Eve 2025, there are approximately 184,200 Christians living in Israel , which is roughly (1.9%) of the Israeli population. This is according to the data on Israel’s Christian communities published by the Central Bureau of Statistics ahead of Christmas.
In 2024, the Christian population grew by 0.7%.
78.7% of Christians in Israel are Arab Christians, 6.8% of the total Arab population in Israel.
Most Arab Christians live in the Northern District and Haifa District (68.3% and 14.7%, respectively).
42.0% of non-Arab Christians live in the Tel Aviv District and the Central District, 33.9% in the Northern District and the Haifa District.
The localities with the largest Arab Christian population are: Nazareth (18.9 thousand), Haifa (18.8 thousand), Jerusalem (13,400) and Nof HaGalil (10,800).
In 2024, 2,134 babies were born to Christian women, of whom about 73% were to Arab Christian women (1,568 newborns).
The average household size in Christian-headed households was estimated at 2.89 persons, lower than Jewish-headed households (3.02) and Muslim-headed households (4.35).
The average number of children up to the age of 17 in Christian families with children up to that age was 1.97, of which 1.98 in Arab Christian families. These figures are low compared to Jewish families (2.45) and Muslim families (2.58).
Education and enlightenment
In the 2024/25 school year, 26,240 Christian students studied in elementary and secondary education , representing 1.3% of all students.
87.7% of Christian students in 12th grade in 2023/24 were eligible for a matriculation certificate .
52.6% of Arab Christians and 30.3% of non-Arab Christians continued their undergraduate studies within 8 years of graduating from high school , compared to only 34.4% of all high school graduates in Arab education and 47.3% of all high school graduates in Hebrew education.
In 2024/25, there were 6,700 Christian students registered in higher education studies, which is 2.2% of all students in higher education institutions in Israel. In addition to them, another 500 Christian students studied at the Open University.