Southern District of Israel

The Southern District (Hebrew: מחוז הדרום‎, Mehoz HaDarom; Arabic: لواء الجنوب‎) is one of Israel's six administrative districts, and is the largest in terms of land area as well as the most sparsely populated. It covers most of the Negev desert, as well as the Arabah valley. The population of the Southern District is 1,002,400. It is 86% Jewish and 14% Arab (mostly Muslim). The district capital is Beersheba, whilst the largest city is Ashdod. Beersheba's dormitory towns of Omer, Meitar, and Lehavim are all relatively affluent, whilst the development towns (including Sderot, Netivot, and Ofakim) and the seven Bedouin cities are lower on the socio-economic scale.