Testing the Turning-point Hypothesis in City-size Distribution: The Israeli Situation Re-examined

City-size distribution provides a tool for an overall inspection of the trends of population concentration or dispersion throughout systems of cities. Changes in city-size distribution have been related to economic development. In this respect, Israel has been identified as an anomalous country wherein population dispersal has supposedly started at a relatively low stage of economic development. This study re-examines city-size distribution in Israel in selected years between 1948 and 1995, using expanded rank-size distribution functions. Unlike most previous studies, this analysis is carried out using populations of metropolitan areas. Utilising this definition, it has been found that population continued to concentrate at least to the end of the 1980s and at a much higher economic level than anticipated by previous studies. There are indications that distribution of population in the urban system of Israel remained more or less stable during the last five decades.