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The number of Israelis returning to the country after living abroad fell by 58% in 2025 compared with 2009, according to data presented Monday to a Knesset committee examining rising emigration among Israelis, amid estimates that nearly 1 million citizens now live outside the country.
The figures, compiled by the Knesset Research and Information Center, were presented during a session of the Committee for Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs, according to the Israeli parliament's official website.
They showed that 4,483 Israelis returned to the country in 2025, compared with 10,903 in 2009.
Between 2005 and 2024, roughly 141,000 Israelis returned home after living abroad, an annual average of about 7,000, the center said.
Nearly half of those who returned, 45%, had been living in the United States, according to the center's analysis. Britain accounted for 6% of returnees, Canada 5% and France 4%. Germany, Russia, Romania and Ukraine each accounted for 3%, while Australia, Italy and Moldova each accounted for 2%.
More than a quarter of returnees were minors, and 47% were between the ages of 28 and 60. About 70% had lived abroad for at least five years before returning.
Gilad Kariv, who chairs the committee, accused the government of failing to act on the trend. "Since our last discussion on this issue, additional data have been published indicating a decline in the number of Israelis returning to Israel," he said.
Kariv said the committee had urged the government to draft a five-year plan to encourage Israelis abroad to return, noting that a similar initiative launched in 2010 had not been renewed since. He said the panel had put forward a series of proposed measures that went unheeded.
"We presented a wide range of measures that could be taken to encourage Israelis to return to their homeland, but unfortunately, the government chose to ignore our recommendations," he said.
He added that no roundtable had been established to study the issue and said there is currently no government body specifically tasked with addressing emigration.
The committee also heard about an outflow of medical professionals. Itai Ater, a professor at Tel Aviv University, told the panel that departures among doctors have risen while the number returning has dropped.
"We are seeing an increase in the number of doctors leaving Israel and a decline in the number of those choosing to return," he said.
Ater noted that senior, highly experienced doctors make up about 20% of those leaving, and that other countries have offered incentives to attract medical staff.
The newspaper Haaretz reported Sunday on a Tel Aviv University study showing that at least 1,370 doctors left Israel between 2023 and 2025.
One in five who left during that period was over 45, a pattern the study characterized as concerning.
A separate report by Israel's Finance Ministry found that about 24% of specialist doctors at public hospitals are expected to reach retirement age in coming years, while nearly 25% of currently practicing doctors have already passed retirement age but remain on the job because of staffing shortages.
A separate Tel Aviv University study published in early August found that 268,509 Israelis left the country for at least three months between 2023 and 2025, a figure the public broadcaster KAN described as a record.
Israeli media reports have linked the rise in emigration to the war in Gaza, increasing living costs and a political dispute over the government's efforts to overhaul the judiciary.
A Kantar poll conducted for KAN and published Aug. 9 found that nearly one-fifth of Israelis said they had considered emigrating over the previous two years, and about 12% said the outcome of the upcoming general election could influence their decision to stay or leave.
Israel Hayom reported Aug. 7, citing an internal Tax Authority document, that the emigration rate among wealthy Israelis doubled between 2019 and 2024. The same document said associated annual tax losses rose from about 500 million shekels ($166 million) to 1.2 billion shekels ($400 million) in 2023 and 2024.
The disclosures come as Israel continues military operations in Gaza and maintains ongoing tensions with Lebanon and Iran.
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