Migration to and from Jerusalem

Migration to and from Jerusalem, and particularly the issue of those leaving the city, is the subject of much attention on the part of the Israeli press and media. Often the headlines are negative on this issue and the terminology speaks of “deserting the city”. Migration is a prominent issue in the public discourse; it has the potential of becoming a lever for development, growth, and change of the city’s image and character. On the other hand, it can cause the city to decline and harm its resilience. The policy of the local authority can have a significant effect on the extent of inter-city migration, compared to other components of growth (natural increase and Aliyah).

It is important to note that parallel to leaving the city, new residents are also joining it and that negative migration is not unique to Jerusalem; rather, it also characterizes the other large cities, Tel Aviv and Haifa.

The Jerusalem Institute’s researches on migration include policy recommendations for reducing migration from the city among the entire population in general and particularly among the young population, as well as recommendations for attracting new populations to the city. Sometimes the research findings lead to additional researches. For example, the Jerusalem quality of life index (Hebrew) is a result of conclusions reached in the 2011-2013 migration study, which indicated that those leaving or coming to Jerusalem noted its quality of life as the reason for doing so.

The subject of migration has been researched by the Institute for the past 35 years. The first of these studies was conducted by Dr. Maya Chosen and was published in 1983. It was titled Migration from and to Jerusalem 1972-1978 and was one of the first publications of the Institute (the fourth, to be precise).

In the last twenty years, the institute has conducted two types of studies on the subject of migration:

1. Analysis (in Hebrew) of statistical data regarding migration to and from Jerusalem, based on data from the Central Bureau of Statistics which are published annually. The data include information on migration destinations, age of the migrants, neighborhoods of origins in Jerusalem, and so on. The following represent such studies:

• Migration to and from Jerusalem 2000–2010
• Migration to and from Jerusalem 2008–2011 
• Migration to and from Jerusalem 2010–2014

2. Field studies based on analysis of questionnaires that were sent to those migrating to and from Jerusalem. The goal of these researches is to examine the characteristics of the migrants and to understand their reasons for migrating.

These are the field researches conducted to this point:

• Migration from Jerusalem 1994–1996: The characteristics of the migrants and their reasons for migrating (was not published)
• Migration from Jerusalem 1995–1999: The characteristics of the migrants and their reasons for migrating (in Hebrew)
• Leaving Jerusalem 2011–2013: The characteristics of the migrants and their reasons for migrating (in Hebrew)
• Moving to Jerusalem 2011–2013: The characteristics of the migrants and their reasons for migrating (in Hebrew)