The Israel Democracy Institute has revised a study it released three months ago to say that 51 percent, and not 20 percent, of Israeli Jews are secular. Researchers explained that the revised survey was based on self-reported affiliation, while the original version was based on religious observance, with “non observant” reported as “secular.”
The institute has not yet released its full revised study, but decided to release the data involving religious affiliation immediately in order to correct the “wrong impression” created by the original study. The latest results show that 51 percent of Israeli Jews identify as secular, 30 percent as traditional, 10 percent as religious, and nine percent as hareidi-religious.
The latest data is similar to that recorded by the Central Bureau of Statistics, which reports that 44 percent of Israelis are secular, 25 traditional, 14 percent traditional and religious, 10 percent religious, and seven percent hareidi-religious.