Fact Sheet

ISRAEL

 
Full name
 
 State of Israel
Population
 
7,047,1000
Government Type
 
Parliamentary Democracy
Head of State
 
 President Moshe KATZAV (since 31 July 2000)
Head of Government
 
 Prime Minister Ehud OLMERT (since May 2006)
Linguistic Groups
 
Jewish 80.1% (Europe/America-born 32.1%, Israel-born 20.8%, Africa-born 14.6%, Asia-born 12.6%), 
Non-Jewish 19.9% (mostly Arab)
Religions
 
Jewish 76.5%,
Muslim 15.9%,
Arab Christians 1.7%,
Other Christian 0.4%,
Druze 1.6%,
Unspecified 3.9%
Languages
 
Hebrew (official), Arabic used officially for Arab minority, English most commonly used foreign language
Legal System
 
Mixture of English common law, British Mandate regulations, and, in personal matters, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim legal systems;
In December 1985, Israel informed the UN Secretariat that it would no longer accept compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
GDP per capita $24,600 (2005 est.)
International HR Instruments Ratified University of Minnesota - human rights library