Israel

republic

Israel as the 1992 edition of the CIA World Factbook published it: 74 fields, one of 36 editions from 1990 to 2025.

field in that editiontext changed from the edition beforenot in that editionthe open editionEach field below ends in its editions, 1990 to 2025. Point at a year above to follow it down.

CapitalIsrael proclaimed Jerusalem its capital in 1950, but the US, like nearly all
Area20,770 km2
1992

Every edition of Israel

Populationas each edition published it
4.75 million July 1992 · 4.41m in 1990
Population growth% a year
Not in this edition 3.08% in 1993
Median ageyears
Not in this edition 28.9 yrs in 2003
Life expectancyyears at birth
Not in this edition 77.77 yrs in 1993
Fertility ratechildren per woman
2.9 children per woman 1992 · 2.9 in 1990
Infant mortalitydeaths per 1,000 live births
9 deaths per 1,000 live births 1992 · 9 in 1990
GDP per capitaeach edition's own dollars
Not in this edition $12,100 in 1993
GDP real growth% a year
Not in this edition 6.4% in 1993

Geography

13 fields
Total area
20,770km2
Comparative area: slightly larger than New Jersey
Coastline
273km
Continental shelf: to depth of exploitationTerritorial sea: 6 nm
Land boundaries
1,006km
Egypt 255 km, Jordan 238 km, Lebanon 79 km, Syria 76 km, West Bank 307, Gaza Strip 51 km

Land area

20,330 km2

Disputes

  • separated from Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank by the 1949 Armistice Line;
  • differences with Jordan over the location of the 1949 Armistice Line that separates the two countries;
  • West Bank and Gaza Strip are Israeli occupied with status to be determined;
  • Golan Heights is Israeli occupied;
  • Israeli troops in southern Lebanon since June 1982;
  • water-sharing issues with Jordan

Climate

temperate; hot and dry in desert areas

Terrain

  • Negev desert in the south;
  • low coastal plain;
  • central mountains;
  • Jordan Rift Valley

Natural resources

copper, phosphates, bromide, potash, clay, sand, sulfur, asphalt, manganese, small amounts of natural gas and crude oil

Land use

  • arable land 17%;
  • permanent crops 5%;
  • meadows and pastures 40%;
  • forest and woodland 6%;
  • other 32%;
  • includes irrigated 11%

Environment

  • sandstorms may occur during spring and summer;
  • limited arable land and natural water resources pose serious constraints;
  • deforestation

Note

there are 175 Jewish settlements in the West Bank, 38 in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, 18 in the Gaza Strip, and 14 Israeli-built Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem

People

14 fields

Per 1,000 population(1992)

Birth
21Death
6Net migration
26

Religions

Judaism 82%Islam (mostly Sunni Muslim) 14%Christian 2%Druze and other 2%
Literacy
92%
(male 95%, female 89%) age 15 and over can read and write (1983)

Population

  • 4,748,059 (July 1992), growth rate 4.0% (1992);
  • includes 95,000 Jewish settlers in the West Bank, 14,000 in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, 4,000 in the Gaza Strip, and 132,000 in East Jerusalem (1992 est.)

Infant mortality rate

9 deaths/1,000 live births (1992)

Life expectancy at birth

76 years male, 80 years female (1992)

Total fertility rate

2.9 children born/woman (1992)

Nationality

noun - Israeli(s); adjective - Israeli

Ethnic divisions

Jewish 83%, non-Jewish (mostly Arab) 17%

Languages

  • Hebrew (official);
  • Arabic used officially for Arab minority;
  • English most commonly used foreign language

Labor force

  • 1,400,000 (1984 est.);
  • public services 29.3%;
  • industry, mining, and manufacturing 22.8%;
  • commerce 12.8%;
  • finance and business 9.5%;
  • transport, storage, and communications 6.8%;
  • construction and public works 6.5%;
  • personal and other services 5.8%;
  • agriculture, forestry, and fishing 5.5%;
  • electricity and water 1.0% (1983)

Organized labor

90% of labor force

Government

Republic

20 fields

Long-form name

State of Israel

Type

republic

Capital

Israel proclaimed Jerusalem its capital in 1950, but the US, like nearly all other countries, maintains its Embassy in Tel Aviv

Administrative divisions

6 districts (mehozot, singular - mehoz); Central, Haifa, Jerusalem, Northern, Southern, Tel Aviv

Independence

14 May 1948 (from League of Nations mandate under British administration)

Constitution

no formal constitution; some of the functions of a constitution are filled by the Declaration of Establishment (1948), the basic laws of the parliament (Knesset), and the Israeli citizenship law

National holiday

Independence Day; Israel declared independence on 14 May 1948, but the Jewish calendar is lunar and the holiday may occur in April or May

Executive branch

president, prime minister, vice prime minister, Cabinet

Legislative branch

unicameral parliament (Knesset)

Judicial branch

Supreme Court

Leaders

Chief of State:
President Chaim HERZOG (since 5 May 1983)
Head of Government:
Prime Minister Yitzhak SHAMIR (since 20 October 1986)

Political parties and leaders

  • Israel currently has a coalition government comprising 12 parties that hold 66 of the Knesset's 120 seats;
  • currently in state of flux;
  • election held 23 June 1992
Members of the government:
  • Likud bloc, Prime Minister Yitzhak SHAMIR;
  • Sephardic Torah Guardians (SHAS), Minister of Interior Arieh DER'I;
  • National Religious Party, Minister of Education Shulamit ALONI;
  • Agudat Israel, Avraham SHAPIRA;
  • Degel HaTorah, Avraham RAVITZ;
  • Moriya, Minister of Immigrant Absorption, Yair TZABAN;
  • Ge'ulat Israel, Eliezer MIZRAHI;
  • New Liberal Party, Minister of Finance, Avraham SHOCHAT;
  • Tehiya Party, Minister of Science Technology, Yuval NEEMAN;
  • Tzomet Party Unity for Peace and Aliyah, Rafael EITAN;
  • Moledet Party, Rehavam ZEEVI
Opposition parties:
  • Labor Party, Shimon PERES;
  • Citizens' Rights Movement, Shulamit ALONI;
  • United Workers' Party (MAPAM), Yair TZABAN;
  • Center Movement-Shinui, Amnon RUBENSTEIN;
  • New Israeli Communist Party (MAKI), Meir WILNER;
  • Progressive List for Peace, Muhammad MI'ARI;
  • Arab Democratic Party, `Abd Al Wahab DARAWSHAH;
  • Black Panthers, Charlie BITON

Suffrage

universal at age 18

Elections

President:
last held 23 February 1988 (next to be held February 1994); results - Chaim HERZOG reelected by Knesset
Knesset:
last held June 1992 (next to be held by NA; results - percent of vote by party NA; seats - (120 total) Labor Party 44, Likud bloc 12, SHAS 6, National Religious Party 6, Meretz 12, Agudat Yisrael 4, PAZI 3, MAKI 3, Tehiya Party 3, Tzomet Party 8, Moledet Party 3, Degel HaTorah 4, Center Movement Progressive List for Peace 1, Arab Democratic Party 2; Black Panthers 1, Moriya 1, Ge'ulat Yisrael 1, Unity for Peace and Aliyah 1

Communists

Hadash (predominantly Arab but with Jews in its leadership) has some 1,500 members

Other political or pressure groups

  • Gush Emunim, Jewish nationalists advocating Jewish settlement on the West Bank and Gaza Strip;
  • Peace Now, critical of government's West Bank/Gaza Strip and Lebanon policies

Member of

AG (observer), CCC, EBRD, FAO, GATT, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INMARSAT, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, OAS (observer), PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

Diplomatic representation

  • Ambassador Zalman SHOVAL;
  • Chancery at 3514 International Drive NW, Washington, DC 20008;
  • telephone (202) 364-5500;
  • there are Israeli Consulates General in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco
US:
Ambassador William HARROP; Embassy at 71 Hayarkon Street, Tel Aviv (mailing address is APO AE 09830; telephone [972] (3) 654338; FAX [972] (3) 663449; there is a US Consulate General in Jerusalem

Flag

white with a blue hexagram (six-pointed linear star) known as the Magen David (Shield of David) centered between two equal horizontal blue bands near the top and bottom edges of the flag

Economy

Israel has a market economy with substantial government participation.

16 fields
Unemployment rate
11%
(1991 est.)
External debt
$24billion
of which government debt is $17 billion (December 1991 est.)

Budget

Revenues
$41.7 billionExpenditures
$47.6 billion
expenditures, including capital expenditures of $NA (FY92)

Overview

Israel has a market economy with substantial government participation. It depends on imports of crude oil, grains, raw materials, and military equipment. Despite limited natural resources, Israel has intensively developed its agricultural and industrial sectors over the past 20 years.

Industry employs about 20% of Israeli workers, agriculture 5%, and services most of the rest. Diamonds, high-technology equipment, and agricultural products (fruits and vegetables) are leading exports. Israel usually posts balance-of-payments deficits, which are covered by large transfer payments from abroad and by foreign loans.

Roughly half of the government's $17 billion external debt is owed to the United States, which is its major source of economic and military aid. To earn needed foreign exchange, Israel has been targeting high-technology niches in international markets, such as medical scanning equipment.

Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 dealt a blow to Israel's economy. Higher world oil prices added an estimated $300 million to the oil import bill that year and helped keep annual inflation at 18%. Regional tension and the continuing Palestinian uprising (intifadah) have contributed to a sharp drop in tourism - a key foreign exchange earner - to the lowest level since the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.

The influx of Jewish immigrants from the former USSR, which topped 330,000 during the period 1990-91, will increase unemployment, intensify housing problems, widen the government budget deficit, and fuel inflation.

GDP

purchasing power equivalent - $54.6 billion, per capita $12,000; real growth rate 5% (1991 est.)

Exports

$12.1 billion (f.o.b., 1991 est.)

commodities:
polished diamonds, citrus and other fruits, textiles and clothing, processed foods, fertilizer and chemical products, military hardware, electronics
partners:
US, EC, Japan, Hong Kong, Switzerland

Imports

$18.1 billion (c.i.f., 1991 est.)

commodities:
military equipment, rough diamonds, oil, chemicals, machinery, iron and steel, cereals, textiles, vehicles, ships, aircraft
partners:
US, EC, Switzerland, Japan, South Africa, Canada, Hong Kong

Industrial production

growth rate - 7% (1991 est.); accounts for about 20% of GDP

Electricity

5,300,000 kWh capacity; 21,000 million kWh produced, 4,800 kWh per capita (1991)

Industries

food processing, diamond cutting and polishing, textiles, clothing, chemicals, metal products, military equipment, transport equipment, electrical equipment, miscellaneous machinery, potash mining, high-technology electronics, tourism

Agriculture

  • accounts for about 3% of GDP;
  • largely self-sufficient in food production, except for grains;
  • principal products - citrus and other fruits, vegetables, cotton;
  • livestock products - beef, dairy, and poultry

Economic aid

US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-90), $18.2 billion; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $2.8 billion

Currency

new Israeli shekel (plural - shekels); 1 new Israeli shekel (NIS) = 100 new agorot

Exchange rates

new Israeli shekels (NIS) per US$1 - 2.4019 (March 1992), 2.2791 (1991), 2.0162 (1990), 1.9164 (1989), 1.5989 (1988), 1.5946 (1987)

Fiscal year

previously 1 April - 31 March; FY91 was 1 April - 31 December, and since 1 January 1992 the fiscal year has conformed to the calendar year

Communications

8 fields

Merchant marine, 34 ships by typeone square, one ship

cargo 8container 23refrigerated cargo 2roll-on/roll-off; note - Israel also maintains a significant flag of convenience fleet, which is normally at least as large as the Israeli flag fleet; the Israeli flag of convenience fleet typically includes all of its petroleum tankers 134 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 629,966 GRT/721,106 DWT

Airports, 51 total, 44 usable

permanent-surface runways
26runways | over 3,659 m
nonerunways 2,440-3,659 m
6runways 1,220-2,439 m
11

Networkskm

Highways
4,750Railroads
600
Highways: ; majority is bituminous surfaced · Railroads: , single track; diesel operated

Railroads

600 km 1.435-meter gauge, single track; diesel operated

Highways

4,750 km; majority is bituminous surfaced

Pipelines

  • crude oil 708 km;
  • petroleum products 290 km;
  • natural gas 89 km

Ports

Ashdod, Haifa

Civil air

32 major transport aircraft

Telecommunications

  • most highly developed in the Middle East although not the largest;
  • good system of coaxial cable and radio relay;
  • 1,800,000 telephones;
  • broadcast stations - 14 AM, 21 FM, 20 TV;
  • 3 submarine cables;
  • satellite earth stations - 2 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT and 1 Indian Ocean INTELSAT

Defense Forces

Israel Defense Forces, including ground, naval, and air components; | historically, there have been no separate Israeli military services

3 fields
Defense expenditures
$7.5billion
12.1% of GNP (1992 budget); note - does not include pay for reserve soldiers and other defense-related categories; actual outlays would therefore be higher

Branches

Israel Defense Forces, including ground, naval, and air components; historically, there have been no separate Israeli military services

Manpower availability

  • eligible 15-49, 2,357,195;
  • of the 1,189,275 males 15-49, 977,332 are fit for military service;
  • of the 1,167,920 females 15-49, 955,928 are fit for military service;
  • 44,624 males and 42,705 females reach military age (18) annually;
  • both sexes are liable for military service;
  • Nahal or Pioneer Fighting Youth, Frontier Guard, Chen

Central Intelligence Agency. “Israel.” The World Factbook 1992. Archived by The Factbook, thefactbook.org/israel/1992.

How to cite ← 1991 edition 1993 edition →