Survey: American Jewish population down 5%

By The Associated Press

www.haaretz.com

The number of Jews in the United States has dropped 5 percent in the last decade to 5.2 million, according to the National Jewish Population Survey released yesterday. The survey found that a low birth rate and increasing levels of intermarriage are adversely affecting the community.

Jewish women, on average, have no more than two children, while the median age for Jews is 42, five years older than a decade ago.

Only one-third of children of interfaith couples are being raised Jewish, according to the report. More children, 29 percent, are attending a Jewish school full time, but fewer are attending part-time programs.

Only 40 percent of Jewish households belong to a synagogue, and two-thirds of Jewish adults feel emotionally attached to Israel.

The study, carried out every 10 years, is highly influential in directing how money is spent to keep Judaism alive in the United States. But this study was released about two years later than planned, and the delay has threatened its credibility.

Preliminary findings were released in October and then retracted after the agency overseeing the project, United Jewish Communities, discovered that an outside firm which conducted fieldwork had lost some data used to determine who would be interviewed.

- posted by Izak @ 1:42 AM