As the new school year begins, approximately 300,000 pupils are returning to classrooms across Jerusalem. Studying in different languages and educational frameworks, they reflect the diversity of Israel’s largest education system.
Jerusalem is also the youngest of Israel’s major cities, with around 32 percent of its population under the age of 15.
According to the Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research, Jerusalem’s pupil population has grown by more than 60 percent over the past two decades, from 185,200 in 2006/07 to approximately 300,000 in 2024/25.
The city’s educational landscape includes 121,700 pupils in ultra-Orthodox education, 107,500 in Arab education and 68,100 in state and state-religious education. While each school caters to different students, the Jerusalem Foundation supports a range of extra-curricular programs fostering encounters and dialogue among school students of all ages.
Across Jerusalem, these pupils reflect a city that is young, growing and remarkably diverse—and a generation that will shape its future.
Source: Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research, 2024/25 data.
