Ashdod

Ashdod (Hebrew: אַשְׁדּוֹד; Arabic: اشدود, إسدود) is the sixth-largest city in Israel. Ashdod is Israel's largest port, since about 60% of the country's imported goods come through the city.

View of Ashdod.

Flag

coat of arms

Climate

Ashdod has a Mediterranean climate with hot summers, pleasant spring and fall, and cool, rainy winters. The humidity is usually high many times year round, and rain occurs mainly from November to March.

Climate data for Ashdod
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Average high °C (°F)	17.2 (63.0)	19.5 (63.5)	23.7 (67.5)	26.9 (76.3)	27.4 (81.3)	29.5 (85.1)	31.8 (87.4)	30.1 (88.0)	29.2 (86.4)	26.5 (82.2)	23.6 (74.5)	19.2 (66.6)	25.4 (76.8)
Average low °C (°F)	7.1 (46.6)	9.8 (46.4)	12.3 (48.7)	15.9 (53.4)	16.8 (58.6)	19.2 (64.4)	21.6 (69.1)	20.4 (70.5)	18.1 (68.2)	15.5 (63.5)	11.7 (55.6)	9.5 (49.6)	14.8 (57.9)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	127.9 (5.10)	98.6 (3.93)	61.4 (2.45)	17.8 (.71)	3.1 (.12)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	2.3 (.09)	29.2 (.76)	69.8 (2.78)	114.7 (4.57)	524.8 (20.51)
Source: Israel Central Bureau of Statistics[1][2]

Demographics

Year	Population [3]
1956	200
1961	4,600
1972	40,300
1983	66,700
1995	129,800
2005	200,600
2015	220,200

Ashdod had a population of about 220,000 in 2015, making it the sixth-largest city in Israel.^[4] The ratio of women to men is about 1.05 to 1.00. Also, 19.7% of the population was under the age of 10, 15.7% from age 10 to 19, 14.9% from 20 to 29, 19.1% from 30 to 44, 19.1% from 45 to 64, and 11.3% were 65 or older. The population of Ashdod is a lot younger than the Israeli average because there are a lot of young couples in the city.

Over 95% of Ashdod's population is Jewish, even though only about 30% follow their religion. The city is also home to the world's largest^[5] Karaite community, with about five thousand members.