The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

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Tackling the overpopulation problem is not only a national need but also a worldwide responsibility. Being the 14th most populous country worldwide, Egypt struggles with the complex interactions of history, culture, and demographics. On Tuesday, September 5th, the Egyptian government started acting against this complex challenge. A conference regarding the overpopulation challenges the country has been facing was held, hosting the Minister of Health and Population Khalid Abdel-Ghaffar, who launched the National Population and Development Strategy (2023-2030).

Challenges Faced 

During the congress, Abdel-Ghaffar stated that Egypt’s population increased by more than one and a half million citizens from last year, exceeding 105 million citizens. It is expected by the year 2050, the population will reach 142-157 million, according to the Head of Egypt’s National Population Council (NPC), Tarek Tawfik. Adding to this, the Minister of Planning, Hala El Said, highlighted that the country’s development and resources are hindered due to the rapid population growth. There was also evidence presented that the average income decreases as the population increases, leading to lowering the living quality of citizens.

More challenges revealed were the lack of reproductive health awareness in our country and the lack of educational aspects as well as cultural awareness. Amidst the congress, it was stressed that more investment should be put into education, health care, and population characteristics to improve the living quality of Egyptians, rather than infrastructure projects that are precisely made to contain the overpopulation happening in our streets.

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Approaches Taken

To tackle these challenges and offer a better living quality for all Egyptians, the government presented “The National Population Strategy”, which would aid in moderating such a crisis. This comprehensive strategy is structured around seven core pillars, encompassing aspects such as safeguarding reproductive rights, human capital investment, women empowerment, enhanced educational opportunities, communication and media for development, climate change and population dynamics, and effective population governance.

Notably, this strategic framework is in alignment with Egypt’s 2030 Sustainable Development Vision and the expansive National Project for the Development of the Egyptian Family (NPDEF), which extends beyond conventional family planning and healthcare. As part of NPDEF, Egypt introduced plans to incentivise married women to have no more than two children through an annual grant of EGP 1,000. Additionally, initiatives like the Osra, or family, program were introduced to educate young Egyptians about voluntary family planning and reproductive health, promoting healthy and sustainable child spacing. In 2020, the government launched the “two are enough” campaign, Etnein Kefaya, offering financial support to individuals who successfully engage in family planning efforts.

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Results Achieved

The health minister presented key indicators to assess the outcomes and influence of prior efforts aimed at addressing the population and development challenges.

• In 2021, the total fertility rate stood at 2.85 percent, declining significantly to 2.1 percent by 2023. Concurrently, the utilisation of family planning methods increased from 66.4 percent in 2021 to 75 percent in 2023.

• The rate of illiteracy among individuals aged 10 and above witnessed a substantial reduction from 25.8 percent in 2021 to 12.6 percent in 2023. Additionally, educational enrollment surged from 94 percent in 2021 to an impressive 98 percent in 2023.

• Positive trends also extended to the labour market, with the youth unemployment rate experiencing a notable decrease from 16.5 percent in 2021 to 12 percent in 2023. Simultaneously, the proportion of children engaged in the labour force decreased from 4.9 percent in 2021 to two percent in 2023, while the percentage of child marriages declined from 15.8 percent in 2021 to eight percent in 2023.