Global Holocaust Survivor Count Falls Below 200,000 as Antisemitism Hardens

A new demographic analysis by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany finds that the number of living Jewish Holocaust survivors worldwide has dropped to about 196,600, the first time the figure has fallen below 200,000 and an 11% decline—roughly 220,000 people—in just a year. The median survivor is now 87, nearly all (97%) are "child survivors" born in 1928 or later, and about one in six live in the United States, concentrating survivor-care and education needs in Israel, the U.S. and parts of the former Soviet Union. Women make up 62% of the remaining survivor population, and prior Claims Conference projections warned that around 70% of survivors will be gone within a decade, intensifying efforts to record testimony before it is too late. The report lands as anti-Jewish hate crimes and antisemitic incidents have climbed since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, with a recent Blue Square Alliance survey finding antisemitism in the U.S. has "hardened" into a durable new normal and fewer Americans feel obligated to push back. Against that backdrop, Jewish-led organizations and allies are launching public campaigns—from JewBelong’s blunt billboards and taxi ads in New York to new Holocaust documentaries that rely heavily on primary evidence—to counter denial and distortion as the last eyewitness generation disappears.