It said that about 115,000 of them are Arabs, while the remainder are immigrants who mostly arrived with Jewish relatives, either from Poland and Romania in the 1970s and '80s or from the former Soviet Union during the past decade.

The figures show that Christian Arabs are, on average, older than their Muslim counterparts and have fewer children, but their number shows a small, but steady, increase. This increase is particularly significant in the face of charges by Christian groups friendly to the Palestinians that Israel is seeking a drop in the number of Christians.

In 1949, according to CBS figures, there were 34,000; in 1961, the first census year, 51,000. Later censuses show continuing increases, 74,000 in 1972, 96,000 in 1983.

In the 1995 census, the first which differentiated between Arab Christians and other Christians, there were 101,000 Arab Christians.

In a pattern similar to that of the Jewish population, some 35 percent of Arab Christians are under 19, while in the Muslim population it is 53%. About 8% of Christians are older than 65, compared to 3% among Muslims and 11% for Jews.

Christian women have an average of 2.6 children, while Jewish women have 2.8 and Muslim women 4.7.

The Christians are largely city folk, with 98% living in urban communities (having at least 2,000 inhabitants), compared to 90% for Jews and 91% for Muslims. More than 60% live in the North. About 18% of all Christian Arabs live in Nazareth, where they constitute a third of the population, while 12% live in Haifa, 11% in Jerusalem, 7% in Shfaram, 4% in Maghar, and 3% in Tel Aviv-Jaffa.