POPULATION DENSITY IN THE MEDITERRANEAN COASTAL REGION
POPULATION DENSITY IN THE COASTAL REGION IN SELECTED YEARS
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
Israel - total
1995
2008
POPULATION DENSITY IN URBAN LOCALITIES IN THE COASTAL REGION
IN SELECTED YEARS
18,000
14,000
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
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2008
Qiryat Yam
Akko
Netanya
Nahariyya
Tirat Karmel
Haifa
1995
Rishon LeZiyyon
1983
Hadera
Herzliyya
Jisr Az-Zarqa
Bat Yam
Ashqelon
0
Tel Aviv-Yafo
2,000
Ashdod
Persons per sq.km.
16,000
Description of the indicator
This indicator presents the density of the population in the Mediterranean coastal area of
Israel, compared with the density of the population in the entire area of the country. The
coastal area defined for this indicator relates to localities whose areas of jurisdiction border
on the Mediterranean coast.
Relevance 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, and the attraction of the Mediterranean coastal area. Coastal areas tend to be
more populated than other areas, due to their being points of economic attraction (tourism,
leisure, fishing, access to sea lanes, etc.). The greater the density of the population and the
level of economic activity in a certain area, the higher the pressure on the local ecosystem,
and its ability to provide services to the population residing in that area is reduced. The
various pressures can be expressed in a loss of open spaces, land and groundwater
pollution, harm 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 localities on the Mediterranean coast constitutes 2.5% of the country's area
(564 sq. km.), whereas the population that resided in that strip in 2008 constituted
approximately 26% of the total population in the country (1.87 million people).

The population density in all the coastal strip localities is 14 times higher than the
population density in the entire area of the State of Israel.

Ninety-nine percent of those living in the coastal area reside in urban localities (in 15
urban localities, out of all 46 localities on the Mediterranean coast). In these localities, the
population density increased by 38% from 1983-2008, from 3,157 people per sq. km. to
4,370 people per sq. km.

The highest population density in the coastal localities is in Bat Yam (15,782 people per
sq. km.)

The population density in Ashdod increased by 260% from 1983 to 2008, from 1,730
people per sq. km. to 4,428 people per sq. km.

The population density in Tel Aviv-Yafo rose from 6,400 people per sq. km. in 1983 to
7,580 people per sq. km. in 2008.
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