What Makes Israel a Rich Country

in terms of life expectancy education research and other human development index indicators israel is a highly developed country when i researched israel's economy it was clear that this nation had many success stories to share with the world so why not making a video about it as of 2021 according to imf israel was 18th in terms of gdp per capita with 51.4 thousand dollars however the overall gdp in 2021 is estimated at over 481 billion us dollars by the world bank although now it is a well-known fact that israel is among the developed economies this was not always the case historically until the 1960s the economy was heavily controlled by the government then as the policymakers realized that the government was intervening too much the decision was made to gradually and slowly liberalise the economy as a result in the 1980s and 1990s the role of the government in the country's economic life was considerably decreased especially in monetary policy and domestic capital markets however some governmental economic functions were increased for instance social welfare payments such as unemployment benefits child allowances old age pensions and minimum income support were expanded continuously until they formed a significant budgetary expenditure since the early 2000s israel's economy has been growing by more than 3 percent yearly higher than most oecd countries population growth is one of the factors of rapid development when the nation was founded only 800 000 people lived there this number is more than tenfold now consequently life expectancy for jewish men jumped to almost 81 years from 65 in 1949 and for women just over 84 compared with just below 68 in 1949 today israel's economy is the 43rd freest in the 2022 index by heritage foundation and is ranked second among 14 countries in the middle east and north africa above the regional and world averages during my inquiry i found that agriculture was the sector that made tremendous progress unsurprisingly representatives of developing countries are interested in how israel made such a breakthrough in his article to make a desert bloom the israeli agricultural adventure and the quest for sustainability alan tau a professor of environmental policy said that israelis choose to follow the dream of a fertile and prosperous homeland when discussing the subject i want you to remember that israel is not a perfect place for agricultural endeavors two-thirds of the land is semi-arid or arid and much of the soil is of poor quality yet against all odds israel transformed the agricultural sector and established thriving export industries several reasons contributed to the success first is effective leadership in the words of shalom zamon a former minister of agriculture israel had three factors of success farmers endowments and the government agriculture is composed of water soil labor and money the government has a key role to play after the state of israel was established the government spent a third of its budget on agriculture and water while another 30 percent was devoted to education as a result early investments in institutional agriculture led to the development of specific sub-sectors such as fruit and vegetables second from the start israeli farmers showed very high organizational skills they worked in cooperatives kibbutzim and meshavim or as private farmers under an influential farmers association because of the production size farmers could bargain for better prices effectively compete against other producers and get access to finance research training farm inputs and markets israeli economist shul zaban explained why farmer cooperatives are essential if you have many small farms growing grains they will be in poverty all their lives staple food must be grown on big farms small holders can't survive unless they are focused on income and are connected to big units of production the third is a market-oriented approach market-driven policies ensure the development of the domestic market for food self-efficiency and the international export market for economic growth israel was one of the world's leading producers of dates pomegranates oranges and tomatoes in 2020 agriculture and food took five percent of the total export fourth is the so-called golden triangle the close relationship between researchers agricultural extension workers and farmers led to innovative solutions and made them available nationwide for instance the drip irrigation system was invented in israel by simcha blast in 1959 today wine grapes tree nuts and avocados are some of the crops that enjoy the benefits of the invention as i've mentioned looking for new ideas and markets is common in israel this year israel became a global pioneer in the field of medical cannabis as the agriculture ministry announced the first ever export shipment of israeli cannabis seeds left for the u.s in may israel can make its mark on the industry and be among the world's leaders this is what agriculture minister oded forest said in the statement apart from that israeli's agritex sector offers advanced data collection and analysis technologies for more efficient and productive farming companies like agritask help farmers to gather all the data imaging weather sections in-field sensors etc on one platform accessible via a mobile app and kroptomol performs accurate real-time tests of plant tissue soil and water in the field dramatically reducing the standard analysis procedure from 10 days to less than an hour obviously research and development are the cornerstones of the sector in 2018 israel spent 4.1 to 4.25 of gdp on civilian research and development more than double the european union average of 1.9 percent and one and a half times more than the us average of 2.79 and in 2020 according to world bank data israel allocated 5.4 percent of its gdp to research and development lastly israel used the diaspora's financial support to invest directly in the projects that needed resources for example a 250 kilometer water pipe was built in the 1950s which ensured water supply from the sea of galilee north to the negev desert south regarding water which is crucial not just for agriculture but for livelihood israel managed to develop a sustainable water supply system in a water scarce region where the neighboring countries are suffering from an alarming water deficiency israel supplies approximately eighty percent of its water consumption also israel has one of the world's highest reclamation rates worldwide with 90 percent of its wastewater being reused and at this point you are probably wondering can israel help to solve food insecurity worldwide well the answer is yes you see israel imports a lot of agricultural products in 2020 imports of agricultural products reached 7.09 billion dollars while export was only 2.1 billion the most impoverished countries can be fed thanks to the agritech systems invented in israel some call the fourth revolution precision agriculture based on advanced technological tools such as artificial intelligence centers etc an example of an israeli company subplant is fascinating the first has grown over the last three years from 20 employees to 50 and now has three subsidiaries mainly working in australia mexico south africa south america and morocco in 2021 the company was chosen as one of the 100 biggest inventions by time magazine researching the topic i could not pass on how israel is involved in creating and building technological startups there's a very famous book by dan cena and paul singer startup nation the story of israel's economic miracle written in 2009 which ranked fifth on the business bestseller list of the new york times according to deloitte over 2 000 startups were founded in the last 10 years i've already mentioned that israel's spending on research and development is one of the highest in the world in 2020 according to the bloomberg innovation index israel was the sixth most innovative country in the world ahead of many advanced countries like the us uk and japan in 2021 exports are estimated at 140 billion according to the ministry of economy and industry tech exports including programming and software i.t consulting and i.t services accounted for 46 of all service exports in 2021 while scientific r d and scientific technical services made up 17 in 2022 however this figure is going to increase to billion of course these are not the only sectors of the economy that enriches israel so let's finish by talking about the diamonds and energy sector to show you how diverse the exports are in 2020 israel exported 5.7 billion dollars worth of diamonds making it the fifth largest product exporter the biggest markets of the us hong kong india belgium and switzerland finally on may 9th british natural gas company energene announced the discovery of another marine natural gas reservoir the ministry of energy said israel had proven gas reserves of over 900 billion cubic meters with new data the country will have another 900 billion cubic meters to export worldwide this is a perfect opportunity to add some energy profit to the economy considering the energy crisis in the eu due to the war in ukraine it is clear that europe will be the largest market for new volumes of israeli natural gas and with that being said that's it for today's video thank you for watching

Channel: brainysolutions

Views: 186,007

Keywords: What Makes Israel a Rich Country, Israel Economy, Israel source energy, israel agriculture technology, israel success, Israel, israel country, israel country agriculture, israel technology, israel economy, israel, tel aviv, economics explained israel, economics explained, israel agriculture, israel today 2023, israel latest news

Id: 89sYyP2JRTM

Length: 10min 1sec (601 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 21 2022