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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_population
i don't know how to compare this stuff to other types of humans, don't even think that other types of humans are sufficiently defined to even show up on a census. yet, there is a census that guesstimates the Jewish population of the planet. i must have missed something to click on."
There actually isn't enough genetic differences between humans to have subspecies or races. (think poodle vs st bernard as an example where there is).
"Jewish" can refer to a culture or a group of sets of religious beliefs or both.
There is also data on how many people are "christian", "Muslim", "hindu" and even "jedi".
This information is generally kept by countries for archeological and informative reasons. The info is also used for commercial and political reasons from time to time. Knowing how many people celebrate X holiday and buy X products relating to it is useful.
For the record India is somewhat in a similar boat as israel (although they are a "hindu state"). There are also plenty of self-identified Muslim and Christian states that enjoy US support.
Sorry Dibs, better luck next time:P