Exodus of Skilled High Earners from Israel Doubled Over Five Years: Report

The departure of high-earning and highly skilled Israelis has nearly doubled over the past five years, hitting record levels in 2023 and 2024 as the country faces a compounding brain drain.

Data compiled by the Israel Tax Authority’s Planning and Economics Division reveals that affluent individuals working in tech and healthcare account for a disproportionate share of recent departures.

Up until 2019, those leaving paid roughly NIS 500 million ($166 million) in annual income taxes prior to departure, a figure that surged to NIS 1.2 billion annually over the past two years.

The shift reflects a dramatic change in the economic profile of emigrants, whose pre-departure incomes once mirrored national averages but are now 50 percent higher.

“From all the indicators regarding Israelis recently leaving the country a consistent picture emerges: the pace of emigration among the strong and affluent strata of society increased, whereas among the weaker strata, the departure rate is almost unchanged,” said Dr. Ariel Greizaz and Nili Ben-Tovim, the authors of the study.

Escalating Threats to Revenue and Tech Sector

Average yearly earnings for departing Israelis jumped 60 percent in real terms, rising from NIS 125,000 between 2015 and 2019 to NIS 200,000 in 2024.

Tax authorities project that sustained departure rates could drain NIS 3.5 billion from state coffers annually within five years, posing acute risks to a fiscal system where the top 20 percent of earners fund 92 percent of income taxes.

“If this alarming trend continues at this rate, within five years, Israel could be losing NIS 3.5 billion in tax revenues every year,” said Greizaz and Ben-Tovim.

The outflow is particularly concentrated among prime-age workers in their 40s and 50s, a demographic that now represents 20 percent of adult emigrants, up from 13 percent a decade ago.

Systemic Risks and Conflict Pressure

Because tech accounts for a fifth of gross domestic product and more than half of exports, losing skilled personnel directly undermines the country's economic backbone.

Parallel findings from Tel Aviv University show nearly 50,000 citizens have exited annually for three consecutive years through 2025, driven by ongoing military conflict and internal political instability.

Economist Dan Ben-David and other experts warn that the persistent flight of critical human capital risks creating a spiral effect that becomes difficult to reverse.