Intermarriage Among Jewish Australians

Publication Date: December 2003

Publisher: Hadassah-Brandeis Institute

Author(s): Gary Eckstein

Research Area: Culture and religion; Population and demographics

Keywords: Intermarriage; Population Estimates; Demography

Type: Report

Coverage: Australia

Abstract:

Starting with a short history of the Australian Jewish community, the author goes on to describe its current demographics and intermarriage rates. Deliberate and incidental omission of Jewish identification from government censuses complicates the counting, but demographers estimate that there are about 100,000 Jews in Australia, highly concentrated in Sydney and Melbourne. Intermarriage rates are strongly correlated with age, ranging from a rate of 36% for ages 15-24 down to 19% for ages 40-59. The report also includes statistics on intermarriage rates for de facto couples, the numbers of children in intermarried versus Jewish marriages, the religious identification of these children, the potential impact of Jewish immigration from South Africa, and the relationship between communal affiliation and intermarriage.