Record Numbers of Israelis Are Leaving the Country, and an Election Could Speed the Exodus

More Israelis have left their country over the past three years than at any time on record, and an economist who studies the trend says next week's national election could make it worse.

Itai Ater, a professor at the Coller School of Management at Tel Aviv University, says the years since 2023 have been turbulent for a country of about 10 million people. They have brought war, economic uncertainty and a prime minister whose corruption trial began in 2020 and still has no verdict. "Israelis are thinking, 'do I want to raise my kids in a country like this?'" Ater said, adding that he sympathizes with those who answer no.

In February, Ater and colleagues published a study based on Central Bureau of Statistics data. It found that 99,000 Israelis left between January 2023 and December 2024. The researchers counted people who were away for at least three consecutive months and who spent more than 270 days outside the country during the first year of their departure. About 50,000 left in 2023 and 49,000 in 2024. Ater says preliminary figures show the pattern continued in 2025.

The year 2023 included the Hamas attack on southern Israel, which killed roughly 1,200 people and saw another 250 taken hostage. Israel responded with a devastating military campaign in the Gaza Strip. A fragile ceasefire took effect in October 2025, though Israel still controls roughly 60 per cent of the enclave and carries out regular military activity there.

The election adds to the uncertainty. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the country's longest serving leader and a dominant political figure for three decades, is seeking power again. Polls suggest his far-right bloc will fall short of the 61 Knesset seats needed to govern. A rival bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot of the Yashar party is positioned to win the most seats, but is also expected to fall short of a majority. Because coalitions are usually needed, the real maneuvering often begins after the vote, a process at which Netanyahu has long been considered skilled.

Ater warned that without a change, departures could climb sharply. "These [emigration] numbers will go up dramatically," he said. Avigail Ben-Porat, a 50-year-old single mother in Kiryat Shmona near the Lebanese border, said she dreams of leaving but lacks the means. She still regularly hears rocket fire, and says many of her friends have moved to places including Portugal, Canada, Thailand and India.

Researchers are also concerned about who is leaving. The study points to a sharp rise in departures of doctors, Ph.D. holders and engineers in 2023 and 2024, with net departures of 2,360 engineers and 509 doctors. "Israel's economy depends on the human capital," Ater said, citing the tech industry, academia and health care.

Companies are weighing moves too. Liam Schwartz, who heads the corporate immigration department at the Tel Aviv law firm Goldfarb, Gross, Seligman, said some firms face pressure from non-Israeli shareholders and investors worried about the viability of operating from Israel. They are more willing to shift parts of their workforce to North America or Europe. Schwartz traces the discontent to January 2023, when the government proposed judicial reforms that would have reduced the Supreme Court's powers. "They feel like the Israeli government is no longer meeting its part of the social contract," he said.

Schwartz called the October vote a potential watershed for whether emigration rises. Ater described the stakes as a strategic risk to Israel as a democracy and a liberal country, and said it is a concern for the Middle East and the wider world as well.