Vital Statistics

Population of Israel
7, 116, 200

**See the Interactive Map at bottom of page

Israel size
8,000 sq miles
Note: Israel could fit into Florida 8 times
263 miles long – North to South
Width: between 9 and 71 miles wide (East to West)

Land
Arable land useful for farming 15.45%
Rest is metropolitan areas, mountains and desert.

Population breakdown
Jews: 5,393,600 - 76%
Arab (Muslim, Druze): 1,413,500 - 20%
Others: 309,100 4%

[Source: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/
jsource/Society_&_Culture/newpop.html]

Declaration of Independence: 14 May 1948
Official Languages: Hebrew and Arabic
Rivers: One – the Jordan River

World Populations
6.7 billion people
12.9 million Jews (0.2% of the world population)
1.48 billion Muslims (25% of the world population)
[Source: www.factbook.net]

Education
Israeli workforce holding university degrees: 24%
- ranking Israel third in the industrialized world after the US and Netherlands.
Israeli workforce holding advanced degrees: 12%

Israel Unemployment rate
8.5% (2006 est.)

Israeli Population below poverty line
22.6% (2005) including 34% of children.
[Source: https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/is.html#People]

Israeli Climate
Israel is on a climatic crossroad, which is a transitional area between a temperate and arid climate. The southern and eastern areas of Israel are characterized by an arid climate, while the other areas are characterized by a Mediterranean climate.
Due to this climatic formation, there is high variability in the amount of precipitation from year to year, and in the different areas of the country.