As the clock chimes out 2006, Israel's population stands at 7.1 million, of which 76 percent is Jewish and 20 percent Arab, according to figures published Thursday by the Central Bureau of Statistics.

The data showed population growth of 1.8 percent this year, similar to the rate reported in the past three years. This low growth rate is similar to that reported in the 1980s, before the arrival of the huge wave of immigration from the former Soviet Union.

Most of the 120,000 new Israelis - 88 percent - came from natural increase, while 12 percent were immigrants. In the 1990s, immigration accounted for 56 percent of population growth.

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In 2006, 19,900 immigrants arrived in Israel, similar to the number reported in the preceding two years. Almost half of the new immigrants came from former Soviet countries. Some 146,300 births were recorded.

Israel's population is relatively young for the Western world, with 28 percent of the population being under age 14. In most Western countries, children constitute just 17 percent of the population. On the other end of the scale, the elderly constitute just 10 percent of Israel's population, compared to an average of 15 percent in developed countries.

Israel's population is largely urban, as is common in the West. More than 91 percent of the population lives in urban areas, with 28 percent in the major cities - Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Rishon Letzion and Ashdod.