Nearly 268,000 Israelis have left the country over the past three years, according to figures cited by Israeli media Monday, marking the largest wave of emigration since 2023 and highlighting a sustained rise in departures during a period of prolonged conflict and domestic uncertainty.
The daily Yedioth Ahronoth said a new study by researchers from Tel Aviv University showed that the migration wave that began in 2023 reached record and worrying levels last year.
According to the study, 86,509 Israelis left the country for three consecutive months or more in 2023, followed by 91,499 in 2024 and 90,922 in 2025.
The figures represent record levels compared with previous years. Between 2013 and 2015, the number of long-term departures stood at around 183,219, the newspaper said.
The study found that nearly 270,000 Israelis left the country between 2023 and 2025, averaging around 90,000 people annually, compared with about 60,000 per year between 2010 and 2019.
Professor Itai Ater of Tel Aviv University’s Coller School of Management, who supervised the study, said the number of Israelis leaving for long periods is "deeply troubling.”
"The real danger lies in the loss of equilibrium and the possibility that emigration numbers will continue rising rather than remain at their current levels,” he warned.
The study’s findings show a disruption in the migration balance after years of relative stability, with a noticeable rise in the number of Israelis leaving the country, the newspaper said.
Yedioth Ahronoth also referred to a previous report that found a sharp increase in the number of doctors, PhD holders, engineers, academics and high-income earners leaving Israel.
"The Israeli economy is not rich in natural resources and relies heavily on high-quality human capital concentrated in the high-tech sector and other knowledge-intensive industries,” the paper said.
The study comes as Israel continues its genocidal war on Gaza since Oct. 8, 2023. Tel Aviv also expanded its military operations to Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iran.
Israeli military figures showed that at least 966 soldiers have been killed since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
According to official Israeli figures, Israel’s population exceeds 10 million.
