Jerusalem's population size and composition has shifted many times over its 5,000 year history.
Most population data pre-1905 is based on estimates, often from foreign travellers or organisations, since previous census data usually covered wider areas such as the Jerusalem District.Usiel Oskar Schmelz, in Ottoman Palestine, 1800–1914: Studies in Economic and Social History, Gad G. Gilbar, Brill Archive, 1990 These estimates suggest that since the end of the Crusades, Muslims formed the largest group in Jerusalem until the mid-19th century. Between 1838 and 1876, a number of estimates exist which conflict as to whether Jews or Muslims were the largest group during this period, and between 1882 and 1922 estimates conflict as to exactly when Jews became a majority of the population.
In 2020, the population was 951,100, of which Jews comprised 570,100 (59.9%), Muslims 353.800 (37.2%), Christians 16.300 (1.7%), and 10,800 unclassified (1.1%).https://jerusaleminstitute.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/shnaton_C0922.pdf Jerusalem Institute
Overview Jerusalemites are of varied national, ethnic and religious denominations and include European, Asian and African Jews, Arabs of Sunni Shafi'i Muslim, Melkite Orthodox, Melkite Catholic, Latin Catholic, and Protestant backgrounds, Armenians of the Armenian Orthodox and Armenian Catholic, Assyrians largely of the Syriac Orthodox Church and Syriac Catholic Church, Maronites, and Copts.Final draft Many of these groups were once immigrants or pilgrims that have over time become near-indigenous populations and claim the importance of Jerusalem to their faith as their reason for moving to and being in the city.
Jerusalem's long history of conquests by competing and different powers has resulted in different groups living in the city many of whom have never fully identified or assimilated with a particular power, despite the length of their rule. Though they may have been citizens of that particular kingdom and empire and involved with civic activities and duties, these groups often saw themselves as distinct national groups (see Armenians, for example). The Ottoman millet system, whereby minorities in the Ottoman Empire were given the authority to govern themselves within the framework of the broader system, allowed these groups to retain autonomy and remain separate from other religious and national groups. Some Palestinian residents of the city prefer to use the term Maqdisi or Qudsi as a Palestinian demonym.
Historical population by religion The tables below provide data on demographic change over time in Jerusalem, with an emphasis on the Jewish population. Readers should be aware that the boundaries of Jerusalem have changed many times over the years and that Jerusalem may also refer to a district or even a subdistrict under Ottoman, British, or Israeli administration, see e.g. Jerusalem District. Thus, year-to-year comparisons may not be valid due to the varying geographic areas covered by the population censuses.
Persian period The population of Jerusalem during Persian rule in Judea (province of Yehud Medinata) is estimated at between 1,500 and 2,750.The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Ancient Israel
1st century Judea
During the First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE), the population of Jerusalem was estimated at 600,000 persons by Roman historian Tacitus, while Josephus estimated that there were as many as 1,100,000 who were killed in the war—though this number included people who did not belong to the city itself. Josephus also wrote that 97,000 Jews were sold as slaves. After the Roman victory over the Jews, as many as 115,880 dead bodies were carried out through one gate between the months of Nisan and Tammuz.
Modern estimates of Jerusalem's population during the final Roman Siege of Jerusalem in 70 (CE) are variously 70,398 by Wilkinson in 1974,Wilkinson, "Ancient Jerusalem, Its Water Supply and Population", PEFQS 106, pp. 33–51 (1974). 80,000 by Broshi in 1978,Estimating the Population of Ancient Jerusalem, Magen Broshi, BAR 4:02, Jun 1978 and 60,000–70,000 by Levine in 2002."According to Levine, because the new area encompassed by the Third Wall was not densely populated, assuming that it contained half the population of the rest of the city, there were between 60,000 and 70,000 people living in Jerusalem.", Rocca, "Herod's Judaea: A Mediterranean State in the Classical World", p. 333 (2008). Mohr Siebeck. According to Josephus, the populations of adult male scholarly sects were as follows: over 6,000 Pharisees, more than 4,000 Essenes and "a few" Sadducees.Antiquities of the Jews, 17.42 New Testament scholar Cousland notes that "recent estimates of the population of Jerusalem suggest something in the neighbourhood of a hundred thousand".Cousland, "The Crowds in the Gospel of Matthew", p. 60 (2002). Brill. A minimalist view is taken by Hillel Geva, who estimates from archaeological evidence that the population of Jerusalem before its 70 CE destruction was at most 20,000.
Middle Ages Al-Maqdisi, a 10th-century native of Jerusalem writing prior to the crusades, reports that "everywhere the Christians and Jews have the upper hand and the mosque is void of congregation".
Under Crusader rule, the Jewish presence in Jerusalem was nearly eradicated. Following the city's conquest in 1099, many Jews were killed, and those who survived were expelled. Baldwin I of Jerusalem (r. 1100–1118) formally reinstated the prohibition on Jewish settlement in the city. As a result, Jewish life in Jerusalem came to a near standstill during the 12th century. Based on contemporary Jewish travelers, including Benjamin of Tudela and Petachiah of Regensburg, by the 12th century, there were almost no Jews remaining in the city. Some survivors resettled in nearby cities such as Ascalon, which temporarily became a refuge for displaced Jewish communities.
After Saladin's reconquest of Jerusalem in 1187, a small Jewish community re-emerged, consisting of local, Maghrebi, and "Frankish" Jews. However, the destruction of Jerusalem’s walls in 1219 by Al-Mu'azzam Isa led to a new wave of Jewish flight, with many fleeing to Acre. A brief ban on Jewish residence returned when Frederick II took control in 1229, lasting until the city’s recovery in the mid-13th century. Under the Mamluks, the city remained relatively isolated, limiting Jewish resettlement to a small number of households primarily in shared neighborhoods with Christians.
Year Jews Muslims Christians Total Original source As quoted in c. 1130 0 0 30,000 30,000 ? Runciman 1267 2* ? ? ? Nahmanides, Jewish scholar 1471 250* ? ? ? ? Baron 1488 76* ? ? ? ? Baron 1489 200* ? ? ? ? Yaari, 1943 * Indicates families.
Early Ottoman era Year Jews Muslims Christians Total Original source As quoted in 1525–1526 1,194 3,704 714 5,612 Ottoman taxation registers* Cohen and Lewis The registers give counts of tax-paying households, bachelors, religious men, and disabled men. These figures show the estimated total population, following Cohen and Lewis by taking 6 as the average household size, which they call "conjectural" and note that other scholars have suggested averages between 5 and 7. 1538–1539 1,363 7,287 884 9,534 Ottoman taxation registers* Cohen and Lewis 1553–1554 1,958 12,154 1,956 16,068 Ottoman taxation registers* Cohen and Lewis 1596–1597 ? 8,740 252 ? Ottoman taxation registers* Cohen and Lewis 1723 2,000 ? ? ? Van Egmont & Heyman, Christian travellers
Modern era
Muslim "relative majority" Henry Light, who visited Jerusalem in 1814, reported that Muslims comprised the largest portion of the 12,000-person population, but that Jews made the greatest single sect. In 1818, Robert Richardson, family doctor to the Earl of Belmore, estimated the number of Jews to be 10,000, twice the number of Muslims.
Year Jews Muslims Christians Total Original source As quoted in 1806 2,000 4,000 2,774 8,774 Ulrich Jasper Seetzen, Frisian explorer Sharkansky, 1996 1815 4,000–5,000 ? ? 26,000 William Turner Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001 1817 3,000–4,000 13,000 3,250 19,750 Thomas R. Joliffe 1821 >4,000 8,000 James Silk Buckingham 1824 6,000 10,000 4,000 20,000 Fisk and King, Writers Fisk and King, 'Description of Jerusalem,' in The Christian Magazine, July 1824, page 220. Mendon Association, 1824. (The figures are preceded by the comment "the following estimate seems to us as probably correct as any one we have heard". The authors also note that, "some think the Jews more numerous than the Mussulmans.") 1832 4,000 13,000 3,560 20,560 Ferdinand de Géramb, French monk Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001
Muslim or Jewish "relative majority" Between 1838 and 1876, conflicting estimates exist regarding whether Muslims or Jews constituted a "relative majority" (or plurality) in the city.
Writing in 1841, the biblical scholar Edward Robinson noted the conflicting demographic estimates regarding Jerusalem during the period, stating in reference to an 1839 estimate attributed to the Moses Montefiore: "As to the Jews, the enumeration in question was made out by themselves, in the expectation of receiving a certain amount of alms for every name returned. It is therefore obvious that they here had as strong a motive to exaggerate their number, as they often have in other circumstances to underrate it. Besides, this number of 7000 rests merely on report; Sir Moses himself has published nothing on the subject; nor could his agent in London afford me any information so late as Nov. 1840." In 1843, Reverend F.C. Ewald, a Christian traveler visiting Jerusalem, reported an influx of 150 Jews from Algiers. He wrote that there were now a large number of Jews from the coast of Africa who were forming a separate congregation.Jerusalem Illustrated History Altas, Martin Gilbert, Jerusalem 1830–1850, p.37
From the mid-1850s, following the Crimean War, the expansion of Jerusalem outside of the Old City began, with institutions including the Russian Compound, Kerem Avraham, the Schneller Orphanage, Bishop Gobat school, and the Mishkenot Sha'ananim, events that marked the beginning of permanent settlement outside Jerusalem's Old City walls.
Between 1856 and 1880, Jewish immigration to Palestine more than doubled, with the majority settling in Jerusalem. The majority of these immigrants were Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe, who subsisted on Halukka.