Facts about Israel

Size and Population 

• Israel the 159th smallest country in the world, just ahead of El Salvador.
• Israel has less than 1/1000th of the world's population.
• Median age is 29.1 years. (2009 est.)
• Birth rate: 9.77 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)
• Death rate: 5.43 deaths/1,000 population (2009 est.)
• Infant mortality rate: 6.89 deaths/1,000 live births
• Percentage of people age 15 and over can read and write (literacy) is 97.1%.
• Population: 7,233,701 (June 2009 estimate)

Geography 

• Long and narrow in shape, the country is about 290 miles (470 km.) in length and 85 miles (135 km.) in width at its widest point. Israel is a little bigger than New Jersey (the fourth smallest state in the United States of America).
• Geographic Coordinates: 31 30 N, 34 45 E
• Israel has 1,017 km of shared border land. The breakdown is as follows: Egypt 266 km, Gaza Strip 51 km, Jordan 238 km, Lebanon 79 km, Syria 76 km, West Bank 307 km.
• The Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth at -408 meters, is in Israel.
• The highest point in Israel is Har Meron, at 1,208 meters
• I learned the seas as follows: Med, Red, Dead, et al. The Mediterranean Sea lies to the west. The Red Sea is an inlet of the Indian Ocean and touches the southern tip of Israel. The Dead Sea, which is actually a lake, is between Israel and Jordan. The Sea of Galilee is also a lake, but it is a freshwater lake, which makes it extremely important in the arid desert climate. The Sea of Galilee is located in the North.
• Arable land clocks in at a meager 15.45%.
• Natural resources are timber, potash, copper ore, natural gas, phosphate rock, magnesium bromide, clays, and sand.
• Environmental and International Agreements:
  party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
  signed, but not ratified: Marine Life Conservation. (From the CIA FactBook.)

Education 

• Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the world.
• Almost all three- and four-year-olds attend some kind of preschool program.
• School attendance is mandatory from age five, and free through age 18.
• Most Israeli students are over age 21 when they begin their studies, after three years compulsory military service for men and almost two years for women.

Technology and Innovation 

• The cell phone was developed in Israel by Israelis working in the Israeli branch of Motorola, which has its largest development center in Israel.
• Most of the Windows NT and XP operating systems were developed by Microsoft-Israel.
• The Pentium MMX Chip technology was designed in Israel at Intel.
• Both the Pentium-4 microprocessor and the Centrino processor were entirely designed, developed and produced in Israel.
• Voice mail technology was developed in Israel.
• Both Microsoft and Cisco built their only R&D facilities outside the US in Israel.
• The technology for the AOL Instant Messenger ICQ was developed in by four young Israelis (1996).
• Israel produces one of the highest per capita rates of patents filed.
• Israel has the second largest number of startup companies in the world (mostly in high-tech).

Main Cities 

• Jerusalem, the capitol
• Tel Aviv, center of the country's industrial, commercial, financial and cultural life
• Haifa, major Mediterranean port and the industrial and commercial center of northern Israel
• Beer Sheba, largest urban center in the south. It provides administrative, economic, health, education and cultural services for the entire southern region.
• Information from The Israel Foreign Ministry at http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/facts%20about%20israel/israel%20in%20brief/.

Ecology 

• The Middle East has been growing date palms for centuries. The average tree is about 18-20 feet tall and yields about 38 pounds of dates a year.
  Israeli date trees are now yielding 400 pounds/year and are short enough to be harvested from the ground or a short ladder.
• Israel's natural resources are timber, potash, copper ore, natural gas, phosphate rock, magnesium bromide, clays and sand. Love that magnesium bromide!
• 15.45% of Israel is arable land and 3.88% is permanent crops.
• Sandstorms may occur during spring and summer in Israel. Other natural hazards are droughts and periodic earthquakes.
• Information from The CIA World Factbook and Wikipedia.

Good Doobees 

• Israel was the first nation in the world to adopt the Kimberly process, an international standard that certifies diamonds as "conflict free."
• When the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya was bombed in 1998, Israeli rescue teams were on the scene within a day -- and saved three victims from the rubble.
• In 1984 and 1991, Israel airlifted a total of 22,000 Ethiopian Jews (Operation Solomon) at risk in Ethiopia, to safety in Israel.

Military Might 

• Israel has the fourth largest air force in the world, after the United States, Russia, and China.
• Israel's air force has an aerial arsenal of over 250 F-16's. This is the largest fleet of F-16 aircraft outside of the U. S.
• The military is compulsory for Jews and Druzes and voluntary for Christians, Muslims and Circassians. The age of service is 17 years old. Both sexes are eligible for military service; conscript service obligation - 36 months for men, 21 months for women. (CIA Factbook)

Finance, Money, and Business 

• Israel has the highest average living standard of the Middle East.
• The per capita income in 2000 was over $17,500, exceeding that of the UK.
• On a per capita basis, Israel has the largest number of biotech startups.

Government 

• When Golda Meir was elected Prime Minister of Israel in 1969, she became the world's second elected female leader in modern times.
• Israel is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East (though maybe that will change soon).
• Israel is a parliamentary democracy.
• The Knesset is Israel's legislative authority (their Congress). It is a 120-member unicameral parliament which operates in plenary session and through 15 standing committees. Its members are elected every four years in universal nationwide elections.

Misc. 

• Israel has the highest percentage in the world of home computers per capita.
• Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation by a large margin - 109 per 10,000 people

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