Jerusalem took the most Latin American olim in 2023 to 2025: 576, or 16.2% of the national flow, up from 15.6% in 2015 to 2019. Bnei Brak's share rose from 2.4% to 5.7%: 203 olim, against 105 in Netanya. Ra'anana still took 232, but its share fell from 9.2% to 6.5%. Tel Aviv's fell from 10.0% to 7.9%.
Karmiel (1.8% to 3.5%) and Beit Shemesh (1.1% to 2.9%) also rose.
The Latin American aliyah appears to be splitting into a growing religious stream (Bnei Brak, Beit Shemesh) and a periphery stream (Karmiel and Harish, which took 89), while the old Ra'anana anchor weakens.
What this does not show
The file has no religious field, so the "religious stream" reading is inferred from destination. Bnei Brak's bagrut eligibility is 15.3% because most pupils study in Haredi frameworks that do not take the bagrut. Some rises are programmes rather than families: all 59 Latin American olim in Even Yehuda in 2023 to 2025 were aged 18 to 29.
What to do
If you are a Spanish or Portuguese speaker looking for recent arrivals like you, compare Karmiel, Beit Shemesh and Bnei Brak with Ra'anana. Ask each municipality what olim support it runs.
Method
Counts and each town's share of the national Latin American flow in each period, from the Ministry record-level file (agg.py). Latin American means Mexico and every Spanish or Portuguese-speaking country the file codes as South or Central America and the Caribbean.
Sources
- [1]Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, new immigrants by year: record-level open file (data.gov.il). One row per oleh, first absorbing locality and country of origin; years 2015 to 2025; 2025 file modified 23 February 2026. Machine-readable record: https://data.gov.il/api/3/action/package_show?id=new-olim-by-yearsAccessed 15 October 2026
- [2]Ministry of Education, Shkifut: Bnei Brak, education picture 2024. Bagrut eligibility, school year 2024; national 76.6%Accessed 15 October 2026