A capsule description of Israel at 62, its people and some of its achievements, follows:
Geography Israel is roughly half the size of Lake Michigan.
The Sea of Galilee, at 695 ft. below sea level, is the lowest freshwater lake in the world.
The Dead Sea is the lowest surface point on earth, at about 1,373 feet below sea level.
Israel is the only nation in the world that entered the 21st century with a net gain in it's number of trees.
Jericho is the oldest continuously inhabited town in the world.
The Mount of Olives in Jerusalem is the oldest, continually used cemetery in the world.
Demographics Israel has only 2% of the population of the Middle East .
Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees per capita in the world. Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation in the world - by a large margin.
Israel has the highest number of scientists and technicians per capita in the world - by a large margin.
Israel has the largest percentage of it's work force employed in technical professions in the world.
Israel is the largest immigrant-absorbing nation in the world, per capita.
Israel is the only country in the Middle East where the Christian population has grown over the last 50 years.
Israel is the only country in the Middle East where Christians, Muslims and Jews are all free to vote.
Israel is the only country in the Middle East where women enjoy full political rights.
Economics
Israel is the world's largest wholesale diamond center, finally surpassing Antwerp in the 1970's.
Most of the cut and polished diamonds in the world come from Israel.
Israel has the largest number of NASDAQ listed companies outside of the US and Canada.
Israel was the first country to have a free trade agreement with the United States.
Apart from the Silicon Valley, Israel has the highest concentration of hi-tech companies in the world.
Electronics
The Voice Mail technology was developed in Israel.
In the early 80's, IBM chose an Israeli-designed computer chip as the brains for it's first personal computers.
The first anti-virus software for computers was developed in Israel in 1979.
Most of the Windows NT and XP operating systems were developed in Israel by Microsoft.
Both the Pentium-4 and Centrino processors were entirely designed, developed and produced in Israel .
The Disk On Key was invented, developed and produced in Israel.
The Pentium MMX Chip technology was designed in Israel at Intel.
Israel has the highest number of home computers per capita in the world.
The technology for the AOL Instant Messenger and ICQ was developed in 1996 by four young Israelis.
Israel was the first Middle Eastern country to launch a satellite, the Ofek 1, on September 19, 1988.
Culture
Hebrew had not been spoken as a native tongue by anyone for 20 centuries. Today it is the native tongue of millions of people.
Israel has more museums per capita than any other nation in the world.
Israel has more orchestras per capita than any other nation in the world.
Israel publishes more books per capita than any other nation in the world. Israel publishes more books translated from other languages than any other nation in the world.
Israel reads more books per capita than any other nation in the world.
The most independent and free Arabic press in the Middle East is in Israel.
Military/Security
Israel has the world's most impenetrable airline security.
Israel spends more money per capita on it's own protection than any country in the world.
Israeli produced security devices are used internationally.
Other
Israel has more in-vitro fertilization per capita than anywhere in the world, and it's free.
Israelis, per capita, are the world's biggest consumers of fruits and vegetables.
From our point of view, Israel has it "all". It has a booming economy that adjusts itself to internal and external conditions. It has the highest number of engineers, doctorates and physicians per capita in the world. Electronics, communications, agriculture are among the many areas that are attracting foreign investments. Cleantech a relatively new area of development for Israel. It has recently attracted ,massive investment funds.
Israel is only 1/6 of 1% of the landmass of the Middle East and 55% of Israel's land is desert.
Israel's population is half the size of metropolitan New York City.
Israel has the largest number of startup companies per capita in the world.
The cell phone was developed in Israel at Motorola's largest development center.
Hebrew is the only case of a dead national language being revived in all of world history.
Israel has the largest fleet of F-16 aircraft outside of the US.
Israel 's dairy cows are the most productive dairy cows in the world. They average 25,432 pounds of milk per cow per year, compared to just 18,747 pounds from American cows (or 19,825 pounds from California cows - ; 17,085 from Canadian cows; 13,778 from European Union cows; 10,207 from Australian cows; and 6,600 from Chinese cows.