Location
Israel is located in the Middle East, along the eastern coastline of the Mediterranean Sea, bordered by Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt. It lies at the junction of three continents: Europe, Asia and Africa.

Geography
Long and narrow in shape, the country is about 290 miles (470 km.) in length and 85 miles (135 km.) in width at its widest point.
Although small in size, Israel encompasses the varied topographical features of an entire continent, ranging from forested highlands and fertile green valleys to mountainous deserts and from the coastal plain to the semitropical Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth. Approximately half of the country's land area is semi-arid.

Population
Israel is a country of immigrants. Since its inception in 1948, Israel's population has grown five-fold. Its approximately 6.5 million inhabitants comprise a mosaic of people with varied ethnic backgrounds, lifestyles, religions, cultures and traditions. Today Jews comprise 77.2% of the country's population, while the country's non-Jewish citizens, mostly Arabs, number about 22.8%.

Lifestyle
About 91% of Israel's inhabitants live in some 200 urban centers, some of which are located on ancient historical sites. About 5% are members of unique rural cooperative settlements - the kibbutz and the moshav.

National Expenditure on Health
as Percentage of GDP (2000)

Healthcare expenditure - 8.8% of GDP (2002)
Number of hospitals - 354 (2001)

Economy

GDP	$106.0 billion ($17,000 per capita)
Exports, goods and services	$38.7 billion
Imports, goods and services	$43.5 billion

Fertility Rate - 2.9% (2001)

Infant Mortality Rate - 5.50 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 est.)

Life Expectancy - female - 81.19 years (2003)

Life Expectancy - Male - 76.95 years (2003)

Major Causes of Death
Over 7,000 items are included in the international list of causes of death. The determination of the leading causes depends also on the manner in which the various causes are aggregated. The inclusion of all heart diseases in one group makes them the major cause of death in Israel in recent years: 31% of the deaths in 1995 were caused by heart diseases and 23% were caused by cancer (also aggregated as a group of diseases). However, when the three sub-groups of heart diseases - acute myocardial infarction (9% of all deaths), other ischaemic heart diseases (13%) and other heart diseases (9%) - are categorized separately, then cancer becomes the leading cause. Other major causes of death include neurological vascular diseases, diabetes and accidents. (1995-7)

Adult Female Smokers (2003) - 18.4%

Adult Male Smokers (2003) - 32%

Motor Vehicles - 263 per 1000 people (1997)

Health