Country Overview

Land & Geography

Geographic Location The total surface area of Israel is 22,072 sq. kms[1]. The country is bordered by Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the southwest and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. [2]  
Climate Israel’s climate ranges from temperate to tropical. Two distinct seasons predominate: a rainy winter period from November to May; and a dry summer season which extends through the next six months. Rainfall is relatively heavy in the North and centre of the country, with much less in the northern Negev and almost negligible amounts in the southern areas.[3]  
Area 22,145 sq.km. [4]  
Natural Hazards Earthquakes, floods, etc.  [5]
Land Boundary 1,017 km[6]   
Coastal Boundary 273 km[7]  

Government

Official Name State of Israel[8]
Capital   Tel Aviv
Independent since 14 May, 1948[9]
Type of Government Israel is a parliamentary democracy with legislative, executive and judicial branches. The head of the state is the president. The Knesset, Israel’s legislative authority, is a 120-member unicameral parliament, its members are elected every four years in universal nationwide elections. [10]
Head of the State H.E. Reuven Rivlin[11]    
Head of Government H.E. Benjamin Netanyahu[12]  
Constitution Israel has no written constitution. In May 2003, the Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee of the Knesset, chaired by Member of Knesset Michael Eitan, initiated the Constitution by Broad Consensus Project, which aims to write a constitution for the State of Israel. The Committee has been meeting weekly since then with the aim of consolidating a draft of a constitution that will enjoy wide support among Israelis and Jews worldwide. The proposed constitution will ultimately be brought to the Knesset and the people for consideration and ratification. [13]                                                                                                                                                               
Parliament Party Position Elections to the Knesset          (April 9, 2019) Number of Eligible Voters       6,339,729 Valid votes                                  4,309,270 Qualifying threshold (3.25%)  140,005 Votes per Seat                            32,860 Name of list Number of valid votes % of total votes Number of seats Likud Chaired by Benjamin Netanyahu for Prime minister 1,140,370 26.46 35 Blue and White 1,125,881 26.13 35 Shas 258,275 5.99 8 United Torah Judaism 249,049 5.78 8 Hadash – Ta’al 193,442 4.49 6 Israeli Labor Party 190,870 4.43 6 Yisrael Beitenu 173,004 4.01 5 United Right 159,468 3.70 5 Meretz 156,473 3.63 4 Kulanu Chaired by Moshe Kahion 152,756 3.54 4 Ra’am – Balad 143,666 3.33 4 [14]      
Elections/ Due 17September, 2019[15]
Principal Political Parties with Leaders Major Political Party[16] Leader Likud Benjamin Netanyahu Blue and White Benny Gantz, Yair Lapid Shas Aryeh Deri  United Torah Judaism Yaakov Litzman, Moshe Gafni Hadash – Ta’al Ayman Odeh, Ahmad Tibi Israeli Labor Party Avi Gabbay Yisrael Beitenu Avigdor Lieberman United Right Rafi Peretz Meretz Tamar Zandberg Kulanu Moshe Kahlon Ra’am – Balad Masud Ghnaim ,Mtanes Shehadeh       

People & Society

Total Population 8,412,000 as of 2018[17]
Density (per Sq. Km) 390.6 as of 2018[18]  
Ethnic Groups Jews and others (79.1%) and Arabs (20.9%) as of 2019[19]
Languages Hebrew and Arabic[20]
Religions Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Druzism and Baha’I[21]
Literacy 90.02% (1983) [22]
Life Expectancy Male: 80 years as of 2018 Female: 83.7 years as of 2018[23]
Sex Ratio 98.8 male per 100 female as of 2018[24]

Economy

Official Currency Israeli new shekel[25]  
GDP (Nominal) 317,748 (US$ million) – Year 2018[26]
GDP (Growth Rate) 4% (annual) – Year 2018[27]
Per Capita GDP (PPP) 39.6 (US$ thousand) – Year Q3,2018[28]
Public Debt (% of GDP) 59.6% – Year 2018[29]
Foreign Exchange Reserves 118,151 (US$ million) – January 2019[30]
Foreign Trade (Export & Import) Total Export – 54,138.2 (US$ million) Year – 2018 Total Import – 75,645 (US$ million) Year – 2018[31]
Total Trade Balance -21,506.8 (US$ million) Year – 2018[32]
Major Items of Export Diamonds non-industrial nes excluding mounted o Other medicaments with >=2 constituents, not foOther medicaments of mixed or unmixed products,Monolithic integrated circuits, digitalDiamonds non-industrial unworked or simply sawn[33]  
Major Items of Import Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminou Diamonds non-industrial unworked or simply sawnDiamonds non-industrial nes excluding mounted oPetroleum oils, etc, (excl. crude); preparationApparatus and equipment for photographic (incl[34]  
Major Trading Partners USA, UK, China and Hong Kong[35]

Military & Security

Military Expenditure Year Wise Expenditure (US$ billion) 19.062 –  (Year – 2016)  (based on 6% of GDP)[36]
Military Expenditure (Percentage of GDP) 6% (Year – 2017)[37]

Last updated : 30August 2019


[1] http://data.un.org/en/iso/il.html

[2] https://mfa.gov.il/MFA/AboutIsrael/Maps/Pages/Israel-Size-and-Dimension.aspx

https://embassies.gov.il/MFA/AboutIsrael/Pages/Israel-in-Brief.aspx

[3] https://mfa.gov.il/mfa/aboutisrael/land/pages/the%20land-%20geography%20and%20climate.aspx

[4] https://mfa.gov.il/MFA/AboutIsrael/Maps/Pages/Israel-Size-and-Dimension.aspx

[5] https://www.preventionweb.net/countries/isr/data/

[6] https://www.iho.int/mtg_docs/CB/CBA/Technical%20visits/TV14/2014-A04-TV-Israel-Report.pdf

[7] https://www.iho.int/mtg_docs/CB/CBA/Technical%20visits/TV14/2014-A04-TV-Israel-Report.pdf

[8] https://mfa.gov.il/MFA/VideoLibrary/Pages/Jerusalem-the-capital-of-Israel-13-May-2018.aspx

[9] https://mfa.gov.il/MFA/AboutIsrael/Spotlight/Pages/Israel-celebrates-71-years-of-independence-8-May-2019.aspx

[10] https://embassies.gov.il/MFA/AboutIsrael/Pages/Israel-in-Brief.aspx

[11] https://mfa.gov.il/mfa/aboutisrael/state/pages/the%20state-%20the%20presidency.aspx

[12] https://mfa.gov.il/mfa/aboutisrael/state/pages/benjamin%20netanyahu.aspx

[13] https://knesset.gov.il/constitution/ConstIntro_eng.htm

[14] https://knesset.gov.il/description/eng/eng_mimshal_res21.htm

[15] https://knesset.gov.il/description/eng/eng_mimshal_res21.htm

[16] https://knesset.gov.il/description/eng/eng_mimshal_res21.htm

[17] https://mfa.gov.il/MFA/AboutIsrael/Pages/default.aspx

[18] http://data.un.org/en/iso/il.html

[19] https://mfa.gov.il/MFA/AboutIsrael/Spotlight/Pages/Israel-at-71-A-statistical-glimpse-6-May-2019.aspx

[20] https://embassies.gov.il/MFA/AboutIsrael/Pages/Israel-in-Brief.aspx

[21] http://www.israel.org/MFA/AboutIsrael/People/Pages/SOCIETY-%20Religious%20Freedom.aspx

[22] http://uis.unesco.org/country/IL (calculated manually by adding all and dividing by 3)

[23] http://data.un.org/en/iso/il.html

[24] http://data.un.org/en/iso/il.html

[25] https://mfa.gov.il/MFA/AboutIsrael/Pages/default.aspx

[26] http://data.un.org/en/iso/il.html

[27] http://data.un.org/en/iso/il.html

[28] https://www.boi.org.il/en/DataAndStatistics/Pages/Indicators.aspx?Level=1&IndicatorId=1&sId=0

[29] https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/GGXWDG_NGDP@WEO/ISR

[30] https://www.boi.org.il/en/NewsAndPublications/PressReleases/Pages/7-2-19b.aspx

[31] https://www.cbs.gov.il/he/publications/doclib/2019/yarhon0519/h1.pdf

[32] https://www.cbs.gov.il/he/publications/doclib/2019/yarhon0519/h1.pdf

[33] https://wits.worldbank.org/countrysnapshot/en/ISR

[34] https://wits.worldbank.org/countrysnapshot/en/ISR

[35] https://wits.worldbank.org/countrysnapshot/en/ISR

[36] https://mof.gov.il/en/publicationsandreviews/presentations/israeleconomypresentations/economichighlights.pdf

[37] https://mof.gov.il/en/publicationsandreviews/presentations/israeleconomypresentations/economichighlights.pdf