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Israeli departures accelerate as highly educated citizens increasingly leave
A Tel Aviv University study found that the number of Israeli citizens who stayed abroad for at least three months reached 268,509 between 2023 and 2025. Doctors, engineers, academics and technology workers accounted for a significant share of those who left.
The number of Israeli citizens who stayed outside the country for at least three months between 2023 and 2025 reached 268,509. A study by Tel Aviv University, based on data from the Central Bureau of Statistics, found a marked increase in departures abroad in recent years.
The figure was 183,219 during the comparable three-year period a decade earlier. The number of Israeli citizens who stayed abroad was 86,509 in 2023, 91,499 in 2024 and 90,922 in 2025.
2025 data used as an early indicator
Because Israel’s official 12-month migration data for 2025 will not be published until 2027, the researchers used stays abroad lasting at least three months as an early indicator. The study estimated that between 45,000 and 50,000 Israelis may have stayed abroad for at least one year in 2025.
Statistics presented during discussions in a Knesset committee in June also showed that Israel’s migration balance was negative between 2022 and 2024. According to Central Bureau of Statistics data, the migration balance declined by approximately 140,000 people over those three years.
Share of highly educated workers rises
The profile of those leaving the country has also changed. In 2022, Israeli migrants aged 25 to 64 had higher levels of education than the general population. Among this group, the share of bachelor’s degree holders was 1.5 times that of the general population, the share of master’s degree holders was twice as high, and the share of doctorate holders was 4.6 times higher.
In 2024, 530 doctors left Israel. Two-thirds of these doctors had received their training in Israel, while the number of doctors returning to the country declined.
A study by the Israel Tax Authority found that migration among wealthy Israelis also increased markedly in 2023 and 2024. Doctors, engineers and other highly educated professionals made up a disproportionately large share of this group.
The average annual income of migrants in the years before they left the country rose in real terms from approximately 125,000 shekels during 2015-2019 to about 200,000 shekels in 2024.
Long-term risk of brain drain
Independent Israeli political commentator and former university professor Ori Goldberg said the trend of people leaving reflected a loss of stability in Israel. Goldberg said those leaving were seeking functioning public services, assurances that public institutions would operate adequately and stability, adding that a significant proportion held relatively liberal views.
Goldberg said the departure of professionals posed a real risk to fields such as healthcare, research and technology. He said the rate at which doctors returned after going abroad for specialist training had declined, while technology workers had greater flexibility to move to other countries.
Researchers at Tel Aviv University said current migration levels did not by themselves threaten the resilience of Israel’s economy, but could have long-term consequences if the increase became permanent. The study warned that sustained migration could create risks for an economy dependent on a limited number of skilled workers in fields such as technology, healthcare and academia, and that departures could encourage further departures.
Trend accelerated after October 2023
Goldberg said the acceleration in migration could not be considered separately from developments after October 2023. He said Israel’s war in Gaza following the Hamas attack, as well as the security crisis, political developments and social polarization, had affected Israeli society.
Tel Aviv University researchers said public concern about migration abroad had increased after the November 2022 election and debates over the government’s judicial overhaul, and had intensified further after October 2023. Goldberg argued that the strengthening of a security-focused approach and deepening political divisions could push the current trend beyond a temporary wave.
Impact of long stays abroad
Research by migration and demography specialist Lilach Lev Ari on Israelis living in the United States found that long stays abroad could also change migrants’ relationship with their country. According to the study, family ties, digital communication and visits preserve structural connections with Israel, while emotional distance can grow among those who live abroad for long periods.
Goldberg said the current departures could be part of a longer-term demographic and economic transformation rather than a short-term response to a single crisis.
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