New data released by the Central Bureau of Statistics over the weekend indicated that Israel is home to only 120,000 people who speak Yiddish as their mother tongue -- 2% of the Jewish population. The figure represents a sharp decline from 2008, when the Yiddish-speaking population in Israel numbered 160,000 people, or 3% of the Jewish population; and an even sharper decline from 1986, when 215,000 people declared Yiddish as their first language. CBS data found that Yiddish is now on par with English and French, as each is the mother tongue of 2% of Israeli Jews. According to the report, Hebrew is the mother tongue for 79% of Israeli Jews ages 20 to 40, but it is the first language for only 21% of Israeli Jews ages 65 and over. The figures further suggest that 15% of Israeli Jews speak Russian as a first language. Of the total population, about 18%, or 1.44 million people, speak Arabic as their mother tongue.
