On the eve of the seventy-third anniversary of the State of Israel, Israeli population stands on 9.3 million – the Central Bureau of Statistics of Israel informs us nonchalantly. Modesty is a noble quality. Except where it is misplaced. This positions Israel in a very respectable place among the nations of Europe. Many Northern and Central European countries have smaller populations compared to Israel. In fact, Israel is now bigger than Austria and Switzerland and is only slightly smaller than Hungary and Portugal. I plot Israel’s today positioning in Europe below. The European population giants, led by Russia, are placed at the top of the graph, if they are placed inside, everyone else would look miniscule, but I retain them in the table to show the complete European picture.
Sources: Central Bureau of Statistics (Israel), United Nations World Population Prospects. Users should quote the original sources as well asDaniel Staetsky, Jewish World in Data
Indeed, small populations is a European norm, as I...