Israel
an editorial flag: atrocities, subversion of the constitutional order, or a criminal conviction.
population: Monthly national estimate (31 May 2026) · indicators as of 5 Sep 2026 · 16 metros tracked
🗺️ Geography16 metros
Israel metro footprint, shaded by composite tier.
Select a metro for its rank and a link to its page. Boundaries derived from Overture Maps administrative divisions; metros without source coverage are omitted.
🏙️ 16 tracked metros
🗂️ Administrative subdivisions
7 entries listed under Israel across 2 types. Select any to see its metros and footprint.
Israeli Settlements (1)
📋 At a glance
- Official language
- Hebrew
- Currency
- New shekel (₪)
- Government
- Parliamentary republic
- Legislature
- The Knesset
- Constitution
- 1958, 49 amendment events since
- Demonym
- Israeli
- Time zones
- Israel Standard Time, Israel Summer Time, UTC+02:00, UTC+03:00
- Driving side
- Right
- Calling code
- +972
- Internet TLD
- .il, ישראל.
- ISO 3166
- IL
- Established
- 1948
- Highest point
- Meron (1,208 m (3,963 ft))
- National anthem
- Hatikvah
Facts via Wikidata.
🗣️ Languages of Israel
Modern Hebrew first; 5 languages share the country; 2 official.
| Language | Share | Status | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Modern Hebrew | 100% | Official | CLDR, country |
| English | 85% | None | CLDR, country |
| Standard Arabic | 20% | Official | CLDR, country |
| Levantine Arabic | 17% | None | CLDR, country |
| Russian | 11% | None | CLDR, country |
| Romanian | 3.7% | None | CLDR, country |
Shares count first and second language, so they overlap and can add past 100%.
- English reach
- 85%
- Tier 3 country
- Effective languages
- 1.0
- Official-language gap
- 0%
- Modern Hebrew is spoken by 100%
📰 In the news6 stories
GZERO · 1 Nov 2026
What Actually Happened This Week: Flavio Flies, Netanyahu Denies, and the Midterms Are NighBremmer explains Lula's record comeback in Brazil, Flavio Bolsonaro's flight to Miami, and Netanyahu's fraud claims after Israel's inconclusive vote.
The Washington Post · 29 Oct 2026
Israeli election results show Netanyahu is far from defeatedIsrael's election left neither bloc with a majority, and Netanyahu stays on as caretaker prime minister.
Axios · 28 Oct 2026
Netanyahu trails Eisenkot in Israel election exit pollsExit polls from Israel's record-turnout election put Gadi Eisenkot's bloc ahead of Netanyahu's, with no clear path to a government.
Vox · 28 Oct 2026
Netanyahu's reelection bid and Israel's deeper democratic problemVox explains how Arab parties may decide Israel's coalition math and the 'deeper foundational problem' in its democracy.
Times of Israel · 24 Oct 2026
Final poll shows blocs in dead heatA final poll ahead of Israel's Tuesday election shows the blocs in a dead heat, neither with a majority.
Chatham House · 23 Oct 2026
Will the US midterms change Washington's policy on Israel and Palestine?Hady Amr argues a Democratic majority would gain hearings, funding restrictions and reporting requirements on Israel-Palestine policy, setting up a later shift.
💹 Economy and developmentHigh income
Ranks are among sovereign countries with data; ★ marks a top-5% finish. Sources: World Bank Open Data and Our World in Data (UNDP, UN WPP, V-Dem, Global Carbon Budget, Ember, Energy Institute; CC BY 4.0). Each card credits its originating body. Renewable share is of electricity generation, not of primary energy. Each figure is the most recent year available.
Alliances & Organisations2 full memberships
Full memberDashed border = Candidate / ApplicantItalic = Dialogue / Observer
🏛️ Leadership History20 leaders · click to expand
is an editorial flag: associated with atrocities against civilians, systemic subversion of the constitutional order, or a criminal conviction (political persecutions and annulled convictions excluded). It is a curated list, not a measurement, so a name without one has not been cleared of anything. Hover a badge for the reason on file.
Elections
Every election since the Yishuv →
From the pre-state assemblies to the Knesset's deadlock cycle; next contest due in 2026.
Constitution
Written 1958 →
49 amendment events since, the last in 2023. Compare it with every other country.
Spectrum →
Executive 8.2 (expert)
Legislature 5.8 mean, 2.2 spread · parliamentary
📈 Power over timeThe Power Atlas →
The power line is the headline share of world power, running from the state’s first ranked year (benchmark estimates with wide error bars before 1816). Latent power is material mass a state could mobilise (population, manpower, heavy industry). Recognised power is what the system actually treats it as (military spending, productive economy, reach, and status such as a Security Council seat or nuclear arsenal). When latent runs above recognised, a power is rising or under-rated; when recognised runs higher, it is punching above its weight or coasting on prestige. Material sub-indices run 1816 through 2016.
⚔️ Wars and conflicts13 interstate wars · click to expand
| Conflict | Years | Against | Combat deaths |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iran War | 2026–present | Iran | 3,411–9,114 |
| Twelve-Day War | 2025 | Iran,Houthis | 1,091–1,226 |
| Gaza–Israel conflict● | 2006–present | Gaza Strip | 42,783+ |
| Chadian Civil War (2005–2010) | 2005–2010 | Sudan (until 2010) | 2,500+ |
| 1982 Lebanon War● | 1982–1985 | PLO,Syria | 19,085+ |
| Lebanese Civil War● | 1975–1990 | Lebanese Front | 21,902+ |
| Yom Kippur War● | 1973 | Egypt,Syria,Iraq,Jordan,Algeria,Cuba,Morocco | 10,521–21,300 |
| War of Attrition | 1967–1970 | Egypt,Soviet Union,Cuba,Jordan,Syria | 6,442–14,290 |
| Six-Day War● | 1967 | Egypt,Syria,Jordan,Iraq,Saudi Arabia,Morocco,Algeria,Libya,Kuwait,Tunisia,Sudan | 12,336–19,264 |
| Suez Crisis | 1956 | Egypt | 2,848–4,198 |
| First Sudanese Civil War● | 1955–1972 | Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (1955–1956),Sudan (1956–1972),Uganda (combat support, 1965–1969),Libya (from 1969) | 100,000+ |
| 1948 Arab–Israeli War● | 1948–1949 | Egypt,Iraq,Transjordan,Syria,Lebanon,Saudi Arabia,Yemen | 13,073–26,373 |
| 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine | 1947–1948 | Arab Higher Committee,Army of the Holy War,Arab Liberation Army,Transjordan,Arab Legion | 1,886+ |
Bold = principal belligerent. Source: Wikipedia, “List of interstate wars since 1945.” Figures marked “COW battle deaths” are Correlates of War battle-death counts, which run lower than total deaths.
👥 Population over time
Our World in Data population (CC BY): UN WPP 2024 from 1950, Gapminder v7 1800-1949, HYDE 3.3 earlier; today's borders. Figures above are as of 2023, the last year that is estimated rather than forecast. The dashed tail to 2026 is a UN WPP medium-variant projection. It is drawn because the line should reach the present, and drawn differently because it has not happened yet: no rank, peak or share on this page uses it. Before 1950 the series is reconstruction rather than contemporaneous statistics, which is worth knowing when a country’s peak sits back there. The current population shown elsewhere on this page comes from the workbook and is unchanged by this. Note that people and share of world can move in opposite directions. A country can grow steadily and still become a smaller part of humanity, which is what happened to almost every rich country after 1960.
👥 To 2100
The UN’s probabilistic projection for Israel: the median with its 80% and 95% bands, the UN’s own high, low and zero-migration scenarios beside it. Not this site’s model; the site reads it and says what it implies.
What drives it
Births, deaths and net migration on the UN medium path, with fertility, life expectancy and median age, every decade from 1950.
Source: United Nations, DESA, Population Division. World Population Prospects 2024. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 IGO. Estimates to 2023; projections 2024 to 2100, medium variant and probabilistic intervals. The UN revises every two years; this is the WPP 2024 revision.
💰 Billionaires41 · $198.7B combined · click to expand
Source: Forbes real-time billionaires (via the rtb-api project). Net worth as of the latest monthly snapshot.
🏆 National Teams
Israel on the international stage. Select a card for the full record.
National Teams Champions
Every major championship won by Israel's national teams, newest first. 1 in total.
| Year | Date | Champion | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | 1964-06-03 | Israel | AFC Asian Cup |