ose serious constraints; desertification; air
pollution from industrial and vehicle emissions; groundwater pollution
from industrial and domestic waste, chemical fertilizers, and
pesticides

Environment-international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered
Species, Hazardous Wastes, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection,
Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Marine Life Conservation

Geography-note: there are 207 Israeli settlements and civilian land
use sites in the West Bank, 42 in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights,
24 in the Gaza Strip, and 29 in East Jerusalem (August 1997 est.)

@Israel:People

Population: 5,643,966 (July 1998 est.)
note: includes 155,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank, 17,000 in
the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, 6,000 in the Gaza Strip, and
164,000 in East Jerusalem (August 1997 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 28% (male 814,558; female 776,630)
15-64 years: 62% (male 1,751,111; female 1,745,499)
65 years and over: 10% (male 239,658; female 316,510) (July 1998 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.91% (1998 est.)

Birth rate: 19.99 births/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Death rate: 6.19 deaths/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Net migration rate: 5.25 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.76 male(s)/female (1998 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 8.02 deaths/1,000 live births (1998 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 78.41 years
male: 76.52 years
female: 80.39 years (1998 est.)

Total fertility rate: 2.71 children born/woman (1998 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Israeli(s)
adjective: Israeli

Ethnic groups: Jewish 82% (Israel-born 50%,
Europe/Americas/Oceania-born 20%, Africa-born 7%, Asia-born 5%),
non-Jewish 18% (mostly Arab) (1993 est.)

Religions: Judaism 82%, Islam 14% (mostly Sunni Muslim), Christian 2%,
Druze and other 2%

Languages: Hebrew (official), Arabic used officially for Arab
minority, English most commonly used foreign language

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 95%
male: 97%
female: 93% (1992 est.)

@Israel:Government

Country name:
conventional long form: State of Israel
conventional short form: Israel
local long form: Medinat Yisra'el
local short form: Yisra'el

Data code: IS

Government type: republic

Nationa