Less than 200,000 Jewish Holocaust survivors are still alive, with 88 as the average age, according to data published by Israel’s Welfare Ministry together with the Holocaust Survivors’ Rights Authority in the Prime Minister’s Office. A total of 400 are over the age of 100. The data emphasize the rapidly advancing age of the last generation able to personally recount the events of the Holocaust, during which the Nazi regime murdered over 6 million Jews.
Of the remaining survivors, 111,681 live in Israel, and 12,000 passed away in 2025. Officials noted that the number of survivors now living in Israel represents about one-third of all individuals formally recognized by the state as Holocaust survivors since the 1950s.
The Welfare Ministry and the Survivors’ Rights Authority emphasized that the demographic reality highlights the need for continued assistance, healthcare access, and social services tailored to elderly survivors, many of whom require ongoing support.
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The figures also reflect the historical scope of Israel’s recognition of survivors over decades, as the country continues to serve as home to the largest population of Holocaust survivors worldwide.
Israeli authorities divide the remaining survivor population into three legally defined categories tied to wartime experience.
About 37,000 people are recognized under Israel’s formal definition of Holocaust survivors. Another 39,000 are classified as Holocaust refugees because they spent the war years in areas of the former Soviet Union. A further 34,000 are listed as victims of antisemitic persecution during World War II, mainly originating from Morocco, Algeria, and Iraq.
Eligibility for state benefits is determined by which of these categories applies.
In addition, Israel still recognizes 89 individuals as Nazi war invalids—people who fought against Nazi forces as partisans or within Allied armies.