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GEOGRAPHY & POPULATION BASICS |
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GEOGRAPHY & POPULATION BASICS |
 Source: CIA World Fact Book Click for larger version. |
Israel (area=20,770 sq. km.), a country slightly smaller than New Jersey, is located in the Middle East, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Egypt (area=1,001,450 sq. km.) and Lebanon (area=10,400 sq. km.) on the coast and bordering Jordan (area=92,300 sq. km.) and Syria (area=185,180 sq. km.) inland. Another way to visualize Israel's size is to note that Lake Erie along the northern border of the U.S. is considerably bigger than Israel (approx. 25,700 sq. km.) The territories occupied by Israel since the 1967 war are not included in the area of 20,770 sq. km.. These territories are Judea, Samaria (the "West Bank") (area=5,860 sq. km.), the Gaza Strip (area=360 sq. km.), and the Golan Heights (area=1,158 sq. km.). The population of Israel is 6,592,000 (August 2002 est.) The Jewish population in Judea, Samaria (the "West Bank"), and Gaza, exclusive of East Jerusalem which has been annexed, has reached 220,000. (August 2002 est.) Over half of Israel's population lives in the coastal strip, where the population density is already among the highest in the world, while the Galilee and the Negev remain relatively under-populated and under-developed. Israel has one of the highest population densities in the world with an average of 294 people per square kilometer. Israeli population density has multiplied by six since the nation was established; there was an average of 43 people per square kilometer in 1948. |
Jews make up 77.2% of Israel's population, Muslims 15.4%, Christians 2.1%, Druze 1.6% and unaffiliated citizens 3.5%. The percentage of Israeli residents who are Arab is 19%, about the same as it when the country was established in 1948.
Largest cities in Israel (end of 2001):
This satellite photograph of the Middle East is from NASA. The huge territory of Saudi Arabia is in the center with Egypt and other North African countries to the left, Iraq and Syria upper center, and Iran and the Persian Gulf nations to the right of center. At this scale Israel is barely visible, being less than one percent the size of the hostile Islamic nations that surround it, as shown even more clearly on this map of the world distribution of Muslims:
Click for larger image. Map courtesy of Azanne Research.
In 1998, fifty years after its establishment, Israel was an economic and technological powerhouse. It had the 21st highest per-capita GDP in the world; a United Nations report ranked it 23rd worldwide in its standard of living, based on per capita income, life expectancy and educational standards. As a country almost bereft of natural resources, special emphasis was placed, from the beginning, on the need for advanced education and scientific research.
Israel has more engineers per capita than any other country, perhaps because of the Jewish tradition of placing great value on education. Israeli exports totaled $30 billion in 1997, more than 60 percent of which came from technology-based exports. Nearly all Israeli technology exporters are publicly traded companies; most are traded on New York stock exchanges, principally the NASDAQ. More Israeli companies are traded on NASDAQ than any other non-US country, with the exception of Canada. The local technology venture capital industry is flourishing, and is reckoned to be the largest industry of its kind outside the United States.