# Timeline of the demographics of Palestine (region)

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: some estimates conflict among different researchers
Overview of the demographics of the region of Palestine from the 1st century CE through 1947 (in thousands) :
| Year | Source | Jewish | Pagan | Samar- itan | Chris-tian | Muslim | Total | Driving events |
| 0–100 (1st c.) CE | Bachi | Majority | | | ... | n/a | 1,000– 2,500 | 66–74 CE: First Jewish–Roman War, Roman Empire defeats Jews in 70 CE. Estimates of Jews killed or who died from famine and disease ranged from less than 300,000(Schwartz), to 600,000 (Tacitus) , to 1.1 million plus 97,000 captured and driven out.(Josephus) 132–135 CE: Bar Kokhba revolt by Jews against Romans 580,000 Judean men killed in battles/raids. Others die from famine, disease and fire (Cassius Dio, Cotton, Raviv, Ben David) Raviv: Archeological evidence shows Jewish settlements in Judea almost completely eradicated by 135 CE. However, Jews lived on in Galilee. Klein: In Galilee, Roman authorities replaced many Jews with Syrians, Phoenicians, and Arabians. |
| 140 CE$^†$ | Avi- Yohan | conflicting; 700-800 | ... | conflicting; "far fewer than 300,000" | ... | n/a | conflicting; 2,500 | 66–74 CE: First Jewish–Roman War, Roman Empire defeats Jews in 70 CE. Estimates of Jews killed or who died from famine and disease ranged from less than 300,000(Schwartz), to 600,000 (Tacitus) , to 1.1 million plus 97,000 captured and driven out.(Josephus) 132–135 CE: Bar Kokhba revolt by Jews against Romans 580,000 Judean men killed in battles/raids. Others die from famine, disease and fire (Cassius Dio, Cotton, Raviv, Ben David) Raviv: Archeological evidence shows Jewish settlements in Judea almost completely eradicated by 135 CE. However, Jews lived on in Galilee. Klein: In Galilee, Roman authorities replaced many Jews with Syrians, Phoenicians, and Arabians. |
| 140 CE$^†$ | Broshi | conflicting | | conflicting | | n/a | conflicting; <1,000 ("never more than 1 million") | 66–74 CE: First Jewish–Roman War, Roman Empire defeats Jews in 70 CE. Estimates of Jews killed or who died from famine and disease ranged from less than 300,000(Schwartz), to 600,000 (Tacitus) , to 1.1 million plus 97,000 captured and driven out.(Josephus) 132–135 CE: Bar Kokhba revolt by Jews against Romans 580,000 Judean men killed in battles/raids. Others die from famine, disease and fire (Cassius Dio, Cotton, Raviv, Ben David) Raviv: Archeological evidence shows Jewish settlements in Judea almost completely eradicated by 135 CE. However, Jews lived on in Galilee. Klein: In Galilee, Roman authorities replaced many Jews with Syrians, Phoenicians, and Arabians. |
| Early 300s | Stem- berger | Largest group | 2nd- largest | 3rd- largest | Smallest group | n/a | ... | 400, cities were majority non-Jewish, most land likely owned by non-Jews. 400s: Western Roman Empire collapses, driving Christian immigration. Christianization. Christian majority by 500 CE. (Avi-Yonah) |
| 300s | Bachi | Majority | ... | ... | Minority | n/a | "More than in 1st c." | 400, cities were majority non-Jewish, most land likely owned by non-Jews. 400s: Western Roman Empire collapses, driving Christian immigration. Christianization. Christian majority by 500 CE. (Avi-Yonah) |
| 400s | Bachi | Minority | n/a | ... | Majority | n/a | "More than in 1st c." | 400, cities were majority non-Jewish, most land likely owned by non-Jews. 400s: Western Roman Empire collapses, driving Christian immigration. Christianization. Christian majority by 500 CE. (Avi-Yonah) |
| 500s | | | n/a | ... | | n/a | | |
| 628 | Butler, Gil | >250 | 30-80 | | 520-570 | | >950 | 629: Heraclius ordered massacre of Jews; ca. 150,000 left, many to Egypt. (Butler, Gil, Schäfer) |
| 630s | Parkes | 150– 400 | n/a | ... | ... | | ... | 635: As Byzantine rule ended and Muslim rule began: Parkes: Est. 150,000–400,000 Jews in all Palestine Crown et al.: Palaestina Prima only, which did not include Galilee, had a population of 700,000, incl. 100,000 Jews and 30–80,000 Samaritans, with the remaining 520-570,000 Chalcedonian and Miaphysite Christians. Gil: Jews and Samaritans together likely still formed a majority in 638 In the period after 638: Immigration of Arabs (i.e. from the Arabian Peninsula), how many is unclear MFA Israel: Jews flourished at first; Umar encouraged Jews to settle in Jerusalem after 500-year ban. 688–744 (–1033): Frequent plague recurrences and devastating earthquakes in 749, 881 and 1033) caused a steady decline of the population, falling from around 1 million in the 5th c. to a lowest estimate of 400–560,000 by 1096 (start of First Crusade). |
| 700s | | | n/a | ... | | | | 700s-800s: Civil wars drove Jewish emigration 717: New taxes on and discrimination against Jews drove Jewish emigration ~750-900: Mass Islamization with Muslim majority "visible" by ~966-985 (al-Maqdisi) |
| 800s | | | n/a | ... | | | | 868–905: Mass Islamization of Samaritans 881: Acre earthquake |
| 900s | | | n/a | ... | | | | |
| 1095 | Ellen- blum, Della- Pergola Broshi | | n/a | ... | | | 400– 560 | 1033: Jordan Rift Valley earthquake 1096–1099 1st Crusade, Crusaders massacre and enslave Jews and Muslims. Most Jerusalem Jews killed in Siege of Jerusalem 1099: Goitein: Jewish mass conversions to Islam were not widespread from 901–1265 except the persecution of Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah in 1099. 1100: "By 1100 Jews had declined substantially", 1100s: Jews only about "1000 poor families". (Heynick) 1187: Saladin defeats Crusaders; his Ayyubid dynasty in power; some immigration of diaspora Jews 1260: Mamluks take power, oppress Jews, grossly mismanage economy. Great social and economic decline. Large-scale Christian and Jewish emigration, but, trickle of Jewish immigration. Jews become an even smaller minority. 1347: Black Death reaches Palestine. 1517: Ottomans take power. About 5,000 Jews live in Palestine. |
| End 1100s | Bachi | Minority | n/a | ... | Minority | Majority | >225 | 1033: Jordan Rift Valley earthquake 1096–1099 1st Crusade, Crusaders massacre and enslave Jews and Muslims. Most Jerusalem Jews killed in Siege of Jerusalem 1099: Goitein: Jewish mass conversions to Islam were not widespread from 901–1265 except the persecution of Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah in 1099. 1100: "By 1100 Jews had declined substantially", 1100s: Jews only about "1000 poor families". (Heynick) 1187: Saladin defeats Crusaders; his Ayyubid dynasty in power; some immigration of diaspora Jews 1260: Mamluks take power, oppress Jews, grossly mismanage economy. Great social and economic decline. Large-scale Christian and Jewish emigration, but, trickle of Jewish immigration. Jews become an even smaller minority. 1347: Black Death reaches Palestine. 1517: Ottomans take power. About 5,000 Jews live in Palestine. |
| 1300s | Bachi | Minority | n/a | ... | Minority | Majority | 150 | 1033: Jordan Rift Valley earthquake 1096–1099 1st Crusade, Crusaders massacre and enslave Jews and Muslims. Most Jerusalem Jews killed in Siege of Jerusalem 1099: Goitein: Jewish mass conversions to Islam were not widespread from 901–1265 except the persecution of Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah in 1099. 1100: "By 1100 Jews had declined substantially", 1100s: Jews only about "1000 poor families". (Heynick) 1187: Saladin defeats Crusaders; his Ayyubid dynasty in power; some immigration of diaspora Jews 1260: Mamluks take power, oppress Jews, grossly mismanage economy. Great social and economic decline. Large-scale Christian and Jewish emigration, but, trickle of Jewish immigration. Jews become an even smaller minority. 1347: Black Death reaches Palestine. 1517: Ottomans take power. About 5,000 Jews live in Palestine. |
| 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 | 1882-1903: First Aliyah about 35,000 Jews immigrate mostly from the Russian Empire and Romania. They join about 20-25,000 Jews in Palestine as of 1880. |
| 1890 | Bachi | conflicting; 43 | n/a | <0.2 | conflicting; 57 | conflicting; 432 | conflicting; 532 | |
| 1890-1 | Ottoman census | conflicting; 18 | n/a | <0.2 | conflicting; 52 | conflicting; 446 | conflicting; 516 | |
| 1914 | Bachi | 94 | n/a | <0.2 | 70 | 525 | 689 | 1904-1914: Second Aliyah, 35–40,000 Jews immigrate, most from the Russian Empire |
| 1914-5 | Ottoman census | 39 | n/a | <0.2 | 81 | 602 | 722 | 1919-1923: Third Aliyah about 40,000 Jews immigrate, mostly from Eastern Europe |
| 1922 | British census | 84 | n/a | <0.2 | 71 | 589 | 752 | 1924-8: Fourth Aliyah, about 80,000 Jews immigrate, about half from Poland, but also USSR, e Romania, Lithuania. 12% were from Yemen, Iraq, or elsewhere in West Asia. |
| 1931 | Bachi | 175 | n/a | <0.2 | 89 | 760 | 1,033 | 1929-1939: Fifth Aliyah, 250,000 Jews immigrate (of which 174,000 between 1933 and 1936). In 1936 British start to prohibit Jewish immigration. 1933-1948: Aliyah Bet, about 110,000 Jews immigrate from Europe without British permission |
| 1947 | Bachi | 630 | n/a | <0.2 | 143 | 1,181 | 1,970 | 1929-1939: Fifth Aliyah, 250,000 Jews immigrate (of which 174,000 between 1933 and 1936). In 1936 British start to prohibit Jewish immigration. 1933-1948: Aliyah Bet, about 110,000 Jews immigrate from Europe without British permission |
$^‡$including what is today the Kingdom of Jordan