Israel Facts

Israel Facts for Kids

Here are some interesting Israel facts which were chosen and researched by kids especially for kids.

Flag of Israel

Population: 9.5 million people (2023)
Capital: Jerusalem (though not internationally recognised) with about 1 million inhabitants
Name: Israel, officially "State of Israel"
Nickname: "Land of the gazelles"
Government: Parliamentary republic
Language: Hebrew, Arabic is recognised
Religion: Jews (74%), Muslims (18%), Christians (2%) and other religions
Literacy: almost 99% of the population aged 15 years and above can read or write
Currency: 1 Israeli shekel = 100 agorot

Listen to the anthem

National Day: 13 May
National Symbols: candelabrum/ menorah (national emblem), hoopoe (national bird), olive (national tree), blue and white (national colours)
National Anthem: Hatikva which means 'The Hope'
History: The state of Israel was established in 1948. Wars with neighbouring Arab countries followed in 1967 and 1973 and in 1979, Israel signed peace treaties with Egypt and in 1994 with Jordan. Palestinian self-rule parts of the West Bank since the 1990s. Israeli settlements exist and continuously expand in the West Bank as well as in Gaza since the Israeli withdrew from Gaza in 2005. The Palestinian people are ruled by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) since 2007.
Since October 7, 2023 Israel is at war with the Hamas since their attack on Israeli settlements in southern parts of the country. Since then Gaza and the West Bank have been blocked or raided and more than 1.7 million people have been displaced.
Prime minister: Benjamin Netanyahu since 2022, he is Israel's longest serving prime minister as he also led the country from 2009 until 2021.

Israel Geography

Where is Israel? Israel is a small country in Western Asia, more exactly in a region usually referred to as the Middle East.

Israel borders the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea and is located between Lebanon in the North and Egypt in the South.

Israel borders four countries, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Egypt as well as the two territories West-Bank and Gaza-Strip.

Map of Israel

The capital city of Israel is Jerusalem, but this capital is not recognised by all countries. The largest metropolitan area is Tel Aviv, where about 4 million people live and many embassies of foreign countries are located.

Tel Aviv

Israel is slightly larger in area than the state of New Jersey/ USA or slightly smaller than Belize or slightly larger than Slovenia.

Flying from London/ UK to Tel Aviv takes around 5 hours and from New York/ USA about 10.5 hours.

Israel Facts
Geo Superlatives

Israel is a country in the Middle East. Israel is one of the smaller Middle Eastern countries with less than 10 million inhabitants.
The longest border is shared with Jordan.
The water of the Dea Sea is 9.6 times more salty than the water in any ocean on this planet. This water is referred to as "hypersaline" as it is extremely salty. The Dead Sea is the second most salty body of water in the world.

Dead Sea in Israel

Israel's highest point with 2,236 m/ 7,335 ft is a peak near Mitspe Shlagim in the mountains at the northeastern border of the country.

Israel Facts
Landmarks and Attractions

Old City in Jerusalem

Jaffa

Vineyard in Galilee

Medieval Walls at Leumi Park

Resorts in Eilat

Negev desert

Israel Facts | Israel Economy

The economy in Israel is mainly driven by high-technology equipment and information technology support. Cut diamonds and pharmaceuticals are also main export products.

Israel also exports natural gas to Egypt and Jordan. Agricultural products include milk, poultry as well as fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, avocados, oranges and pomegranates.

Pomegranates orchard

The USA, China, the UK and Germany are the country's main export and import partners.

Israel People and Languages

Israel is a largely immigrant society. Although the region was inhabited already about 5,500 years ago, the country was founded only in 1948. Most of the people who now settle in Israel only moved to the region after World War II. The population doubled between 1948 and 1951 due to the influx of Jews moving there from all over the world. A Jew is a person who practices Judaism, the religion of the Jewish people.

Most Israeli live in urban centres and around Tel Aviv as well as the Sea of Galilee. Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem are the largest cities.

Haifa

The majority of people living in Israel belong to the Jewish people. Of these Jews today, more than 7 out of 10 Jews (78%) have been born in the country. However, a larger minority of 21% of the people living in Israel belong to the Arab population and are Palestinians.

The Jewish year begins with the holiday of Rosh Hashanah in October. 2023-2024 thus is the Jewish year 5784 according to the Jewish calendar.

Languages in Israel

People in Israel mainly speak Hebrew and Arabic. English is the most common foreign language and in schools English is taught to kids from an early age.

The girl in first grade writes a welcome to her class at the beginning of the year.

"Shalom" means peace or "hello" and is written in Hebrew alphabet: שלום

Girl writing in Hebrew

The Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters, from alef to tav. Hebrew script is written from right to left and is a block or square script.

Until 2018, Hebrew and Arabic, both were official languages. Today, Arabic only has "special language status" and the only official language is Hebrew. Hebrew is taught in all schools, whereas Arabic is mainly spoken now by the Arab population. The Arabic and Hebrew script are similar in that they both stem from the Aramaic language family.

Israel Facts
Food in Israel

Tomatoes, peppers, peppers, grapefruits and avocados are the main agricultural products grown in Israel and thus are included in many dishes.

Israeli food including shakshuka, radish salad, baked eggplants, falafel, flatbreads, hummus, chickpeas

Here are some typical foods and dishes from Israel:

kugel: casserole dish made with oven baked noodles in either savoury or sweet version
latke: fried potato pancakes, mainly served with sour cream
rugelach: pastry filled with nuts, chocolate or marzipan
hariset: dark and sweet fruit and nut paste that is eaten over passover
shakshuka: tomato based dish topped with poached eggs
Radish salad: radish salad made with red radishes, cucumber and spring onions, sometimes other pickles such as cabbage is added
halva: sweet dessert made with tahini, a sesame paste, and honey
challah bread: braided yeast bread loaf made with egg. This kind of bread is eaten mainly at Sabbath (weekends) or festive holidays such as Hanukkah or Passover.

Challah bread is eaten at a festive family dinner

Many Israel restrict their diet to kosher food which means that special diet rules are followed. Kosher means "pure" or "proper". Among the rules is that milk and meat are not mixed together.

Kosher meats are considered meats that are from cloven-hooved animals such as goats, cows, deer or sheep. Fish and meat are also never eaten together, but can be eaten in separate courses of a meal.

Israel Animals

Israel is located in different climatic regions that range from deserts and mountains, so lots of different animals live there.

Among the usual wildlife in Israel there are 116 species of mammals, 511 species of birds and 97 species of reptiles.

Camels, antelopes, gazelles, warthogs and wolves live in Israel. Among the rare animals are the Arabian leopards.

Arabian leopard

The Nubian ibex is the smallest ibex species on our planet and threatened wildlife species.

Young Nubian Ibex above the crater of Mitzpe Ramon in the Negev Desert

Males only grow up to 65–75 cm/ 2.5 ft tall at the shoulder. Their long, thin horns grow up to 1 m/ 3 ft in length.

The Nubian ibex are herbivores and live on cliffs and in rough mountainous and rocky land to evade predators such as eagles and leopards.

Israel Facts
Resources and Further Reading

Resources for Israel Facts:

Central Intelligence Agency. "Israel." WorldFactbook. Last updated 6 December 2023. Last accessed 13 December 2023
Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "Culture." Gov.il. Last accessed 13 December 2023
Jewish National Fund. "Children's Hebrew Learning Resources." NBN.org Last accessed 13 December 2023
U Kosher. "What is Kosher Food?" OUkosher. Last accessed 13 December 2023
San Diego Zoo. "Nubian Ibex." SanDiegoZoo.org. Last accessed 13 December 2023
My Jewish Learning. "Jewish Calendar". MJL. Last accessed 13 December 2023

Share this page:

What’s this?

Facebook

Enjoy this page? Please pay it forward. Here's how...

Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

Click on the HTML link code below.
Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.