Transcript Israel - Sites at Penn State

Israel
By: Sean Murphy
Economy
• GDP (Purchasing Power Parity):
– $247.9 billion (2012 est.)
– country comparison to the world: 51
• GDP (Real Growth Rate):
– 2.9% (2012 est.)
– country comparison to the world: 115
• GDP (Per Capita)
– $32,200 (2012 est.)
– country comparison to the world: 41
Economics cont’d
• Unemployment rate:
– 6.3% (2012 est.)
– country comparison to the world: 65
• Population below poverty line
– 23.6%
Communications
• Telephones - main lines in use:
– 3.5 million (2011)
– country comparison to the world: 47
• Telephones - mobile cellular:
– 9.2 million (2011)
– country comparison to the world: 81
• Telephone system:
– general assessment: most highly developed system in the
Middle East
– domestic: good system of coaxial cable and microwave radio
relay; all systems are digital; four privately-owned mobilecellular service providers with countrywide coverage
Internet
• Internet hosts:
– 2.483 million (2012)
– country comparison to the world: 36
• Internet users:
– 4.525 million (2009)
– country comparison to the world: 51
People and Society
• Nationality:
– Israeli
• Ethnic Groups:
– Jewish 76.4% (of which Israel-born 67.1%, Europe/America-born 22.6%, Africaborn 5.9%, Asia-born 4.2%), non-Jewish 23.6% (mostly Arab) (2004)
• Languages:
– Hebrew (official), Arabic (used officially for Arab minority), English (most
commonly used foreign language)
• Religions:
– Jewish 75.6%, Muslim 16.9%, Christian 2%, Druze 1.7%, other 3.8% (2008)
• Population:
– 7,590,758 (July 2012 est.)
– country comparison to the world: 97
• Life Expectancy:
– total population: 81.07 years
– country comparison to the world: 18
Government
• Government type
– Parliamentary Democracy
• Capital
– Jerusalem
• Independence
– 14 May 1948
• No formal Constitution
Early Background
• Israel was formed when many Jews fled to
Palestine after World War II
• The state was divided into two territories:
– Palestine- Arab
– Israel- Jewish
• The Palestinians were never in favor of this,
and relations between the two have always
been tense
• While there have been attempts at peace,
violence always breaks out
Israel Today
• Today, Israel is still having problems with many
of its neighbors
• Most notably right now, Syria
• Both Israel and Syria have bombed each other
in recent months
• Because of these bombings and our strained
relationship with Israel, President Obama is
currently visiting with Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu
Israel Today cont’d
• The most recent bombing was January 30th,
2013
• Israel launched the attack to try to
preemptively keep Syria’s civil war from
spilling over to them
• This situation is far from over and will need to
be monitored closely in the upcoming months
Bibliography
• http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/lnacade
mic/?verb=sf&sfi=AC01NBSimplSrch
• http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-0205/obama-set-to-make-first-trip-to-israel-aspresident-this-year.html
• https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/theworld-factbook/geos/is.html