The survey, which explores patterns of religious switching among Israeli Jews, finds that 22% of Jewish adults in Israel have changed their religious identity within Judaism since childhood. Movement is far more common between levels of observance—such as from religious to secular—than between Judaism and other faiths. Fewer than 1% of respondents reported either leaving Judaism or joining it from another religion.
The data show that internal switching has significantly boosted the secular “Hiloni” group, which today accounts for 45% of Israel’s Jewish population. Of those who grew up in more observant households—especially “Dati” (religious) and “Masorti” (traditional)—many now identify as Hiloni. This trend has contributed to the expansion of Israel’s secular population, even as more devout groups like the Haredim (ultra-Orthodox) maintain high retention rates and birthrates.
The Pew study is based on a nationally representative sample of 591 in-person interviews conducted with Jewish adults in Israel. Respondents were asked about the group in which they were raised—Haredi, Dati, Masorti or Hiloni—and their current affiliation. While the Haredi community showed the greatest internal consistency, with more than 90% of those raised ultra-Orthodox remaining so, other observant groups showed more fluidity.
Among those raised Dati, only 60% continue to identify as religious in adulthood, while 40% have shifted to a less observant identity. Masortim were similarly mobile, with about half in the traditional category shifting toward secularism or, to a lesser extent, greater observance. This positions Masortim as a kind of ideological middle ground that is more prone to movement than either end of the spectrum. The secular Hiloni group, by contrast, showed the highest retention, with 93% of those raised secular still identifying that way today.
Age emerged as a key factor in religious switching. A third of Israeli Jews aged 50 and older reported changing their religious identity, compared to just 8% of those under 35. The survey found no significant difference in switching patterns between men and women or across levels of education, suggesting a broader cultural trend rather than one driven by socioeconomic factors.
By contrast, countries such as Sweden, the Netherlands and the United States show much higher levels of disaffiliation, particularly from Christianity. In the U.S., for example, about 28% of adults no longer identify with their childhood religion. Christianity has experienced especially large net losses, with more people leaving the faith than joining it across many countries surveyed.
Jewish identity in the U.S. remains relatively strong, though less so than in Israel. Pew found that most Jews raised in the U.S. still identify as Jewish in adulthood, but the U.S. Jewish population has seen modest disaffiliation compared to Israel’s high retention.
The Pew Research Center previously published landmark studies that laid the groundwork for understanding religious and cultural dynamics within Israeli and global Jewry.
Its 2016 report, Israel’s Religiously Divided Society, offered one of the most comprehensive portraits to date of Jewish and non-Jewish populations in Israel. That study revealed deep divisions among Israeli Jews along religious lines—between Haredim, Datiim, Masortim and Hilonim—not only in levels of observance, but also in views on politics, democracy and coexistence with Arab citizens.
It showed, for example, that most Haredim supported making Jewish religious law the law of the land, while secular Jews strongly opposed that idea.
The 2021 report, Jewish Americans in 2020, included global comparisons that highlighted the distinctiveness of Israeli Jewish identity compared to Diaspora communities, particularly in the United States. While American Jews tended to emphasize cultural and ethnic aspects of Jewishness, Israeli Jews generally anchored their identity more firmly in religion, peoplehood and national belonging.
The report also emphasized the rising influence of Orthodox and Haredi populations in Israel due to high fertility rates, a trend that continues to shape the country’s demographic and political landscape.
