National Jewish Population Survey

The National Jewish Population Survey (NJPS), most recently performed in 2000-01, is a representative survey of the Jewish population in the United States sponsored by United Jewish Communities and the Jewish Federation system.[1]

Based on the results of the 2000-01 survey, the total Jewish population in the United States was estimated at 5.2 million, comprising 4.1 million adults and 1 million children. An additional 100,000 Jews in institutional settings were not sampled as part of NJPS but are included in the total. This total represents a decline from the 1990 NJPS, which estimated a total Jewish population of 5.5 million people. Jews who have married since 1996 have an intermarriage rate of 47%.[1]

There is disagreement about how to define who is Jewish. As part of the 2000 NJPS, a Jew was defined as a person:

• Whose religion is Jewish, or
• Whose religion is Jewish and something else, or
• Who has no religion and has at least one Jewish parent or a Jewish upbringing, or
• Who has a non-monotheistic religion, and has at least one Jewish parent or a Jewish upbringing.

Unfortunately, there were no survey performed in 2010 due to the lack of funding. The 2000-01 NJPS – which by some estimates cost nearly $6 million, far more than budgeted – was widely criticized, both for its findings and for its methodology. United Jewish Communities, the survey’s sponsor, announced afterward that it would not sponsor future national population surveys.[2]

Notes

1. "NJPS 2000-01" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-12-14.
2. "NJPS 2010".

External links

• National Jewish Population Survey 2000-01: Strength, Challenge and Diversity in the American Jewish Population