Soviet Jewish 1987 Emigration Totals 8,011, Largest Since 1981
A total of 8,011 Soviet Jews were allowed to emigrate in 1987, the largest annual amount in six years, the Intergovernmental Committee for Migration said today.
The 1987 figure was eight times more than the number of Jews who left the Soviet Union in 1986. Committee officials attributed the increase to liberalized emigration policies promoted by Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev.
But the 8,011 total last year was still far below annual figures in the 1970s before the Kremlin cut the departure of Soviet Jews to a trickle.
Only 1,955, or 24.4%, of the emigrants went directly to Israel last year, compared with the vast majority that went there in previous years--a change frequently blamed on difficulties in finding jobs and housing.
The 1987 emigration figure was the highest since 1981, when 9,860 Soviet Jews were permitted to go to the West.
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