Since Rosh Hashanah last year (marking the start of the Jewish year 5778), Israel's population has increased by some 162,000 – a population growth rate of 1.9%, which is similar to what the country has seen in the past few years. About 175,000 babies were born in Israel this past year, and 43,000 Israelis died. Some 25,000 new immigrants arrived in Israel – 62% from Russia and Ukraine, 12% from France, and 10% from the United States.

In 2017, 183,648 live births were recorded in Israel, and a fertility rate was 3.11 children per woman, the highest of any member state of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Arabs in Israel number 1,864,000, 20.9% of the population, and other religious minorities and those without a religion account for 4.7% of the population. According to the CBS, Israel's population is projected to reach 10 million by the end of 2024 and 15 million by the end of 2048. The county's population is predicted to reach 20 million by 2065.

But dry demographics don't tell the whole story. When asked to rate their personal happiness, 89% of Israelis polled said they were happy or very happy with their lives. Sadly, 6% said they often felt lonely. While the vast majority of respondent were happy in general, 37% said they were dissatisfied with their financial status, and 31% said they found it difficult to make it to the end of the month.

The average monthly household income stood at 15,700 shekels ($4,330). Female salaried employees earned, on average, 81.1% of what male salaried employees earned.

In addition to feeling pleased with their lives, Israelis also appear to be healthy, with 84% assessing their health as "good" or "very good."  Only 16% said their health was "not too good" or "not good at all." Slightly more than half (51%) said they engaged in some kind of regular physical activity.

Most Israelis older than 20 or so defined themselves as nonreligious: 44.3% called themselves secular, 21.4% as traditional-not particularly religious and 12.3% as traditional-religious.

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Similar to the previous three years, the Muslim population in Israel grew at an annual rate of 2.5% in 2017. And while Muslim population growth has waned over the past two decades, it is still the fastest growing population sector in Israel. For the sake of comparison, the Jewish population grew by 1.7% in 2017; the Christian population grew by 2.2% and the Druze population saw 1.4% growth.

About half of Israel's Muslim population resides in the country's north; 35.6% in the northern district and 13.8% in the Haifa district. Meanwhile, 21.8% of the country's Muslims live in the Jerusalem district, 16.6% in the southern district and 11% in the central district – of whom 1.1% reside in the Tel Aviv district.

Among cities, the greatest concentration of Muslims is in Jerusalem (329,000 people), which is home to 21% of all Muslims in Israel, who comprise 36.5% of the city's general population.

The Muslim population is also relatively young – 34.4% (534,000 people) is under 14 years of age. Only 4% of the Muslim population (63,000 people) is over 65 years old.

Additionally, for the first time since the early 2000s, fertility rates (the average number of babies a woman is expected to have in her lifetime) among Muslim women in Israel rose to 3.37 babies. This increase followed a steady decline in fertility rates, from 4.74 babies in 2000 to 3.29 in 2016.

Muslim men were also getting married sooner than their counterparts from other sectors of the population. In 2016 the average age for Muslim men marrying for the first time was 26.5 years old – compared to 27.8 among Jews, 30.1 among Christians and 28.6 among Druze.

Following that trend, Muslim women marrying for the first time were on average 22.5 years old, while Jewish women were 25.9, Christian women were 26.2 and Druze women were 24.5.

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Among them, 11,100 were Jewish and 700 were Arab.

The 2016 figure represented a 9% decline in emigration since the previous year.

With that, according to the CBS, the overall balance was still negative in 2016, as only 8,900 Israelis returned to live in Israel after a year or more abroad. Among those who returned, 6,700 were Jewish and 500 were Arab.

Still, the number of returning residents in 2016 was the highest since 2012, and 5% higher than in the previous year, when 8,500 residents returned.

Among Jews and other non-Arabs, 7,800 (54%) of those who emigrated were not born in Israel; 6,700 (46%) of them were. The median age among emigres was 28.5 and most of them are male.

Around 50% of the males aged 15 or older who emigrated were single, compared to 33% of females who were single when they moved abroad.

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The 500-seat synagogue suffered major flood damage during the August 2017 storm, rendering it unsuitable for services. As a result, the congregation had to move to a local church.

Lavi Furniture, based in Kibbutz Lavi in northern Israel, describes itself as "the world's leading supplier of seating and furniture systems for synagogues and yeshivas."

It essentially replaced all the seats, as well as rebuilt the adjacent facilities, for a total cost of some $200,000.

Lavi Furniture CEO Micha Oberman said only a few other projects he has undertaken abroad were completed so quickly.

"We had to finish the renovation so that the congregation can once again use the synagogue," he told Israel Hayom.

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Kandel headed the council, a body that analyzes economic issues for the Prime Minister's Office, from 2009 to 2015, and is now the CEO of Start-Up Nation Central, a nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening Israeli innovation and connecting it to the world.

"In 2015, Tel Aviv ranked second in the Global Startup Ecosystem Index, after California's Silicon Valley, but today we are only sixth," Kandel told a conference in Tel Aviv on human capital and the economy.

"We must wake up and take urgent measures lest Israel become a former startup nation."

Kandel said the most immediate focus should be on expanding Israel's high-tech industry, which employs only 8.3% of Israel's workforce.

"If high-tech salaries go up, this will attract people from all segments of society, increase the industry's share in the workforce and fuel the economy," he said. "This is not feasible today because Israel is focused more on innovation centers – which we already have in excess – rather than on creating more companies. This encourages people to relocate to the company's hubs abroad, and if the current trends continue, I am not sure Israel will enjoy the same technological edge it currently has."

Kandel also said the government should make a concerted effort to boost scientific expertise, possibly in the form of a new ministry dedicated to innovation and technology.

Peretz Lavie, the president of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, also spoke at the conference. He said Israel is falling behind when it comes to academic research in technology.

"The world is changing as we speak, but Israeli academia is moving in its slow and conservative pace; we must catch up by investing in higher education," he said.

Israel Innovation Authority CEO Aharon Aharon told the audience that even though only 270,000 Israelis work in high-tech, the industry accounts for 43% of the country's exports.

He said Israeli high-tech must take a greater share of the overall economy because it is the economy's growth engine.

"Israeli high-tech should move out of central Israel into other parts of the country. This way people from the lower rungs of the socioeconomic ladder will join it. Innovation can be used as a leverage for economic growth and it is the only way we can maintain our technological edge," he said.

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"This is a matter of morality, not a passing political act," Zandberg said.

Starting in 1915, the Turks implemented an ethnic cleansing policy against Armenians, most of whom were living in the Ottoman Empire. Armenian communities were forced to evacuate and were marched toward Syria. As many as 1.5 million Armenians are estimated to have been killed.

Zandberg said it was "unacceptable" for Israel not to recognize the Armenian genocide, regardless of the conduct of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"For years, Israel has avoided recognizing the genocide of the Armenian people, one of the most horrible acts of killing of the 20th century. The failure to recognize it is a moral stain on Israel, and on every country that opted, in its own interests, to ignore a disaster that befell others," Zandberg added.

The government has opposed previous bills from Meretz MKs calling for Israel to recognize the Armenian genocide. However, a number of coalition MKs have announced that in light of growing tension between Israel and Turkey and Erdogan's attacks on Israel over its response to border riots last week that killed over 60 Hamas terrorists and Palestinian civilians, they intend to support Zandberg's bill.

Meanwhile, Erdogan continued to double down against Israel, saying on Tuesday that Turkey would consider canceling trade relations with Israel following next month's presidential election.

Erdogan was referring to a boycott on Israeli-manufactured goods organized by the Organization for Islamic Cooperation. If the Turkish leader follows through on his threats, it will take the two nations one step closer to cutting ties entirely.

Nevertheless, Erdogan's remarks are not causing undue distress in Israel.

Economy and Industry Minister Eli Cohen told Israel Hayom on Tuesday that the "limping" Turkish economy, not Israel, would pay the price for cutting off bilateral economic relations.

Turkey imports $1.43 billion worth of goods per year, Cohen said.

"Even before the [latest] threat, given recent statements [from Erdogan], I issued instructions to cancel a planned conference on trade with Turkey that was scheduled to take place in Tel Aviv at the end of the month," Cohen said.

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The capital already contains hundreds of synagogues, but these still fall short of meeting the needs of the growing traditional, religious and ultra-Orthodox communities in the city.

According to Lavi Industries, the world's largest synagogue furnishings maker, some of the synagogues are being designed as complexes that can seat 5,000 to 10,000 people each.

The company said that the cost of building an average-size synagogue that seats 300 to 400 worshippers is about NIS 10 million ($2.8 million), compared to about NIS 30 million ($8.4 million) for a more palatial synagogue.

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The agreement, which was negotiated by the Obama administration and co-signed by Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China, lifted most international economic sanctions against Iran in exchange for the Islamic republic's agreement to restrictions on its nuclear program and rigorous inspections to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons.

But Trump, a severe critic of the deal throughout his presidential campaign and his presidency, said in his televised address from the White House Tuesday that the deal is "defective at its core."

The administration said it would reimpose sanctions on Iran immediately but would allow a grace period for businesses to wind down activity.

Companies and banks doing business with Iran will have to scramble to extricate themselves or run afoul of the U.S. government.

"The Iranian regime is the leading state sponsor of terror," Trump said in his address.

"It exports dangerous missiles, fuels conflicts across the Middle East, and supports terrorist proxies and militias such as Hezbollah, Hamas, the Taliban and al-Qaida. No action taken by the regime has been more dangerous than its pursuit of nuclear weapons and the means of delivering them.

"In theory, the Iran deal was supposed to protect the United States and our allies from the lunacy of an Iranian nuclear bomb, a weapon that will only endanger the survival of the Iranian regime. In fact, the deal allowed Iran to continue enriching uranium and, over time, reach the brink of a nuclear breakout.

"The deal lifted crippling economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for very weak limits on the regime's nuclear activity, and no limits at all on its other malign behavior."

He criticized the Obama administration for creating the deal, saying that "at the point when the United States had maximum leverage, this disastrous deal gave this regime many billions of dollars."

The deal is "a great embarrassment to me and to all citizens of the United States," he said.

Trump also touched on Israel's recent revelation of how Iran deceived the international community as to the nature of its nuclear program.

"At the heart of the Iran deal was a giant fiction that a murderous regime desired only a peaceful nuclear energy program," he said. "Today, we have definitive proof that this Iranian promise was a lie. Last week, Israel published intelligence documents long concealed by Iran, conclusively showing the Iranian regime and its history of pursuing nuclear weapons."

Not only does the deal fail to halt Iran's nuclear ambitions, "it also fails to address the regime's development of ballistic missiles that could deliver nuclear warheads."

The deal "does nothing to constrain Iran's destabilizing activities, including its support for terrorism," he said.

"The Iran deal is defective at its core. If we do nothing, we know exactly what will happen. In just a short period of time, the world's leading state sponsor of terror will be on the cusp of acquiring the world's most dangerous weapons. Therefore, I am announcing today that the United States will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal."

Trump continued that "America will not be held hostage to nuclear blackmail. We will not allow American cities to be threatened with destruction. And we will not allow a regime that chants 'Death to America' to gain access to the most deadly weapons on Earth.

"Today's action sends a critical message: The United States no longer makes empty threats."

'The future of Iran belongs to its people'

Trump left the door open to future negotiations with Iran, although the Islamic republic has already said that is out of the question.

"As we exit the Iran deal, we will be working with our allies to find a real, comprehensive, and lasting solution to the Iranian nuclear threat. This will include efforts to eliminate the threat of Iran's ballistic missile program;,to stop its terrorist activities worldwide, and to block its menacing activity across the Middle East," he said.

"In the meantime, powerful sanctions will go into full effect. If the regime continues its nuclear aspirations, it will have bigger problems than it has ever had before."

Appealing to the Iranian people, Trump said, "The people of America stand with you. It has now been almost 40 years since this dictatorship seized power and took a proud nation hostage. Most of Iran's 80 million citizens have sadly never known an Iran that prospered in peace with its neighbors and commanded the admiration of the world.

"But the future of Iran belongs to its people. They are the rightful heirs to a rich culture and an ancient land. And they deserve a nation that does justice to their dreams, honor to their history, and glory to God."

'Historic move'

On Tuesday evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed Trump's decision, saying the deal had been a "recipe for disaster."

"Israel fully supports President Trump's bold decision today to reject the disastrous nuclear deal with the terrorist regime in Tehran," Netanyahu said in a televised speech.

"Israel has opposed the nuclear deal from the start because we said that rather than blocking Iran's path to a bomb, the deal actually paved Iran's path to an entire arsenal of nuclear bombs within a few years' time.

"The removal of sanctions under the deal has already produced disastrous results. The deal did not push war further away – it actually brought it closer. The deal did not reduce Iran's aggression – it dramatically increased it, and we see this across the entire Middle East.

"Since the deal, we have seen Iran's aggression grow every day – in Iraq, in Lebanon, in Yemen, in Gaza, and most of all in Syria, where Iran is trying to establish military bases from which to attack Israel.

"Despite the deal, the terrorist regime in Tehran is developing a ballistic missiles capability, ballistic missiles to carry nuclear warheads far and wide, to many parts of the world, and as we exposed last week, since the deal, Iran intensified its efforts to hide its secret nuclear weapons program.

"All this combined is a recipe for disaster, a disaster for our region, a disaster for the peace of the world. This is why Israel thinks that President Trump made a historic move and this is why Israel thanks President Trump for his courageous leadership, his commitment to confronting the terrorist regime in Tehran and his commitment to ensuring that Iran never gets nuclear weapons, not today, not in a decade, not ever."

President Reuven Rivlin also lauded Trump's decision, saying it is "an important and significant step toward assuring Israel's security."

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Participation is almost evenly split between local companies and firms from 100 other countries around the world.

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, Economy and Industry Minister Eli Cohen, and Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel were all on hand for the opening.

"In our tiny desert nation, we've developed advanced agriculture, knowledge and technology that we want to share with you to create high-quality and healthier food for the world," Ariel said.

Agritech runs for three days and expects to welcome 50 government delegations and 80 business delegations. The largest delegation, with 1,500 participants, is coming from India.

Alongside the companies marketing their technology, the expo is putting on a series of lectures by professionals on topics ranging from protecting plants to international projects in desertified areas of China, India and Africa.

The conference will also host guided tours of farms in the Negev and Galilee so visitors can see how Israeli agricultural developments are implemented. Visitors will be taken to places that a few decades ago were barren and are now covered in fields, with fruit and flowers that are exported worldwide.

"Israel has become a leader in the field of advanced, innovative agricultural solutions. Today, Israeli innovation attracts the attention of the entire world. We supply technological solutions for agriculture throughout the world and take a major part in aid to desert countries in terms of food security. Internationally, Israeli agriculture is a 'light unto nations,' Cohen said.

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The numbers, accurate as of 2016, indicate a global Jewish population of 14.511 million, compared to the 16.6 million Jews in the world in 1939 – including 449,000 living in pre-state Israel – prior to the Holocaust.

By the time Israel was founded in 1948, the Nazi genocide had reduced the number of Jews in the world to 11.5 million, including 650,000 living in the nascent Jewish state, which means that 6% of world Jewry at the time lived in Israel, compared to 44% today.

As Israel prepares to celebrate its 70th anniversary, it is home to more Jews than any other country in the world – over 6.4 million, the CBS notes. The second-largest Jewish population (5.7 million) lives in the U.S., while the Jewish populations of France and Canada number 456,000 and 390,000, respectively.

Britain is home to 290,000 Jews; Argentina's Jewish population stands at 181,000, and 176,000 Jews call Russia home. Another 117,000 Jews live in Germany and 113,000 live in Australia.

At sundown Wednesday, Israel will mark Holocaust Remembrance Day. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to attend the main government event at Yad Vashem, which begins at 8 p.m. During the ceremony, former Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau – himself a Holocaust survivor – and representative of the survivor community Zipora Nahir will speak.

Six Holocaust survivors will light memorial torches, and short films will tell each of their life stories.

In addition to the state ceremony, various associations that provide aid and support for Holocaust victims and their families will be holding commemorative events nationwide. Some 800,000 schoolchildren will be lighting candles as part of the Name and Candle project, which aims to ensure that the memories of Jews who died at the hands of the Nazis are never forgotten. The students recently received candles inscribed with the names of Jews killed in the Holocaust. Each candle is labeled with a code that links to a site containing more details about the victims' lives.

Education Minister Naftali Bennett said, "The commemoration of the Holocaust is rooted in education, especially as in the next few years we will no longer have the live testimonies of Holocaust survivors, as they will not be here to tell their stories. Inculcating the memory is a national mission of the utmost importance."

According to the National Insurance Institute, 168,540 Holocaust survivors are living in Israel today. In the past two years, since March 2016, over 26,000 survivors have passed away.

Meanwhile, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot has issued a special directive for Holocaust Remembrance Day.

"We, the commanders of the IDF and its soldiers, bear a responsibility to remember the Holocaust survivors who fought to make aliyah and establish the state. A place they could call home, and which by making their dream a reality helped shape our country as a flourishing national home. To remember the Holocaust survivors who fought in the past: the last ones remaining of their families, who with hearts heavy with longing for loved ones who were gone, picked themselves up from the dust and with their last bit of strength founded the state of Israel, then died fighting for its existence," he wrote.

"We bear a responsibility to honor Holocaust survivors who found the strength to choose life – a life of activity, contribution, and creativity, who chose to build and develop our country, who chose to tell their stories and leave their imprint on the wall of memory.

"IDF officers and soldiers – for us, the soldiers and commanders who bear the responsibility for the safety of the people – this day takes on another meaning. We must remember that the mission of defense is not over; the state of Israel can keep growing only thanks to a defensive wall that is powerful and fortified – the Israel Defense Forces. An official, professional people's army that ensures the existence of Israel as a fortress of safety for the entire Jewish people.

"In the face of every threat, on our borders and deep inside enemy territory, we will continue to bolster the IDF's place as a strong military that is ready to serve its purpose and defend the country, ensure its existence, and if necessary – win wars," Eizenkot wrote.

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