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Background Basics

Israel by the Numbers

posted on 05/09/08

Political System
President: Shimon Peres
Prime Minister: Ehud Olmert
Defense Minister: Ehud Barak
Foreign Minister: Tzipi Livni
IDF Chief of Staff: Gabi Ashkenazi
Universal Suffrage at age 18
Official Languages: Hebrew and Arabic
Parliamentary democracy with a 120-member unicameral Knesset; citizens vote for a political party, which determines the Knesset’s proportional representation (parties must win a minimum of two percent of the vote). The next Knesset elections are scheduled for 2010, although they can be called earlier if there is a vote of no confidence and no replacement coalition can be formed.

Demographics
Population
2008: 7.3 million
1948: 806,000
Percent Jewish
2008: 75.5 (~20 percent Russian)
1948: 82.1
Percent Arab
2008: 20.1
1948: 17.8
Percent Other (that is, immigrants and their children not registered as Jewish by the Interior Ministry)
2008: 4.4
1948: not calculated
Percent Born in Israel
2008: 69
1948: 35
Population Growth Rate: 1.8 percent
Life Expectancy (Men): 78.5 years
Life Expectancy (Women): 82.2 years
Immigrants by Year of Immigration
1948-1951: 688,000
1952-1959: 272,000
1960-1969: 374,000
1970-1979: 346,000
1980-1989: 154,000
1990-1999: 956,400
2000-2006: 222,000

Economic Indicators
$198.7 billion GDP (2006)
$28,179 GDP per capita (2006)
5.3% GDP growth (2007)
6.8% unemployment rate (2007)
0.4% inflation rate (2007 est.)
82.7% public debt in terms of GDP (2007 est.)
Value of investment in R&D as a percentage of GDP is the highest in the world at 4.3%.

Trade
Exports:
$48.6 billion (2007 est.)
38.4% United States, 6.5% Belgium, 5.9% Hong Kong
1950: 31.6% United Kingdom, 24.8% United States, 8% Denmark
Imports:
$52.8 billion (2007 est.)
12.4% United States, 8.2% Belgium, 6.7% Germany (2006)
1950: 35.3% United States, 8.5% United Kingdom, 5.3% Italy

Education
Compulsory education up to tenth grade
41.8% have 13 or more years of education; 9% (1948)
97.1% literacy rate; age 15 and over can read and write (2004 est.)
Third highest number of university graduates per capita in the world. (1999)

Other 1948 Comparisons
Percent of population living in Tel Aviv and surrounding area
2008: 53
1948: 71
Percent of population with no schooling
2008: 3
1948: 16
Number of colleges and universities
2008: 62
1948: 2
Number who received degrees from Israeli colleges and universities
2008: 53,000
1948: 208
Home ownership
2008: 71%
End of the 1950s: 54%
Percent of average household expenditures on food
2008: 16
1950s: 40