Editing Haifa (section)

==Demographics==
{{historical populations
|title=City of Haifa population by year<ref name=demographics>{{cite web |url=http://www1.haifa.muni.il/spru/doc/YB/Dmgrp/Y2006/Download/DemographyDL.pdf |title=Demography |publisher=Haifa Municipality |access-date=22 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080409211913/http://www1.haifa.muni.il/spru/doc/YB/Dmgrp/Y2006/Download/DemographyDL.pdf |archive-date=9 April 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Data based on Ben-Arieh "Population of the Towns", as reproduced in Ben-Arieh Jerusalem page 466</ref>
|percentages=
|1800 |1,000
|1840 |2,000
|1880 |6,000
|1914 |20,000
|1922 |24,600
|1947 |145,140
|1961 |183,021
|1972 |219,559
|1983 |225,775
|1995 |255,914
|2008 |264,407
|2016 |279,600
}}
[[File:Downtown Haifa including the port and the sail tower.jpg|thumb|left|Downtown Haifa and port with the [[Sail Tower]] in the foreground]]
Haifa is Israel's third-largest city, consisting of 103,000 households,<ref name="pop">{{cite web |title=Haifa |url=http://www.jewishagency.org/JewishAgency/English/Aliyah/About+Israel/Cities/Haifa+9.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926234156/http://www.jewishagency.org/JewishAgency/English/Aliyah/About%2BIsrael/Cities/Haifa%2B9.htm |archive-date=26 September 2007 |access-date=5 May 2007 |publisher=[[Jewish Agency for Israel|Jewish Agency]]}}</ref> or a population of {{Israel populations|Haifa}}. Immigrants from the former [[Soviet Union]] constitute 25% of Haifa's population,<ref name=Stats2003>{{cite web |url=http://www.cbs.gov.il/statistical/arab_pop03e.pdf |title=The Arab Population of Israel 2003 |access-date=3 January 2008 |publisher=Israel Central Bureau of Statistics |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071201024709/http://www.cbs.gov.il/statistical/arab_pop03e.pdf |archive-date=1 December 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> thus making Russian one of the three main spoken languages of the city.

According to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, [[Arab citizens of Israel|Israeli Arabs]] constitute 10% of Haifa's population, the majority living in the [[Wadi Nisnas]], Abbas and Khalisa neighborhoods.<ref name="Stats2003" /> The [[Wadi Nisnas]] and Abbas neighborhoods are largely [[Christianity in Israel|Christian]],<ref name="auto1">{{cite book |title=Everyday Life in the Segmented City |first=Lorenzo |last=Tripodi |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-78052-258-6 |page=74 |publisher=Emerald Group Publishing |quote=}}</ref><ref name="Daniel Lefkowitz">{{cite book |title=Words and Stones: The Politics of Language and Identity in Israel |first=Daniel |last=Lefkowitz |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-19-802843-7 |page=49 |publisher=Oxford University Press |quote=}}</ref> Khalisa and [[Kababir]] are largely [[Islam in Israel|Muslim]],<ref name="Daniel Lefkowitz" /> while [[Ein HaYam (Wadi al-Jimal)|Ein HaYam]] is a mixed [[Arab Christian]] and Muslim neighborhood.<ref name="Daniel Lefkowitz" /> Haifa is commonly portrayed as a model of co-existence between Arabs and Jews, although tensions and hostility do still exist.<ref>Faier, Elizabeth (2005) ''Organizations, Gender, and the Culture of Palestinian Activism in Haifa, Israel: fieldwork and Palestinians in Israel New venues: nongovernmental organizations and social change Activism: support, conflict, and ideas Two tales of a city: history, space, and identity Honor, land, and protest ...'' Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0-415-94951-4}}</ref>

Between 1994 and 2009, the city had a declining and [[Population ageing|aging population]] compared to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, as young people moved to the center of the country for education and jobs, while young families migrated to [[Bedroom community|bedroom communities]] in the suburbs. However, as a result of new projects and improving infrastructure, the city managed to reverse its population decline, reducing emigration while attracting more internal migration into the city. In 2009, positive net immigration into the city was shown for the first time in 15 years.<ref name=Monocle/><ref name=demo>{{cite web |url=http://urbaneconomics.blogspot.com/2006/12/is-haifa-aging.html |publisher=urbaneconomics.blogspot.com |title=Is Haifa Ageing? |access-date=10 February 2008 |date=6 December 2006 |work=Central Bureau of Statistics, Statistical Abstract of Israel, no. 56, 2005 |archive-date=8 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708071520/http://urbaneconomics.blogspot.com/2006/12/is-haifa-aging.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

A development plan approved in 2016 seeks to raise Haifa's population to 330,000 residents by 2025.<ref name=globes>{{cite news |title=Haifa plans for 55,000 more residents by 2025 |url=https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-new-haifa-outline-plan-55000-more-residents-by-2025-1001159957 |website=Globes |language=en |date=11 August 2016 |access-date=3 January 2021 |archive-date=8 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200808031333/https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-new-haifa-outline-plan-55000-more-residents-by-2025-1001159957 |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Religious and ethnic communities===
The population is heterogeneous. [[Israeli Jews]] comprise some 82% of the population, almost 14% are [[Christians in Israel|Christians]] (the majority of whom are [[Arab Christians]])<ref name=demo/> and, some 4% are [[Islam in Israel|Muslims]]. Haifa also includes [[Druze]] and [[Baháʼí Faith]] communities. In 2006, 27% of the Arab population was aged 14 and under, compared to 17% of the Jewish and other population groups. The trend continues in the age 15–29 group, in which 27% of the Arab population is found, and the age 30–44 group (23%). The population of Jews and others in these age groups are 22% and 18% respectively. Nineteen percent of the city's Jewish and other population is between 45 and 59, compared to 14% of the Arab population. This continues with 14% of Jews and others aged 60–74 and 10% over age 75, in comparison to 7% and just 2% respectively in the Arab population.<ref name=demographics/> Arabs in Haifa tend to be wealthier and better educated compare to other Arabs elsewhere in Israel.<ref name=NYT01416/>
[[File:St. Elias Cathedral, front view (Haifa, 2012).jpg|thumb|[[St. Elijah Cathedral, Haifa]]; episcopal see of the [[Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Akka|Archeparchy of Akka]].]]
Haifa is home to the second-largest Arab Christian community in Israel,<ref name=Christian2020>{{cite web |url=https://www.cbs.gov.il/he/mediarelease/DocLib/2019/400/11_19_400e.pdf |title=Christmas 2019 – Christians in Israel |date=29 December 2019 |publisher=Central Bureau of Statistics (Israel) |access-date=26 April 2022 |archive-date=9 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211109084141/https://www.cbs.gov.il/he/mediarelease/DocLib/2019/400/11_19_400e.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> many of them lives in the Arabic-speaking neighborhoods in the lowlands near the sea; neighborhoods such as [[German Colony, Haifa|German Colony]], [[Wadi Nisnas]] and Abbas, are largely [[Christianity in Israel|Arab Christian]].<ref name="auto1"/><ref name="Daniel Lefkowitz"/> There are also a significant number of wealthy Christian Arabs in the [[Hadar HaCarmel|Hadar West]] and Central.<ref name="Daniel Lefkowitz"/> The Christian communities of Haifa are varied and included various denominations, the most prominent among them the [[Melkite Greek Catholic Church|Melkite Greek Catholic]], followed by [[Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem|Greek Orthodox]], [[Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem|Latin Catholics]], [[Maronites]], [[Armenian Orthodox]], and [[Protestants]].<ref>{{cite book |title=European Cultural Diplomacy and Arab Christians in Palestine, 1918–1948: Between Contention and Connection |first=Sary |last=Zananiri |year=2020 |isbn=978-3-030-55540-5 |page=129 |publisher=Springer Nature |quote=}}</ref> The Christian Arab communities in Haifa tend to be wealthier and better educated compare to other Arabs elsewhere in Israel.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Israeli Palestinians: An Arab Minority in the Jewish State |first=Alexander |last=Bligh |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-135-76077-9 |page=132 |publisher=Routledge |quote=}}</ref> The [[Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Akka]] is based in Haifa, and its cathedral episcopal see is [[St. Elijah Cathedral, Haifa|St. Elijah Greek-Melkite Cathedral]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://catholicchurch-holyland.com/?p=3811 |title=The Catholic Church Of The Holy Land » Parishes Greek Melkite Catholic Archeparchy of Akko |website=catholicchurch-holyland.com |access-date=2016-05-19 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160323032025/http://catholicchurch-holyland.com/?p=3811 |archivedate=2016-03-23}}</ref>

Following [[Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon#2000 Israeli withdrawal|Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon]] in 2000, some former [[South Lebanon Army]] soldiers and officers who fled from Lebanon settled in Haifa with [[Lebanese people in Israel|their families]].<ref name="Shachmon 2019">{{Cite journal |last1=Shachmon |first1=Ori |last2=Mack |first2=Merav |date=2019 |title=The Lebanese in Israel – Language, Religion and Identity |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.13173/zeitdeutmorggese.169.2.0343 |journal=Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft |volume=169 |issue=2 |pages=343–366 |doi=10.13173/zeitdeutmorggese.169.2.0343 |jstor=10.13173/zeitdeutmorggese.169.2.0343 |s2cid=211647029 |issn=0341-0137 |access-date=1 May 2022 |archive-date=20 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020065138/https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.13173/zeitdeutmorggese.169.2.0343 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2006, 2.9% of the Jews in the city were [[Haredi Judaism|Haredi]], compared to 7.5% on a national scale.<ref name=demographics/> However, the Haredi community in Haifa is growing fast due to a high fertility rate.<ref>{{cite web |last=Hoval |first=Revital |url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/secular-residents-worry-about-haifa-neighborhood-turning-into-another-bnei-brak-1.381844 |title=Secular residents worry about Haifa neighborhood turning into 'another Bnei Brak' |work=Haaretz |date=1 September 2011 |access-date=24 March 2013 |archive-date=10 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310012152/http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/secular-residents-worry-about-haifa-neighborhood-turning-into-another-bnei-brak-1.381844 |url-status=live}}</ref> 66.6% were secular, compared to a national average of 43.7%.<ref name=demographics/> There is also a Scandinavian Seamen Protestant church, established by Norwegian Righteous Among the Nations pastor Per Faye-Hansen.{{citation needed|date=June 2019}}

Haifa is the center of liberal [[Arab culture|Arabic-speaking culture]], as it was under British colonial rule. The Arabic-speaking neighborhoods, which are mixed Muslim and Christian, are in the lowlands near the sea, while Jewish neighborhoods are at a higher elevation. An active Arab cultural life has developed in the 21st century.<ref name=NYT01416>{{cite news |last=Hadid |first=Diaa |title=In Israeli City of Haifa, a Liberal Palestinian Culture Blossoms |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/04/world/middleeast/in-israeli-city-of-haifa-a-liberal-palestinian-culture-blossoms.html |access-date=4 January 2016 |work=The New York Times |date=4 January 2016 |archive-date=2 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502175750/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/04/world/middleeast/in-israeli-city-of-haifa-a-liberal-palestinian-culture-blossoms.html |url-status=live}}</ref> The city is the center of many Arab-owned businesses such as theaters, bars, cafes, restaurants and [[nightclub]]s which also host different cultural discussions and art exhibitions.<ref name=NYT01416/>