Population statistics for Israeli settlements in the West Bank

The population statistics for Israeli settlements in the West Bank are collected by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. As such, the data contains only population of settlements recognized by the Israeli authorities. Israeli outposts are not tracked, and their population is hard to establish. In addition to these, Nahal settlements are formally considered military outposts, and their population is counted, but not reported. Once a Nahal settlement becomes a civilian locality, it starts to be reported.

While all settlements in the West Bank were advised by the International Court of Justice to be unlawful in 2004, the construction of the West Bank Barrier would keep a significant number of settlements behind a wall. The largest settlements left beyond the barrier would include Kiryat Arba (population 7,593 in 2012), Kokhav Ya'akov (6,476), Beit El (5,897), Geva Binyamin (4,674), Eli, Mateh Binyamin (3,521), Ofra (3,489), Talmon (3,202), Shilo, Mateh Binyamin (2,706), Tekoa, Gush Etzion (2,518), and Mitzpe Yeriho (2,115). The total number of settlers east of the barrier lines in 2012 was at least 67,702, plus 11,528 in the Jordan Valley. By comparison, the number of Gaza Strip settlers in 2005 who refused to move voluntarily and be compensated, and that were forcibly evicted during the Israeli disengagement from Gaza was around 9,000. The total population of all settlements in the West Bank was nearly 400,000 in 2014, excluding East Jerusalem. As of December 2015, altogether over 800,000 Israeli Jews resided over the 1949 Armistice Lines (including east-Jerusalem neighborhoods), constituting approximately 13% of Israel's Jewish population.