COVID-19 pandemic for demographers was what the 9/11 events in the US were for experts in the Middle Eastern affairs. A sudden upgrade from an esoteric and who-knows-how-useful discipline to something actually interesting. At first, the focus was on mortality, understandably so. The concept of ‘excess mortality’ started travelling across publications read by ‘normal people’ and the humanity learned that the ‘force of death’ is (a) quantifiable and (b) obeys certain rules. Which also means that the effects of the pandemic could be captured in numbers and compared across countries, ethnic groups and medical systems. A small step for demographers themselves but a big step for humanity. So far so good.
COVID-19 pandemic is over, at least the governments across the enlightened world decided that it is…and when the Government says, pandemic stop, is it not?….Irrespective of that, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are not over. It is now the turn of fertility, not mortality, to come under scrutiny. What...
The Six Days War was fought by Israel against Jordan, Egypt and Syria between 5 and 10 of June 1967. It resulted in acquisition by Israel of the territories of Judea and Samaria, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and Sinai Peninsula. The control over Gaza Strip and Sinai has been ceded since.
Of all wars Israel ever engaged in, the Six Days War was the most significant for the Israeli and Jewish morale – it was won in a manner and at a speed that would make Israelis and Jews all over the world to use the word ‘miracle’ in their descriptions of the War.
Professor Yoel Elitzur is a Hebrew Linguistics professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He works closely with biblical archaeologists and other experts in ancient Jewish history. In that area there are two approaches: the maximalist that says ‘everything described in the Torah is the truth, give and take a few details’ and the minimalist that says ‘it...
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...