Intermarriage of Jews and non-Jews: the global situation and its meaning

In this report:

Intermarriage is a key concern of Jewish leaders and policymakers worldwide, with many claiming that it leads to assimilation - and thus acts as a threat to the existence of Jewish communities across the globe. This report dives into global Jewish intermarriage rates, analysing the driving factors behind it, and compares the prevalence of intermarriage in countries covering more than 95% of the Jewish population today, while determining how significant a threat intermarriage is to the sustainability of Jewish communities across the globe by locating intermarriage in the context of Jewish fertility rates and traditionalism.

Some of the key findings in this report:

• The global prevalence of intermarriage is 26%, but there’s a huge distinction between the situation in Israel (5%) and the Diaspora (42%)
• Jewish populations with the lowest levels of intermarriage are those with the highest levels of traditionalism.
• In Europe and the USA, intermarriage is most prevalent among Jews identifying as secular or ‘Just Jewish’: nearly 70% of secular Jews in the USA and almost 50% in Europe are married to non-Jews.
• The impact of factors such as the availability of suitable Jewish partners is inferior to that of traditionalism when comparing intermarriage rates in different countries.
• There is no singular European pattern of intermarriage found across all countries. The highest (Poland) and lowest (Belgium) poles of intermarriage found in the Diaspora communities investigated are in Europe.
• American Jews, sometimes perceived as a community with high levels of intermarriage, actually occupy a place around the middle of the spectrum.
• The rising prevalence of intermarriage over time can be seen in the USA but is offset somewhat by the growing Haredi and Orthodox populations. Europe presents a more stable situation over time.
• Intermarriage is less significant than fertility when considering Jewish population trends today.