Character of the city

At the beginning of the 20th century about 40,000 inhabitants, roughly four-fifths Arab, resided in Jaffa. Tel Aviv’s population, by contrast, numbered approximately 1,500 in 1914 and was almost wholly Jewish. It enjoyed substantial growth during the British mandate of Palestine, in the decades after World War I, tripling over a period of six years during the 1930s to 150,000 inhabitants. Jaffa’s population grew more slowly but reached about 100,000 in 1947, with Jews representing roughly one-third of the population. Since the cities’ amalgamation in 1950, the population of Tel Aviv–Yafo has fluctuated; it reached a peak in the 1960s and then declined gradually until the 1980s. The population expanded again in the early 1990s because of the influx of immigrants from the former Soviet Union and stabilized in the mid-1990s at about 350,000 inhabitants, though it is thought that non-Jewish foreign workers may be undercounted. The number of both documented and undocumented foreign workers in Tel Aviv grew markedly in the 1990s, as the supply of Arab labour declined because of restrictions on movement to and from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip during and after the first intifada (from Arabic intifāḍah: “shaking off”).

Jews represent the vast majority of Tel Aviv’s population. Tel Aviv’s Jewish populace is considered to be largely secular, although a significant minority is religious. Arabs—mainly Muslims, as well as a number of Christians—account for a very small fraction of the population. The city’s population is substantially more affluent than the national average, and the size of its average household is typically smaller. The city has a rather high proportion of both elderly residents and single-parent families compared with the Israeli and metropolitan averages. Low natural increase and negative migration balance account for the modest population growth in the city proper. Nevertheless, the larger metropolitan area has grown rapidly and continuously, both in area and in population.

Tel Aviv’s social geography is characterized by its north-south divide. The wealthiest neighbourhoods are situated north of the Yarkon River, but the “old north” (south of the Yarkon; previously the northern edge of the city, before it expanded beyond the river) is also upscale. The poorest neighbourhoods are largely located in the south, although some areas have gentrified. The Ha-Tiqwa (Hatikva) neighbourhood and Kefar Shalem, the former Palestinian village of Salamah, are among the more impoverished neighbourhoods, largely inhabited by Jews originating from Arabic-speaking countries. Parts of the inner south have developed into enclaves of mostly poor foreign workers. The poor Arab community is concentrated in parts of Yafo. Population densities in Tel Aviv, though high on the whole, are lower than those in many European cities, in part because the city’s buildings do not form continuous rows along the streets.

The north-south divide is also evident in the suburbs, which, although largely middle class, are still heterogeneous; these range from the small, wealthy suburb of Savyon to the poorer cities of Lod and Ramla, from the highly religious Jewish city of Bnei Brak to Arab centres, as well as areas populated largely by immigrants from the former Soviet Union. To the east and south, Tel Aviv blends into a continuous built-up area, including the cities of Ramat Gan, Givʿatayim, Bnei Brak, Bat Yam, and Holon. Major outer suburbs include Herzliyya and Netanya to the north, Petah Tikva and Modiʿin to the east, and Rishon LeẒiyyon and Ashdod to the south. Rural settlements in the vicinity of Tel Aviv, including cooperative agricultural settlements such as kibbutzim and moshavim, are also becoming increasingly suburbanized, and the expanding Tel Aviv metropolis continues to approach the fringe areas of the Jerusalem and Haifa metropolitan areas.

Economy

Tel Aviv forms the core of Israel’s postindustrial, globally oriented economy. Its dominance in Israel’s economic life is made clearly evident by the fact that, although only a small fraction of Israel’s population resides in Tel Aviv, almost one-sixth of all jobs in Israel are located in the city. Furthermore, some two-fifths of all the country’s jobs in banking, insurance, and finance—the city’s leading sectors—are located in Tel Aviv. Nearly all banks and insurance companies operating in the country are headquartered in the city, and Israel’s only stock exchange is located there as well.

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Greater Tel Aviv is a leading centre of retail and wholesale trade, and, though tourism is a significant sector, Tel Aviv is not Israel’s prime tourist destination. The manufacturing sector has declined because of suburbanization and dispersal to peripheral regions; however, Greater Tel Aviv has retained a role as a thriving, innovative, high-technology industrial centre of substantial global significance.

As Israel’s major transportation hub, Tel Aviv largely depends on motor vehicle transportation, including an extensive bus system. Commuters are increasingly served by a system of suburban trains, and plans for a light-rail system have progressed. Israel’s main international airport is located in Tel Aviv’s southeastern vicinity, and the important port of Ashdod is located on the southern edge of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area.

Attempts to promote the dispersal of population and industry toward peripheral regions and to curb the expansion of the Tel Aviv metropolis have had only limited effects. Some movement has occurred, but much of it has been little more than the spread of suburbanization into new rings of the expanding metropolitan area; the metropolitan region on the whole continues to be a magnet for leading economic activities, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

Government and society

The Tel Aviv metropolitan area includes about 70 local authorities, each of which is governed by a mayor and council elected for a five-year term. The metropolitan area lacks formal coordination among its local authorities, although limited collaboration exists, particularly the organization that oversees sewage disposal. Some of Israel’s most renowned hospitals are located in Greater Tel Aviv. The area is also home to several universities. Located in the northern part of the city is Tel Aviv University (founded 1953). Two other leading institutes of higher education in Greater Tel Aviv are Bar-Ilan University (founded 1953), a religious university in Ramat Gan, and the Weizmann Institute of Science (founded 1949) in Reḥovot. A large number of new colleges, many of them private, have been established in Greater Tel Aviv since the 1980s.

Cultural life

As Israel’s most prominent centre of culture and entertainment, Tel Aviv is home to most of the country’s theatres, including the Habima National Theatre, as well as the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the New Israeli Opera (housed in the Tel Aviv Performing Arts Centre), and most of Israel’s dance companies. More than one-third of all performances and exhibitions in Israel are held in Tel Aviv, and the city hosts three of Israel’s eight largest museums: the Eretz Israel (Land of Israel) Museum, with its diverse collections in archaeology, Judaica, ethnography, and material culture; the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, exhibiting Israeli as well as American and European works; and the Diaspora Museum, devoted to the history of the Jewish people in the Diaspora. Tel Aviv is also an important communications hub: the majority of Israel’s newspapers—including Haʾaretz (“The Land”), Maʿariv (“Evening Prayer”), and Yedioth Ahronoth (Yediʿot Aḥronot, “Latest News”)—and other periodicals are published in the city, and it is the location of most publishing houses, the armed forces broadcasting facilities, and radio and television studios.

Tel Aviv has several sporting arenas. Israel’s principal athletic stadium, the National Stadium, with a capacity of more than 40,000, is located in nearby Ramat Gan; the largest football (soccer) stadium in Tel Aviv is Bloomfield Stadium, which has a seating capacity of about 16,500. The country’s largest basketball arena is also in Tel Aviv and is host to Maccabi Tel Aviv, the dominant Israeli basketball team and winner of many national championships and a number of European titles. The city’s major football teams, Hapoel Tel Aviv and Maccabi Tel Aviv, as well as several other teams, usually play in Israel’s premier league.