Some more facts about Israel

Okay, so Israel isn’t just about great beaches, amazing weather, amazing food, and must-see tourist spots for believers of all faiths… although this does help attract tourists, for sure! There are also a host of behind-the-scenes factors, behind the headlines that make the Holy Land such a unique place to visit. Here are some more facts about the Holy Land that you probably didn’t know, that might convince you to go out and buy that ticket.

• It has a total coastline of only 273 km, including some 137 official beaches.
• The population is now 7,233,701, including the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
• Of its 7.2 million inhabitants, 75.8 percent are Jews, 19.9 percent are Arabs (mostly Muslims), and the remaining 4.3 percent includes Druze, Circassians, and others not classified by religion. .
• The mobile phone population is now estimated at over 9 million phones (8.9 million in 2007).
• Besides the US and Canada, Israel has the largest number of NASDAQ-listed companies.
• There are more museums per capita than any other country.
• Israel has the world’s second largest output of new books per citizen.
• The first antivirus software was developed in Israel in 1979.
• The national soccer team only qualified for the World Cup final once, back in 1970.
• Raising pigs in the Holy Land is illegal for Jews due to a 1962 law (several Arab farmers raise pigs). Only one Jewish organization bucks the trend, Kibbutz Lahav, raising pigs (more than 10,000 of them) that are officially for “research purposes.”