[img]96|left|||no_popup[/img]Dateline Jerusalem – As the daughter of a mathematician father, A”H, but one who did not inherit his brilliant genes, I am fascinated by statistics. In the short 64 years of the State of Israel, Israel has ranked among the top nations of the world in several categories. Despite being surrounded by enemies that threaten Israel’s very existence, Israelis are among the happiest people in the world, ranking No. 8, according to a Gallup world poll and No. 14, according to a U.N. report.
Israel recently was rated the sixth healthiest country in the world for countries with over one million population, compared to the U.S. in 33rd place, Britain in 21st place, and Canada in 14th. It must be all the fresh fruit and vegetables that make up Israeli meals. Most foods are natural, not processed. Perhaps it is the fresh air, the sky so very blue.
Three of its universities just made the top 100 universities in the world. No wonder Israel ranks as the second most educated country in the world, just behind Canada, but before Japan and the U.S. It also has the highest concentration of engineers in the world, 135 per 10,000 people, compared to 85 per 10,000 in the U.S., and leads the world with respect to the proportionate number of scientists and technicians in the workforce, equal to that of the U.S. and Japan combined. Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation. It has one of the highest number of patents per capita.
Israel's economy was ranked No. 1 in the world for resilience to economic cycles. It was also ranked No. 1 in the world for “its expenditure in research and development as a percentage of gross domestic product, and in the innovative capacity of firms to generate new products, processes and services.” The U.S. was in sixth place. In the latest ranking for countries with the best conditions for clean technology startup companies, Israel came in second. The index measures a country's potential relative to its economic size. And Israel came in fourth place in clean tech investments. It ranks first with respect to proportion of startups to population, and has the largest number of bio-tech startups per capita. Other than the Silicon Valley, it has the highest concentration of high-tech companies in the world. Although it only ranks third with respect to rate of entrepeneurship, it is No. 1 in the world with respect to entrepeneurship of women over the age of 55.
Of course, not all the top rankings are good. For example, Israel is No. 3 in the world for having the highest price for gasoline. The average cost of gasoline in Israel is close to eight U.S. dollars per gallon. Premium gasoline in Israel is equivalent to $9.28. When people complain of the cost of gas in the U.S., think about it here. If you lived in Venezuela, and who would want to, the cost of gas is only 9 cents a gallon!
For a tiny country the size of New Jersey, Israel ranks pretty high in its accomplishments.
L'hitraot. Shachar