Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II, represented by a governor-general Prime minister: Danny Philip
Prime minister: Benjamin Netanyahu
Population
584,578
7,590,758
Life Expectancy
74.420 years
81.070 years
Capital City
Jerusalem
Largest city
Honiara (population: 56,298)
Jerusalem (population: 714,000)
Human Development Index
0.591
0.93
GDP per capita
$31,400 US
Literacy Rate
%
97.1%
Corruption Perception Index
2.9
6
Percentage of Women in Parliament
0%
14.2%
Wealthiest Citizens
NA
Sammy Ofer & family ($4.0bn US)
Unemployment Rate
5.600%
Death Penalty
Abolished
Abolished except for special circumstances
Political System
parliamentary democracy
parliamentary democracy
Independence date
14 May 1948 (from League of Nations mandate under British administration)
Religions
Church of Melanesia 32.8%, Roman Catholic 19%, South Seas Evangelical 17%, Seventh-Day Adventist 11.2%, United Church 10.3%, Christian Fellowship Church 2.4%, other Christian 4.4%, other 2.4%, unspecified 0.3%, none 0.2% (1999 census)
Jewish 76.4%, Muslim 16%, Arab Christians 1.7%, other Christian 0.4%, Druze 1.6%, unspecified 3.9% (2004)
Languages
Melanesian pidgin in much of the country is lingua franca; English (official; but spoken by only 1%-2% of the population); 120 indigenous languages
Hebrew (official), Arabic used officially for Arab minority, English most commonly used foreign language
Exports
machinery and equipment, software, cut diamonds, agricultural products, chemicals, textiles and apparel
External Debt
$102,300,000,000 US
Exchange Rate
new Israeli shekels (ILS) per US dollar - 3.56 (2008 est.), 4.14 (2007), 4.4565 (2006), 4.4877 (2005), 4.482 (2004)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
7.300%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
0
1
Location
Oceania, group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Papua New Guinea
Middle East, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Egypt and Lebanon
Area
28,896 km sq
20,770 km sq
Coastline
5,313 km
273 km
Climate
tropical monsoon; few extremes of temperature and weather
temperate; hot and dry in southern and eastern desert areas
