The population of the region of Palestine, which approximately corresponds to modern Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan, has varied in both size and ethnic composition throughout its history.
The following table shows the total population and that of the main ethno-religious groups living in the area from the First Century CE up until the last full calendar year of the British Mandate, 1947.
Note: Figures prior to the 1500s are all only estimates by researchers. For some periods, there are multiple researchers who have made differing estimates. None should be taken as exact numbers, and further context and detail is available by following links to the full description on Wikipedia as well as links to the original information sources.
conflicting estimates among different researchers |
Year | Source | Jewish | Pagan | Samar- itan[1] |
Chris-tian | Muslim | Total | Driving events |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
0–100 (1st c.) CE |
Bachi[2] | Majority | ... | n/a | 1,000– 2,500 [3] |
| ||
140 CE† | Avi- Yohan [11] |
700- 800 |
... | "far fewer than 300,000" |
... | n/a | 2,500 | |
Broshi [11] |
n/a | <1,000 ("never more than 1 million") | ||||||
Early 300s | Stem- berger [11] |
Largest group |
2nd- largest |
3rd- largest |
Smallest group |
n/a | ... |
|
300s | Bachi | Majority | ... | ... | Minority | n/a | "More than in 1st c." [13][14] | |
400s | Bachi | Minority | n/a | ... | Majority | n/a | ||
500s | n/a | ... | n/a | |||||
628 | Butler, Gil | >250 [15] |
30-80 | 520-570 | >950 | |||
630s | Parkes | 150– 400 |
n/a | ... | ... | ... |
| |
700s | n/a | ... |
| |||||
800s | n/a | ... |
| |||||
900s | n/a | ... | ||||||
1095 | Ellen- blum, Della- Pergola Broshi |
n/a | ... | 400– 560 |
| |||
End 1100s |
Bachi | Minority | n/a | ... | Minority | Majority | >225 | |
1300s | Bachi | Minority | n/a | ... | Minority | Majority | 150 | |
1533-9 | Bachi | 5 | n/a | ... | 6 | 145 | 156 | |
1553-4 | Bachi | 7 | n/a | ... | 9 | 188 | 205 | |
1690-1 | Bachi | 2 | n/a | <0.2 | 11 | 219 | 232 | |
1800 | Bachi | 7 | n/a | <0.2 | 22 | 246 | 275 |
|
1890 | Bachi | 43 | n/a | <0.2 | 57 | 432 | 532 | |
1890-1 | Ottoman census | 18 | n/a | <0.2 | 52 | 446 | 516 | |
1914 | Bachi | 94 | n/a | <0.2 | 70 | 525 | 689 |
|
1914-5 | Ottoman census | 39 | n/a | <0.2 | 81 | 602 | 722 |
|
1922 | British census | 84 | n/a | <0.2 | 71 | 589 | 752 |
|
1931 | Bachi | 175 | n/a | <0.2 | 89 | 760 | 1,033 |
|
1947 | Bachi | 630 | n/a | <0.2 | 143 | 1,181 | 1,970 |
†including what is today the Kingdom of Jordan