Approximately 196,000 Holocaust survivors remain alive worldwide, according to new data released Tuesday by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. The updated figures mark a significant drop from January 2025, when the New York–based Claims Conference estimated that roughly 220,000 survivors were still living.

Nearly half of those remaining — about 97,600 people — reside in Israel, with sizable populations also in the United States (31,000), France (17,300), Russia (14,300), and Germany (10,700). Smaller but still notable survivor communities remain in countries including Ukraine, Canada, Hungary, Australia, and Belarus, each with more than 1,000 survivors.

The median survivor age is now 87, according to the report. About 30 percent are at least 90 years old, and just over 1 percent have reached or surpassed 100. Nearly all — 97 percent — are classified as “child survivors,” meaning they were born in 1928 or later and survived the Holocaust as young children.

Women make up the majority of survivors, accounting for 62 percent of the total, compared with 38 percent who are male — a disparity that experts have long attributed to differences in wartime survival rates and postwar life expectancy.

As the survivor population rapidly diminishes, advocacy groups have increasingly warned that time is running out for governments to address unresolved compensation claims, expand access to social services, and ensure survivors can live their final years with dignity.

The Claims Conference was established in 1951 following negotiations between 23 Jewish organizations and the government of then–West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer. For decades, it has played a central role in securing reparations, pensions, and social welfare funding for Holocaust survivors worldwide.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)