Editing Negev (section)

==Demography==
With effect from 2010, the Negev was home to some 630,000 people, or 8.2% of [[Israel]]'s population, even though it comprises over 55% of the country's area. 470,000 Negev residents (75% of the population) are [[Jews]], while 160,000 or 25% are Bedouin.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3420595,00.html |title=A Bedouin welcome – Israel Travel, Ynetnews |newspaper=Ynetnews |publisher=Ynetnews.com |date=1995-06-20 |access-date=2011-10-09 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629094356/http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3420595,00.html |archive-date=2011-06-29 |last1=Leviev |first1=Tami }}</ref> Of the Bedouin population (a demographic with a semi-nomadic tradition), 50% live in [[Unrecognized Bedouin villages in Israel|unrecognized villages]], and 50% live in towns built for them by the Israeli government between the 1960s and 1980s; the largest of these is [[Rahat]].
[[File:PikiWiki Israel 43466 Rahat.jpg|thumb|[[Rahat]], the largest Bedouin city in the Negev]]

The population of the Negev is expected to reach 1.2 million by 2025.{{citation needed|date=October 2015}} It was projected that the [[Beersheba]] metropolitan area would reach a population of 1 million by 2020, and [[Arad, Israel|Arad]], [[Yeruham]], and [[Dimona]] would triple in size by 2025.<ref>{{cite web |last=Udasin |first=Sharon |url=http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=248711 |title='1.2 million residents in the Negev by 2025' {{pipe}} JPost {{pipe}} Israel News |date=21 May 2012 |publisher=JPost |access-date=2014-01-19 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120930063722/http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=248711 |archive-date=2012-09-30 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.calcalist.co.il/real_estate/articles/0,7340,L-3412128,00.html |title=תוכנית באר שבע אושרה; המטרה – מיליון תושבים עד שנת 2020 |publisher=Calcalist.co.il |date=1995-06-20 |access-date=2014-01-19 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140203030548/http://www.calcalist.co.il/real_estate/articles/0,7340,L-3412128,00.html |archive-date=2014-02-03 }}</ref>