Land area

20,325 sq km. This does not include the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, areas occupied by Israel in the 1967 and 1973 Middle East wars

Population

7,434,300 (mid-2009; Central Bureau of Statistics estimate), of whom 5,612,000 are Jewish

Main towns

Population at the end of 2007 (provisional data)

Jerusalem(a): 746,300 Ashdod: 207,300

Tel Aviv-Yafo(b): 390,400 Beersheba: 186,600

Haifa: 265,900 Petah Tiqwa: 188,900

Rishon le Zion: 224,500 Holon: 169,000

(a) Including East Jerusalem. b Municipality of the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo only, does not include population of greater Tel Aviv conurbation.

Climate

Mediterranean

Weather in Jerusalem (altitude 757 metres)

Hottest month, August, 19-29°C (average daily minimum and maximum); coldest month, January, 6-12°C; driest months, May-September, 0 mm average rainfall; wettest month, January, 133 mm average rainfall

Languages

Hebrew and then Arabic are the official languages; however, English and Russian are also widely spoken

Measures

Metric system. The metric dunum (1,000 sq metres) is also in use

Currency

The New Israeli shekel (NIS) became the official currency on January 1st 1986. 1,000 old shekels=NIS 100. There are 100 agorot in NIS 1

Time

2 hours ahead of GMT

Fiscal year

January 1st-December 31st

Public holidays

All religious holidays begin at sunset the day before. Some institutions also close the day before the major religious festivals. March 20th 2011 (Purim; banks only); April 19th-26th (Passover; first and last days are public holidays); May 10th (Independence Day); June 8th (Shavuot); August 9th (Tisha b'Av; banks only); September 29th (Jewish New Year); October 8th (Yom Kippur); October 13th (Sukkot starts); October 19th (Sukkot ends); October 20th (Simchat Torah); December 20th (Chanukah; school holiday)