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Background information

Israel is considered to be the most advanced economy in Southwest Asia and the Middle East and can be characterized by a technologically advanced free market economy. The country is poorly endowed with natural resources. Exports of knowledge-intensive products such as high-technology equipment or pharmaceuticals are countered by major imports of crude oil, grains, raw materials, and military equipment. The resulting trade deficit is negligible. Tourism increasingly represents an important source of income. Israel has a highly educated labor force and accounts for one of the highest percentage of citizens holding a tertiary education degree.

The agricultural sector provides employment opportunities for only 1% of the total labor force and contributes to only 2.5% of the total GDP. Almost a quarter of the total available land is cultivated; mainly growing citrus, vegetables and cotton. The agricultural production remains modest due to poor soil fertility and desertification. Nevertheless, Israel manages to be mostly self-sufficient in food production except for grain and beef. In fact, almost the whole domestic consumption of cereals needs to be imported.

Israel is a high income country and benefits from a low unemployment rate. As a result it scored 0.894 on the HDI (2014) the Middle East country and ranked among those countries displaying a very high level of human development; however nearly a quarter of the total population lives in poverty. Israel has one of the highest life expectancies worldwide.