Israel: Diverse, creative and free
Israel, the 100th smallest country, with less than 1/1000th of the world’s
population, can make claim to the following.
Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the
world. In 1984 and 1991, Israel airlifted a total of 22,000 Ethiopian Jews
at risk in Ethiopia to safety in Israel.Israel produces more scientific papers
per capita than any other nation by a large margin- 109 per 10,000
people- as well as one of the highest per capita rates of patents filed.
When Golda Meir was elected Prime Minister of Israel in 1969, she
became the world’s second elected female leader in modern times.
In proportion to its population, Israel has the largest number of startup
companies in the world. In absolute terms, Israel has the largest number
of startup companies than any other country in the world, except the
U.S. (3,500 companies, mostly in hi-tech).
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.
Israel is ranked #2 in the world for venture capital funds behind the U.S.
Israel has the third highest rate of entrepreneurship- and the highest
rate among women and among people over 55-in the world.
Outside the United States and Canada, Israel has the largest number
of NASDAQ listed companies.Relative to its population, Israel is the
largest immigrant- absorbing nation on earth. Immigrants come in
search of democracy, religious freedom and economic opportunity
Israel has the highest average living standards in the Middle East. The
per capita income in 2000 was over $17,500, exceeding that of the U.K.
Israel was the first nation in the world to adopt the Kimberly process, an
international standard that certifies diamonds as “conflict free.’”
With an aerial arsenal of over 250 F-16s, Israel has the largest fleet of the
aircraft outside of the U.S. According to industry officials, Israel designed
the airline industry’s most impenetrable flight security. U.S. officials now
look to Israel for advice on how to handle airborne security threats.
Israel’s $100 billion economy is larger than all of its immediate neighbors
combined.
Israel’s Maccabi basketball team won the European championships in
2001.
On a per capita basis, Israel has the largest number of bio-tech start-ups.
Israeli tennis player Anna Smashanova is ranked the 15th female player
in the world.
Israel has the largest raptor migration in the world, with hundreds of
thousands of African birds of prey crossing as they fan out in to Asia.
Mighty Morphin ‘Power Rangers” was produced by Haim Saban, an
Israeli whose family fled from Egypt.
Twenty- four percent of Israel’s workforce holds university degrees-
ranking third in the industrialized world, after the United States and
Holland- and 12 percent hold advanced degrees.
In 1991, during the Gulf War, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra played a
concert wearing gas masks as Scud missiles fired by Saddam Hussein fell
on Tel Aviv.
Israel is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East.
Israel has the world’s second highest per capita of new books.
Israel is the only country in the world that entered the 21st century with
a net gain in its number of trees.
Israel has more museums per capita than any other country
Israel has two official languages: Hebrew and Arabic
Medicine
Israel’s Givun imaging developed the first ingestible video camera, so
small it fits inside a pill. Used to view the small intestine from the inside,
the camera helps doctors diagnose cancer and digestive disorders.
Israeli Scientists developed the first fully computerized, no radiation, diagnostic
instrumentation for breast cancer.
An Israeli company developed a computerized System for ensuring proper administration of medications Thus removing human error from medical treatment.
Every Year in U.S. hospitals 7,000 patients die from treatment mistakes.
Technology With more than 3,000 hi-tech companies and start-ups, Israel has the
highest concentration of hi tech companies in the world (apart from the
Silicon Valley.)
Most of the Windows NT operating system was developed by Microsoft
-Israel
In response to serious water shortages, Israeli engineers and
agriculturists developed a revolutionary drip irrigation system to
minimize the amount of water used to grow crops. The Pentium
MMX Chip was designed in Israel at Intel. Voicemail technology was
developed in Israel. Both Microsoft and Cisco built their only
R & D facilities outside the U.S. in Israel.
Israel has the highest percentage in the world of home computers per
capita. The technology for AOL Instant Messenger was developed in
1996 by four young Israelis.
Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the
workforce, with 145 per 10,000, as opposed to 85 in the U.S., over 70
in Japan, and less than 60 in Germany. With over 25% of its work force
employed in technical professions, Israel places first in this category as
well.
A new acne treatment developed in Israel, the Clearlight device,
produces a high intensity, ultra violet free, narrow –band blue light that
cause acne bacteria to self destruct- all without damaging surrounding
skin or tissue.
The cell phone was developed in Israel by Motorola, which has its
largest development center in Israel. An Israeli company was the first
to develop and install a large-scale solar powered and fully functional
electricity generating plant, in southern California’s Mojave desert.
The first PC anti-virus software was developed in Israel in 1979.
About Israel
Israel stands at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa. Geographically,
it belongs to the Asian continent. Its western border is the
Mediterranean Sea. To the North it is bound by Lebanon and Syria, to the east by
Jordan, and to the south by the Red Sea and Egypt.
Long and narrow in shape, Israel is about 290 miles (470 km) long and
85 miles (135 km) across at its widest point. Its total area is 22,072 sq. km
of which 21,643 sq. km is land area (Sea of Galilee: 164 sq. km.; Dead Sea:
265sq.km.).
Israel’s total land border measures 857 km., its Mediterranean coastline
194 km, and 12 km on the Red Sea.
The majority of Israelis (92%) live in urban communities. One quarter of
the Israeli population lives either in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv or Rishon LeZion.
Jerusalem is the largest city with 719,900 residents. Most of Israel’s
population is concentrated in the center of the country around Tel Aviv, which
has a population of 378,900.
Largest Cities by Population
Jerusalem 719,900
Tel Aviv –Yafo 378,900
Haifa 267,000
Rishon LeZion 219,500
Ashdod 200,600
Latest Population Figures for Israel
On its Independence Day, April 24th, 2007 the State of Israel’s
population stands at approximately 7,150,000 inhabitants – compared to
806,000 residents who lived in Israel in 1948, according to the Central
Bureau of Statistics data.
Of the total population, 5,415,000 are Jews (76 percent) while 1,425,000
million (20 percent) are Arabs. 310,000 (4 percent) of the people were
classified as “others”, mostly non-Jewish immigrants from the former
Soviet Union or those whose Jewish status is still undetermined by Interior Ministry.
In the past year the Israeli population has grown by 121,000, a rate of
1.8 percent. Since 2003, the growth rate has remained relatively stable.
The majority (88 percent) of the increase was due to natural births. There
were 148,000 births recorded in Israel in 2006.During that same period,
18,400 new immigrants made aliyah to Israel, accounting for the rest of
the growth (12 percent) in Israel’s population.
Israel is the only country that…
Israel is the only country that…has a majority of jews in its population.
Israel is the only country that…is no bigger than Massachusetts but often gets bigger newspaper headlines than the world’s largest countries.
Israel is the only country that…is very old and very young. The old land of Israel was conquered and destroyed 2,000 years ago. The new, young Israel is being rebuilt by the descendants of the ancient Israelites – the jews.
Israel is the only country that…plants millions of trees and hardly ever chops any down. The jews found no forests, only bare, eroded hillsides, when they returned to the Land. Since then they’ve planted more than 150 million trees.
Israel is the only country that…contains the mayor holy places of the Jewish and Christian religions and is the third holiest site of the Muslim religion.
Israel is the only country that…uses the Hebrew and Arabic words for peace – Shalom and Salaam – Aleikem- as a daily greeting, even though the country has been at war for much of its short life.
Israel is the only country that…prints more than one book each year for each 1,000 in population. Nearly 4,500 books were printed in 1983. That’s the greatest number of books per person in the World.
Israel is the only country that…had to teach many of its citizens their own national language – Hebrew. Israeli scholars had to push, pull and stretch the vocabulary of ancient Hebrew until it could be used to operate computers and jet planes as well as camels and water wheels.
