Demographic Analysis of Israel

The State of Israel has a population of approximately 7,798,600 inhabitants as of September

2011. In which 75.3% of them are Jewish (about 5,865,300 individuals), 20.5% are Arabs (About
1,597,300 individuals), while the remaining 4.3% (about 318,200 individuals) are defined as
"others" (family members of Jewish immigrants who are not registered at the Interior Ministry as
Jews, non-Arab Christians, non-Arab Muslims and residents who do not have a religious
classification).

The PNA assumed full responsibility for the health sector in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in
December 1994. Since then, health policy planning, implementation and evaluation have been
addressed by the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The PSRAs consist of two geographical entities
- the West Bank and Gaza Strip - with an estimated population of 2.27 million. About 1.3 million
live in the West Bank, and the remainder in the Gaza Strip. Approximately 30% of the
population of the West Bank lives in 12 areas, 60% in over 500 villages and around 10% in 19
refugee camps. In the Gaza Strip, approximately 52% of the population lives in the five main
urban centers, and the remaining 48% in eight refugee camps.

In Ethnic and religious groups there includes Arabs, Bedouins, Druze, Maronites, African
Hebrew Israelites, African Refugees, Assyrians, Circassians, Gypsies, Samaritans, Vietnamese.
In the past several decades, emigration has seen a considerable increase. From 1990 to 2005,
230,000 Israelis left the country; a large proportion of these departures included people who
initially immigrated to Israel and then reversed their course (48% of all post-1990 departures and
even 60% of 2003 and 2004 departures were former immigrants to Israel). 8% of Jewish
immigrants in the post-1990 period left Israel, while 15% of non-Jewish immigrants did. In 2005
alone, 21,500 Israelis left the country and had not yet returned at the end of 2006; among them
73% were Jews, 5% Arabs, and 22% "Others" (mostly non-Jewish immigrants, with Jewish
ancestry, from USSR). At the same time, 10,500 Israelis came back to Israel after over one year
abroad; 84% were Jews, 9% others, and 7% Arabs.

As stated above, the Palestinian population is about 2.27 million, with a high growth rate,
estimated at 5.2% in the Gaza Strip and 5.1% in the West Bank. The population density in the
Gaza Strip is very high, with 2,600 people per square kilometer. The population pyramid in the
West Bank shows that 45% of the population is below 15 years of age and that 3.7% are aged 65
years or above. In the Gaza Strip, 50.3% of the population are below the age of 15 and only 2.9%
are aged 60 or above.
The Israeli population is expected to surpass 10 million in the coming two decades. This trend
will increase population density severely, with all the implications that this brings in train. The
various scenarios suggest that the share of Jews and persons not classified by religion will
continue to diminish through the end of the projection period, although the extent of the decrease
will still allow their share of the population to exceed 75 percent. The projections do, however,
point to very meaningful changes in the age composition of the population and, in particular, of
the Jewish subgroups. These changes suggest that the trend of erosion of Israels Jewish majority
may slow.
There are various parameters like Total population, Sex ratio, Age Structure, Median Age,
Population growth rate, Density, Birth rate, Death rate, Infant mortality rate, Infant mortality
rate, Total fertility rate, Literacy.

As Israel's continued existence as a "Jewish State" relies upon maintenance of a Jewish

demographic majority, Israeli demographers, politicians and bureaucrats have treated Jewish
population growth promotion as a central question in their research and policymaking. NonJewish population growth and immigration is regarded as a threat to the Jewish demographic
majority and to Israel's security. According to Jewish National Fund Board member Daniel
Orenstein, Israel is the second most-densely crowded country in the developed world. In an
academic article, Orenstein argues that, as elsewhere, overpopulation is a stressor on the
environment in Israel; he shows that environmentalists have conspicuously failed to consider the
impact of population on the environment and argues that overpopulation in Israel has not been
appropriately addressed for ideological reasons.

Agricultural Industry
Israels agriculture is characterized by high technological level, pressure irrigation systems,
automatic and controlled mechanization and high quality seeds and plants. Israel meets most of
its food requirements through domestic production to produce over 5 million tons of field
crops,1.15 billion liters of milk, 1.6 billion eggs and 1.2 billion flowers for export (Ministry of
Agriculture, 2006). The total area of arable land is 377,300 hectares with 78% under cultivation.

Access to New Technology

From its inception, Israel has made a strong societal commitment to supporting science and
technology. This has been manifested in several activities relevant to desertification.
Advanced (Subsurface) Drip Irrigation for Arid Soils
Water management is undoubtedly the key to much of Israel's success in agriculture in arid,
semiarid and dry sub-humid zones.