Israel: Defying the Odds

BY: Aish.Com

Israel is the 100th smallest country, and has about 1/1000th of the world's population.
And today, it is 62 years old!

7 million people strong (less than Virginia), and smaller in size than New Jersey, surrounded by enemies, under constant threat and possessing almost no natural resources, and yet…

• Relative to its population, Israel is the largest immigrant-absorbing nation on earth. It has absorbed 350% of its population in 60 years.
• Israel is the only country in history to have revived an unspoken language.
• Since the founding of the state, Israel has more Nobel Prices per capita than any other country. It has more laureates in real numbers than China, Mexico and Spain.
• Israel has the 8th longest life expectancy (80.7 years), longer than the UK, US, and Germany

Environment
• Israel is the only country that entered the 21st century with a net gain in its number of trees, even more remarkable -- in an area that's mainly desert.
• Over 90% of Israeli homes use solar energy for hot water, the highest percentage in the world.
• Israel will be the first country to host a national electric car network.
• Israel operates the world’s largest desalinization plant.
• Israeli companies are producing the largest solar energy production facility in the world.

Science & Technology
• Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the workforce, 63% more than the U.S. It also has the most physicians and engineers per capita.
• Israel's scientific research institutions are ranked 3rd in the world.
• Israel is ranked 2nd in space sciences.
• Israel produces the 3rd most scientific papers per capita, and the most in stem cell science.
• More Israeli patents are registered in the United States than from Russia, India and China combined (combined population 2.5 billion). It leads the world in patents for medical equipment.
• Israeli companies invented the drip irrigation system, discovered the world’s most used drug for multiple sclerosis, designed the Pentium NMX Chip technology and the Pentium 4 and Centrium microprocessors, created Instant Messenger (ICQ)

Business
• Israel has attracted the most venture capital investment per capita in the world, 30 times more than Europe
• Israel has more NASDAQ-listed companies than any country besides the US -- more than all of Europe, India, China and Japan combined.
• In proportion to its population, Israel has the largest number of startup companies in the world. In absolute numbers, Israel has more startups than any country other than the U.S.

Defying the Odds
• Israel is the only country whose indigenous population returned to its native land after 2,000 years of forced exile.
• There are 26 official Muslim states in the world, and 18 official Christian states, but there is only one Jewish state