The geography of Israel is very diverse, with desert conditions in the south, and snow-capped mountains in the north. Israel is located at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea in West Asia. It is bounded to the north by Lebanon, the northeast by Syria, the east by Jordan and the West Bank, and to the southwest by Egypt. To the west of Israel is the Mediterranean Sea, which makes up the majority of Israel's 273 km (170 mi) coastline, and the Gaza Strip. Israel has a small coastline on the Red Sea in the south.
The demographics of Israel, monitored by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, encompass various attributes that define the nation's populace. Since its establishment in 1948, Israel has witnessed significant changes in its demographics. Initially formed as a homeland for the Jewish people following the Holocaust in World War II, Israel has attracted Jewish immigrants from around the globe. Consequently, the Jewish population in Israel is incredibly diverse, with roots spanning Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
Jerusalem is an ancient city in West Asia, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the oldest cities in the world, and is considered holy to the three major Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Both Israel and Palestine claim Jerusalem as their capital; Israel maintains its primary governmental institutions there, and the State of Palestine ultimately foresees it as its seat of power. Neither claim, however, is widely recognized internationally.
Gaza, also called Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip. Before the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, it was the largest city in the State of Palestine, with a population of 590,481 in 2017.
The Old City of Jerusalem is a 0.9-square-kilometre (0.35 sq mi) walled area in East Jerusalem.
Gush Dan or Tel Aviv metropolitan area is a conurbation in Israel, located along the country's Mediterranean coastline. There is no single formal definition of Gush Dan, though the term is in frequent use by both governmental bodies and the general public. It ranges from combining Tel Aviv with cities that form an urban continuum with it, to the entire areas from both the Tel Aviv District and the Central District, or sometimes the whole Metropolitan Area of Tel Aviv, which includes a small part of the Southern District as well. Gush Dan is the largest conurbation and metropolitan area in Israel, with the metropolitan area having an estimated population of 4,156,900 residents, 89% of whom are Israeli Jews.
East Jerusalem is the sector of Jerusalem that was held by Jordan after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, as opposed to the western sector of the city, West Jerusalem, which was held by Israel. Under international law, East Jerusalem is considered a part of the West Bank and, therefore, of the Palestinian territories. A number of states recognize East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine, whereas other states assert that East Jerusalem "will be the capital of Palestine", while referring to it as "an occupied territory".
Ariel is an Israeli settlement organized as a city council in the central West Bank, part of the Israeli-occupied territories, approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) east of the Green Line and 34 kilometres (21 mi) west of the Jordan border. Ariel was first established in 1978 and its population was 19,647 in 2021, composed of veteran and young Israelis, English-speaking immigrants, and immigrants from the former Soviet Union, with an additional influx of above 10,000 students from Ariel University. It is the fourth largest Jewish settlement in the West Bank, after Modi'in Illit, Beitar Illit, and Ma'ale Adumim.
The Capital Regional District (CRD) is a local government administrative district encompassing the southern tip of Vancouver Island and the southern Gulf Islands in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The CRD is one of several regional districts in British Columbia and had an official population of 415,451 as of the Canada 2021 Census.
The population of the region of Palestine, which approximately corresponds to modern Israel and the Palestinian territories, has varied in both size and ethnic composition throughout the history of Palestine.
Pisgat Ze'ev is an Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem and the largest residential neighborhood in Jerusalem with a population of over 50,000. Pisgat Ze'ev was established by Israel as one of the city's five Ring Neighborhoods on land effectively annexed after the 1967 Six-Day War.
West Jerusalem or Western Jerusalem refers to the section of Jerusalem that was controlled by Israel at the end of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. As the city was divided by the Green Line, West Jerusalem was formally delineated as the counterpart to East Jerusalem, which was controlled by Jordan. Though Israel has controlled the entirety of Jerusalem since the 1967 Arab–Israeli War, the boundaries of West Jerusalem and East Jerusalem remain internationally recognized as de jure due to their significance to the process of determining the status of Jerusalem, which has been among the primary points of contention in the Arab–Israeli conflict and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. With certain exceptions, undivided Jerusalem is not internationally recognized as the sovereign territory of either Israel or the State of Palestine. However, recognition of Israeli sovereignty over only West Jerusalem is more widely accepted as a plausible diplomatic position, as the United Nations regards East Jerusalem as part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Demographic features of the population of the area commonly described as Palestinian territories includes information on ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of that population.
El'ad,, is a city in the Central District of Israel. In the 1990s, it was built for a Haredi Jewish population and to a lesser extent, it was also built for a Religious Zionist Jewish population. Located about 25 kilometres (16 mi) east of Tel Aviv on Route 444 between Rosh HaAyin and Shoham, it had a population of 49,593 in 2021. El'ad is the only locality in Israel officially designated a religious municipality. The name El'ad means "Forever God", but it is also named after a member of the tribe of Ephraim, who lived in this area.
Christianity is the third largest religion in Israel, after Judaism and Islam. At the end of 2022, Christians made up 1.9% of the Israeli population, numbering approximately 185,000. 75.8% of the Christians in Israel are Arab Christians. Christians make up 6.9% of the Arab-Israelis.
Judaization of Jerusalem is the view that Israel has sought to transform the physical and demographic landscape of Jerusalem to enhance its Jewish character at the expense of its Muslim and Christian ones. This also often involves the increasing Jewish presence in Jerusalem in the modern era, referring to the Jewish Old Yishuv becoming increasingly dominant since the Ottoman era; this process continued until Jews became the largest ethnoreligious group in Jerusalem since the mid-19th century and until the 1948 War when East Jerusalem became under Jordanian control.
The Haifa metropolitan area is a metropolitan area including areas from both the Haifa and the Northern districts of Israel. It is located along the Israeli Mediterranean coastline. With an estimated population of almost 1 million, the Haifa metropolitan area is the third largest metropolitan area in Israel, behind Gush Dan and Greater Jerusalem.
Beersheba metropolitan area is a metropolitan area in Israel that encompasses the Beersheba and Southern Districts of Israel. It is located in the Negev desert and constitutes the fourth largest metropolitan area in the country, with an estimated population of over 377,100.
