A Tel Aviv University study found that the number of Israeli citizens who left the country for at least three months during the 2023-2025 period reached 270,000. The rise in departures accelerated alongside political and security debates in the country.
270,000 Israelis left the country in three years
According to the study, the number of Israeli citizens who left for abroad was 86,509 in 2023, 91,499 in 2024 and 90,922 last year. By the same measure, 183,219 people left the country during the 2013-2015 period.
The judicial reform package that the Israeli government sought to pass through the Knesset in 2023 brought the debate over emigration back to the national agenda. The opposition held weeks of protests against the reform initiative, which it described as interference in the independent judiciary.
Security concerns increased after the October 7 attack
The study said the trend of emigration for security reasons accelerated further after Hamas's attack on October 7, 2023. As the debate also extended to the military, queues of people leaving the country formed at border crossings, particularly Ben Gurion Airport.
Gilad Kariv, a Knesset member and chair of the Knesset Committee on Immigration, Integration and Diaspora Affairs, said the country was facing a "tsunami of emigration." Kariv argued that the government had not taken a significant step to counter the threat.
Professor Itai Ater, who led the study, said the growing wave of emigration in 2023-2024 continued last year and that long-term departures had increased to a worrying extent. Ater said concerns about Israel's security and economy could grow if the current situation did not change.
18 percent of Israelis considered leaving the country
According to a public opinion survey conducted by the Kantar Institute for Israel's state broadcaster KAN, 18 percent of respondents had considered leaving the country over the past two years. Twelve percent of those surveyed said they were considering making their decision to leave based on the outcome of the election on October 27.
The study found that one in three Israelis knew someone who had emigrated from the country, while 41 percent of citizens were concerned about the rising emigration trend. A total of 2,358 Israelis took part in the survey, which had a stated margin of error of 4.2 percent.
Skilled emigration is increasing tax losses
A report by the Israel Tax Authority said the emigration of skilled workers and high-income Israelis was causing an annual economic loss of 1.2 billion shekels, or $400 million. It warned that if the trend continued at the same pace, the loss could reach 3.5 billion shekels, or $1.17 billion, within five years.
The tax loss resulting from the emigration of high-income citizens rose from 500 million shekels in 2019 to 1.2 billion shekels in 2024. The report said the increase in the rate at which members of this group were leaving the country expanded the tax loss by an average of 700 million shekels each year.
According to the report, a significant share of those emigrating consists of skilled young people aged between 20 and 40 who work in the high-tech and medical sectors. It said the brain drain from these sectors had tripled within five years, while the average annual salary of those leaving for abroad rose from 125,000 shekels in 2019 to 200,000 shekels in 2024.
Finance Ministry officials said that during periods of crisis, high-income earners could move their capital, business activities and tax obligations to other countries. The officials assessed that the fact that lower-income groups, which have more limited opportunities to emigrate, remain in the country was concerning in terms of socioeconomic balance.
