The year 2023, in which the Israel-Hamas War broke out, pushed quite a few couples to postpone their wedding plans, but 2024 already marks a return to business with a sharp jump in the number of people getting married in Israel. However, beneath the celebration figures and full event halls, data from the Central Bureau of Statistics paints a much more complex picture of the Israeli family unit: More and more young people choose to live together without getting married, the rate of singles in major cities continues to surge, and those who do choose to exchange vows overseas are moving away from Cyprus and preferring to do so in the US. This is what Israel’s marriage and singlehood map looks like.
In 2024, 53,025 couples married in Israel through religious institutions authorized to perform marriages, a figure that represents a rise of about 10.4% compared to 2023, when the war broke out. Of all those who married in Israel that year, 71% were Jewish couples (37,646), 25.8% Muslim (13,690), 1.8% Druze (937), and 1.3% Christian (687). In a breakdown by religion compared to the previous year, an increase of 13.1% was recorded in the number of Jews getting married and an increase of 4.8% among Muslims. In contrast, among Christians there was a drop of 0.6%, and among Druze a drop of 0.4%.
A historical look reveals that over the past 27 years there has been a decline in the marriage rate across all religions, particularly among Christians, Druze, and Muslims. Beginning in 2016, a sharp decline in these rates began among Jews as well, though in recent years a stabilization has been recorded among Jews and Muslims.
Alongside the stabilization in marriage rates in recent years, a continuing trend of cohabitation without marriage has been recorded. Since 2000, there has been a clear increase in the percentage of couples living together (cohabitation of unmarried partners) out of all Jewish couples – from 2.5% in 2000 to 7.1% in 2024.
Marrying later: The rate of singlehood surges
Regarding first marriages among the Jewish population, in 89.4% of marriage cases in 2024, both partners were marrying for the first time (a single man marrying a single woman). The average age of marriage among Jewish grooms marrying for the first time stood at 27.3 years (identical to the average age in the general population), compared to 27 among Jews and 27.2 in the general population in 2023. Among Jewish brides marrying for the first time, the average age stood at 25.6 years (25.2 among all brides marrying for the first time), compared to 25.4 among Jewish women and 25 in the general population in 2023.
Looking broadly at changes in the age of marriage over the years, between 1970 and 2015 the average age of Jewish grooms marrying for the first time rose by three years, and that of Jewish brides by about 4.5 years. However, from 2016 to 2024 there was actually a drop of about half a year in this age among both Jewish grooms and brides. Among the Muslim population, from 1970 to 2024 the age at first marriage rose by more than two and a half years among grooms, and by about three and a half years among brides.
As a result of delaying the age of marriage in the Jewish population, the rate of single men and women among young people recorded a significant jump: The percentage of single Jewish men aged 25–29 rose from 57% at the end of 2000 to 65% at the end of 2024, while the percentage of single Jewish women aged 25–29 surged during that same period from 36% to 53%.
The singlehood map: Tel Aviv leads, Bnei Brak at the bottom
Among large cities with a population of more than 100,000 residents, the Jewish population in Tel Aviv-Yaffo, Herzliya, and Ramat Gan is characterized by the highest percentage of single men and women aged 25–29. In contrast, Bnei Brak and Beit Shemesh are characterized by the lowest percentage of singles in this age group.
As a result of the decline in marriage rates among unmarried individuals, an increase was also recorded in the rate of single men and women in the Jewish population aged 45–49: The percentage of single Jewish men in this age group rose from 6% at the end of 2000 to 14% at the end of 2024, while among Jewish women the rate rose from 6% to 12%. Tel Aviv-Yaffo, Ramat Gan, and Bat Yam lead the list of large cities with the highest percentage of single men and women aged 45–49 who have never married. On the other hand, Beit Shemesh, Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut, and Bnei Brak are characterized by the lowest percentage in this group – a characteristic attributed to cities with a religious population and young communities populated by many young families.
Marrying overseas: The US overtakes Cyprus
In addition to marriages conducted in Israel, in 2024, 8,235 cases of marriage conducted abroad were reported to the Population Registry, in which at least one of the partners was registered in the registry. These figures include 12,159 people registered in the Population Registry. Only about 50% of the marriage cases abroad reported and registered in 2024 actually took place in that same year, while about 26% took place in 2023 and the remainder took place prior to that. In 52% of the marriage cases abroad (4,311 couples), only one of the partners was registered in the Population Registry at the time of the marriage, and in 48% of the cases (3,924 couples), both partners were registered in it.
Out of all the couples who reported marriages abroad, in 1,983 cases (24%), both partners were Jewish. The country of marriage varies according to the population group: Of all couples in which both partners are Jewish, more than half (54%) married in the US, nearly a quarter (24%) married in Cyprus, and about 5% married in former Soviet Union countries (most of them in Georgia – 4%).
Among 2,379 couples in which one of the partners is Jewish and the religion of the other partner is unknown, nearly a third (31%) married in the US, about 23% in the former Soviet Union (of which 9% in Russia and 7% in Georgia), and about 7% in Ethiopia.
Among 1,825 couples in which one partner is Jewish and the other belongs to the "Others" population group, about 40% married in the US, 24% in Cyprus, and 23% in the former Soviet Union (of which 16% in Georgia).