POPULATION DENSITY IN THE MEDITERRANEAN COASTAL REGION
7. POPULATION DENSITY IN THE COASTAL REGION,
SELECTED YEARS
5,000
4,500
Persons per sq. km.
4,000
3,500
3,000
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
Urban coastal localities
Coastal localities
1983
1995
Total
2009
8. POPULATION DENSITY IN THE URBAN COASTAL LOCALITIES,
SELECTED YEARS
16,000
14,000
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
1983
( 42 )
1995
2009
Rishon LeZiyyon
Qiryat Yam
Akko
Netanya
Nahariyya
Tirat Karmel
Haifa
Hadera
Herzliyya
Jisr Az-Zarqa
Bat Yam
Ashqelon
0
Tel Aviv-Yafo
2,000
Ashdod
Persons per sq. km.
18,000
Description of the indicator
The indicator presents the density of the population in the Mediterranean coastal area of
Israel, compared with the population density of the country's entire area. The coastal area as
defined for this indicator includes those localities whose areas of jurisdiction border on the
Mediterranean coast.
Relevance of the indicator to sustainable development
This indicator enables an assessment of the demographic pressures on the coastal area.
The comparison with the population density in the country's entire area emphasizes the
imbalance, as well as the fact that the Mediterranean coast is a magnet area for population.
Coastal areas tend to be more populated than other areas, due to their being economic
magnet areas (tourism, leisure, fishing, access to sea lanes, etc.). As the population density
and the level of economic activity in a certain area increase, the pressure on the local
ecosystem grows, which reduces the ability of the ecosystem to provide services to the
population residing in that area. The various pressures can take the form of loss of open
spaces, land and groundwater pollution, damage to the diversity of species on land and
water, pollution of the beaches and the seas, reduced air quality, etc.
Selected findings

The strip of the Mediterranean coastal localities constitutes 2.5% of the country's area
(564 sq. km.), whereas the population that resided in that strip in 2009 (1.89 million
persons) constituted approximately 26% of the total population of the country.

In 2009, the population density in all the coastal strip localities was 14 times higher than
the population density in the entire area of the State of Israel.

Of the population in the coastal area, 99% reside in the urban localities (in 15 urban
localities, out of the 46 localities on the Mediterranean coast). In these localities, the
population density increased by 43% between 1983 and 2009, from 3,157 persons per
sq. km. to 4,520 persons per sq. km.

Bat Yam has the highest population density of the coastal cities (15,913 persons per sq.
km.)

The population density in Ashdod increased by 250% between 1983 and 2009, from
1,730 persons per sq. km. to 4,368 persons per sq. km. The population density
decreased between 2008 (4,428 persons per sq. km.) and 2009.

The population density in Tel Aviv-Yafo continues to rise. It increased from 6,400 persons
per sq. km. in 1983 to 7,795 persons per sq. km. in 2009, and increased approximately
3% between 2008 (7,580 persons per sq. km.) and 2009.
( 43 )