Israel is set to receive a record number of olim in 2022 as officials predict an ongoing climb in immigration figures.

Throughout the Hebrew calendar year 5782 which started on 7 September 2021 and concluded on 25 September 2022, 60,000 people arrived in the Jewish State.

The fresh figures, published by Israel’s Ministry of Aliyah and Absorption on Wednesday, showed immigration levels reaching a 20 year high.

The Ministry also said it expected a total of 64,000 new immigrants to have arrived in Israel by the end of the year, meaning since 2012, over 320,000 people have immigrated to the Jewish state.

If accurate, the 2022 projections would mark the largest number of immigrants to Israel in a single year since 1999, when the country welcomed more than 76,000 newcomers — a figure that dropped steadily following the outbreak of the second Palestinian Intifada in 2000.

Among this past year’s arrivals, almost half (47 per cent) came from Russia, while a quarter arrived from Ukraine. The Ministry suggested that heightened immigration will likely continue for some time.

Another initiative, Operation Tzur Israel, is also expected to bring around 1,500 immigrants from Ethiopia. The scheme was launched in December 2020 to unify many Ethiopian Israelis with relatives and has already transported around 3,500 olim to Israel so far.

Well over half (63 per cent of all immigrants who have moved to Israel over the past 12 months are working age. Over a quarter (27 per cent) are aged 18 to 35, while 21 per cent are between 36 and 50. 15 per cent are 51 to 65 years old while almost a quarter (23 per cent) are under-18s. Just 14 per cent of recent arrivals are over 65.

The Ministry has stated that the average age of the arrivals means they are likely to be “a critical boost for the Israeli economy”. They also highlighted the diverse skillsets of the last decade’s immigrants, thousands of whom are researchers, doctors, soldiers, or other professions

While over 6,000 new immigrants moved to Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Netanya, Jerusalem was also a popular destination, becoming home to around 4,300 new arrivals. Bat Yam, Ashkelon, Beit Shemesh, Nahariya, Ashdod, and Rishon LeTziyon also featured among the top 10 destinations for recent olim.

Israel's Immigration and Absorption Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata said she “pray[s] that next year we will celebrate here with tens of thousands more new immigrants in Jerusalem.”