 Historically, Białystok has been a destination for internal and foreign immigration, especially from Central and Eastern Europe. In addition to the Polish minority, there was a significant Jewish majority in Białystok. According to Russian census of 1897, out of the total population of 66,000, Jews constituted 41,900 (around 63 % percent). Białystok's pre-World War II Jewish population constituted about 63 percent of the city's total population of 107,000. World War II changed all of this, in 1939, around 107,000 people lived in Białystok, but in 1946 – only 56,759, and to this day there is much less ethnic diversity than in the previous 300 years of the city's history. Currently the city's population is 97 % Polish, 2.5 % Belarusian and 0.5 % of a number of minorities including Russians, Lipka Tatars, Ukrainians and Romani. Most of the modern-day population growth is based on internal migration within Poland and urbanization of surrounding areas.
