Israel celebrates 68 Independence Day: state life in infographics

Фото: Depositphotos

On the evening of Wednesday, May 11, after the end of the Day of Remembrance for Victims of Wars and Terrorist Attacks (“Yom HaZikaron”), the official celebration of the 68th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel began. The celebration will last throughout the day on May 12th. This year's celebrations are dedicated to the theme of “civic courage.”

The annual solemn ceremony of lighting the 12 torches, symbolizing the twelve tribes of Israel, traditionally takes place on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, after which fireworks will be arranged in the cities of the country.

Israel's Independence Day (“Yom Ha'atzmaut”) is the main public holiday celebrated in memory of the proclamation of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948 (Iyar 5, 5708 according to the Jewish calendar). On this day 67 years ago, approximately 8 hours before the end of the British Mandate in Palestine, Israel's Declaration of Independence was signed and David Ben-Gurion (later the country's first prime minister) proclaimed the creation of the State of Israel. This announcement was made as part of UN General Assembly Resolution 181 of November 29, 1947.

Independence Day is the only official non-working day in Israel when urban transport goes, and people who observe Jewish religious traditions can drive in cars and light a fire, so the holiday is celebrated by Israelis leaving for picnics.

On the eve of Independence Day, the Central Statistical Bureau compared the state in the country today with what was in the distant 1948 year. According to this data, 8 522 000 people live in Israel. Thus, since the founding of the state, when there were 808 000 inhabitants in a young state, the population has grown 10 times.

74,8% of the population (6 people) are Jews; 300% (000 people) are Arabs (Muslims and Christians), 20,8% (1) are classified as “others”: we are talking about repatriates who were not recognized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Jews, about members mixed families, as well as persons whose religion is not noted in official documents of the Population Registration Department.

Since last Independence Day, 195 000 babies were born in Israel. During this time, the 47 000 Israelis died.

Over the past year, Israel has received returnees around 36 000.

75% of the population of Israel are natives. In 1945, this figure was 35%.

In 1948, Tel Aviv was the only city with a population greater than 100. In 000, Israel has 2016 cities with a population of more than 14. Eight cities: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Rishon LeZion, Petah Tikva, Ashdod, Netanya and Beersheba have populations of more than 100 people.

Data from the Central Bureau of Statistics

In 1948, 11 300 000 Jews lived in the world, and only 6% of them lived in Israel. Today, the Jewish population of the world has 143 000 000 people, 8 500 000 of them live in the Jewish state.

Data from the Central Bureau of Statistics

In 1956, food expenses of the average Israeli accounted for about 42% of total expenses, in 2014 - 16,2%. In 1956, only 12% of Israelis had a washing machine in their home; today, 96% do. There are more refrigerators - from 37% to 99,9%, air conditioners - from 10% to 87%.

The number of car owners has increased 87-fold, from 34 registered vehicles in 000 to 1951 last year.

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