Israel plays a major part in technology innovation & combined with riches blessing prophesied over Israel, potentially mainly in the form of oil & gas (more info on that here), here are some key facts that are amazing, considering that modern Israel is only about 60 years old.
7 minute extract of the Epicenter book, or get it as audiobook:
The following “boycott Israel” satire video illustrates the scope & influence of Israel:
Israel in numbers:
Economics:
- Israel has the largest number of startup companies per capita in the world.
- Israel is the world’s largest wholesale diamond center, finally surpassing Antwerp in the 1970′s. Most of the cut & polished diamonds in the world come from Israel.
- Israel has the largest number of NASDAQ listed companies outside of the US and Canada.
- Israel was the first country to have a free trade agreement with the United States.
- Apart from the Silicon Valley, Israel has the highest concentration of hi-tech companies in the world.
- The cell phone was developed in Israel at Motorola’s largest development center.
- The Voice Mail technology was developed in Israel.
- In the early 80′s, IBM chose an Israeli-designed computer chip as the brains for its first personal computers.
- The first anti-virus software for computers was developed in Israel in 1979.
- Most of the Windows NT and XP operating systems were developed in Israel by Microsoft.
- Both the Pentium-4 and Centrino processors were entirely designed, developed and produced in Israel.
- The Pentium MMX Chip technology was designed in Israel at Intel.
- Israel has the highest number of home computers per capita in the world.
- The technology for the AOL Instant Messenger and ICQ was developed in 1996 by 4 young Israelis.
- Israel was the first Middle Eastern country to launch a satellite, the Ofek 1, on September 19, 1988.
Military/Security:
- Israel has the largest fleet of F-16 aircraft outside of the US.
- Israel has the world’s most impenetrable airline security.
- Israel spends more money per capita on its own protection than any country in the world.
Geography:
- Israel is only 1/6 of 1% of the landmass of the Middle East.
- Israel is roughly half the size of Lake Michigan.
- The Sea of Galilee, at 695 ft. below sea level, is the lowest freshwater lake in the world.
- The Dead Sea is the lowest surface point on earth, at about 1,373 feet below sea level.
- Israel is the only nation in the world that entered the 21st century with a net gain in its number of trees.
- Jericho is the oldest continuously inhabited town in the world.
Demographics:
- Israel’s population is half the size of Metro New York City.
- Israel has only 2% of the population of the Middle East.
- Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees per capita in the world.
- Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation in the world – by a large margin.
- Israel has the highest number of scientists and technicians per capita in the world – by a large margin.
- Israel has the highest number of engineers per capita in the world.
- Israel has the highest number of PhD’s per capita in the world.
- Israel has the highest number of physicians per capita in the world.
- Israel has the largest percentage of its workforce employed in technical professions in the world.
- Israel is the largest immigrant-absorbing nation in the world, per capita.
- Israel is the only country in the Middle East where the Christian population has grown over the last 50 years.
- Israel is the only country in the Middle East where Christians, Muslims and Jews are all free to vote.
- Israel is the only country in the Middle East where women enjoy full political rights.
Culture:
- Hebrew is the only case of a dead national language being revived in all of world history. Hebrew had not been spoken as a native tongue by anyone for centuries. Today it is the native tongue of millions of people.
- Israel has more museums per capita than any other nation in the world.
- Israel has more orchestras per capita than any other nation in the world.
- Israel publishes more books per capita than any other nation in the world.
- Israel publishes more books translated from other languages than any other nation in the world.
- Israel reads more books per capita than any other nation in the world.
- The most independent and free Arabic press in the Middle East is in Israel.
Other:
- Israel’s dairy cows are the most productive dairy cows in the world. They average 25,432 pounds of milk per cow per year, compared to just 18,747 pounds from American cows; 17,085 from Canadian cows; 13,778 from European Union cows; 10,207 from Australian cows; and 6,600 from Chinese cows.
- Israel has more in-vitro fertilization per capita than anywhere in the world, and it’s free.
- Israelis, per capita, are the world’s biggest consumers of fruits and vegetables.
- Of the 175 UN Security Council resolutions passed before 1990, 97 were directed against Israel. Of the 690 UN General Assembly resolutions voted on before 1990, 429 were directed against Israel.
