percent annually, while at the same time absorbing several mass immigrations, building a modern economy, fighting four wars and maintaining security. This 'economic miracle' is ascribed largely to the use made of economic aid received over the years, enabling mass capital investment in means of production, and to the country's success in rapidly absorbing immigrants and involving them in productive settings. Between 1973 and 1979 the growth rate decreased (as in most industrialized countries, partly due to the oil crises of 1973/4 and 1979/80) to a yearly average of 3.8 percent and, in the 1980s, it dwindled to 3.1 percent. In 1990-96 it averaged 6 percent. In 1997 the total GDP grew by 1.9%, to $98.5 billion ($16,950 per capita), a 25-fold real increase since 1950.http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH00m60Economic Achievementsby Moshe Felber The achievements of the Israeli economy in the country's first 50 years are no less impressive or fascinating than those in any other area of Israeli history. These achievements - especially those in the early years of the state - have amazed economic experts worldwide. From the very beginning, the country faced awesome challenges. The fledgling country found itself in a brutal war of existence and, at the same time, hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Holocaust in Europe and from persecution in Arab lands were knocking at the door of the newborn state, which did not even have enough tents to house them, let alone food to feed them. These challenges were enough to crush economies larger and stronger than that of Israel, which then was a country with a population of about 650,000 people living in an area of less than 8000 square miles (nearly 21,000 km2), most of it desert and rocky mountains. Looking back, it seems that the history of the Israeli economy - like that of Israel, in general - has been a story of recurring dangers and crises threatening to destroy it. The economy's succe...
