Global Jewish population close to pre-Holocaust level, says report

The global Jewish population has reportedly grown as large as it was before the Holocaust, an annual report released by an Israeli think tank has said.

The Jewish People Policy Institute said that there were 14.2 million Jews in the world. According to the report, if individuals with one Jewish parent and others who were partially Jewish were factored in, the current figure would approach 16.5 million- the Jewish population on the eve of the World War II, reported Fox News.

Almost six million Jews were exterminated by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Holocaust.

The report attributed the rise in numbers in part to natural growth, mainly in Israel, which is home to about 6.1 million Jews and has a high fertility rate.

The institute also found that the number of Jewish Americans, who were not orthodox but had strong Jewish identities and were integrated into American society, was going down. It said that the decrease was due to a rise in intermarriage and low birth rates.

The U.S. houses world's second-largest Jewish population at 5.7 million. France stands a distant third with 475,000 Jews.