OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 1 January 2004 — Immigration to Israel, which is suffering from a weak economy and continuing violence, sank to a 15-year low in 2003, resulting in the lowest annual population growth rate since 1990. The Central Bureau of Statistics said yesterday 23,000 people moved to Israel in 2003, down from 34,000 in 2002. More than half came from the former Soviet Union, 13 percent were from Ethiopia, eight percent from France and seven percent from the United States. The bureau said 2003’s figure was the lowest since 13,000 immigrated in 1988, the year before Eastern European borders opened with the collapse of the Soviet bloc. Annual arrivals numbered 70,000 to 200,000 during the 1990s but had slipped to 43,000 by 2001.
