Israel Country Info - Asia

Description and Basic Information

Israel with its capital Jerusalem is located in Asia (Middle East, bordering the Mediterranean Sea). It covers some 20,771 square kilometres (slightly larger than New Jersey) with 6,500,000 citizens. Hebrew, Arabic, English and are the languages commonly used by the people in Israel (consider regional differences). Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Palestinian Territory are bordering countries.

Israel is a small yet diverse Middle Eastern country with a long coastline on the eastern Mediterranean Sea and a small window on the Red Sea at the Gulf of Eilat (Aqaba). Israel possesses a number of diverse regions, with landscapes varying between coast, mountain, valley and desert landscapes, with just about everything in between. Beyond the towns and cities, each region of Israel holds its own unique attractions. In getting around Israel, be aware of the Sabbath: from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown, train and bus services are not available in Israel (except in Haifa, Nazareth and Eilat, and limited sherut services - shared taxis, see below).

Pictures from Capital (Jerusalem)

Photos provided by Panoramio are under the copyright of their owners.

About Israel

The landscape featuresNegev desert in the south with low coastal plain, central mountains and Jordan Rift Valley. The average density of population is about 312 per km². The climate in Israel can be described as temperate with hot and dry in southern and eastern desert areas. Potential threats by nature are sandstorms may occur during spring and summer or droughts or periodic earthquakes.

To reach someone in Israel dial +972 prior to a number. There are 3,250,000 installed telephones. And there are 9,022,000 registered mobile phones. The cellular networks operate on frequencies of 900, 1800 MHz and 3G. Websites typically end with the top level domain ".il". If you want to bring electric appliances (e.g. battery charger), keep in mind the local 230V - 50Hz. The following list are the 6 regions/states in Israel we know off.

Demographic Statistics

In the year 2010, the total Israeli population grew at a rate of 1.63% (or by 119,723 citizens). With 40,079 deaths and 143,476 babies born, the natural increase rate lies at 1.41%. 16,326 persons more in total immigrated to the country than emmigrated.

An overview of age distribution in Israel: Each pair of bars represents a single age group (male/female). Each group is spanning 5 years. E.g. 0 to 5 years, 5 to 10 etc. and group "0 to 5" being at the left end and "100 +" at the right end of the chart.

Based on content from wikitravel.org. The original article can be found here based on the work of these users.
Geographic information is based on the data provided by geonames.org, CIA factsbook and Unesco.