Immigration Down Compared to 1996

Immigration to Israel fell by 7% in 1997, to 66,000, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported. 83% (54,600) of the new immigrants in 1997 arrived from the republics of the former Soviet Union. Since the beginning of the latest wave of immigration (1989), 846,400 new immigrants have arrived in Israel with approximately 85% of them being from the CIS republics. The bureau noted that immigration from the USA, after having risen between 1991-1996, fell from 2,000 in 1996 to 1,800 in 1997.