Map of Egypt | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide19891990199119921993199419951996199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023 | More stats

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Background: One of the four great ancient civilizations, Egypt, ruled by powerful pharaohs, bequeathed to Western civilization numerous advances in technology, science, and the arts. For the last two millennia, however, Egypt has served a series of foreign masters_Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Turks, and the British. Formal independence came in 1922, and the remnants of British control ended after World War II. The completion of the Aswan High Dam in 1981 altered the time-honored place of the Nile River in the agriculture and ecology of Egypt. A rapidly growing population will stress Egyptian society and resources as it enters the new millenium.


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Location

Geographic coordinates

Map reference

Area
Total: 1,001,450 km²
Land: 995,450 km²
Comparative: slightly more than three times the size of New Mexico

Land boundaries: 2,689 km; Gaza Strip 11 km, Israel 255 km, Libya 1,150 km, Sudan 1,273 km

Coastline: 2,450 km

Maritime claims
Contiguous zone: 24 nm
Continental shelf: 200 m (depth) or to depth of exploitation
Exclusive economic zone: undefined
Territorial sea: 12 nm
Disputes: Administrative boundary with Sudan does not coincide with international boundary

Climate: desert; hot, dry summers with moderate winters

Terrain: vast desert plateau interrupted by Nile valley and delta

Elevation

Natural resources: crude oil, natural gas, iron ore, phosphates, manganese, limestone, gypsum, talc, asbestos, lead, zinc

Land use: arable land: 3%; permanent crops: 2%; meadows and pastures 0%; forest and woodland NEGL%; other 95%; includes irrigated 5%

Irrigated land

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards

Geography


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Population: 56,368,950 (July 1992), growth rate 2.3% (1992)

Nationality: noun - Egyptian(s; adjective - Egyptian

Ethnic groups:

Languages: Arabic (official; English and French widely understood by educated classes

Religions:

Demographic profile

Age structure

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate

Birth rate: 33 births/1000 population (1992)

Death rate: 9 deaths/1000 population (1992)

Net migration rate: NEGL migrants/1000 population (1992)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: Nile is only perennial water source; increasing soil salinization below Aswan High Dam; hot, driving windstorm called khamsin occurs in spring; water pollution; desertification
Current issues note: controls Sinai Peninsula, only land bridge between Africa and remainder of Eastern Hemisphere; controls Suez Canal, shortest sea link between Indian Ocean and Mediterranean; size and juxtaposition to Israel establish its major role in Middle Eastern geopolitics

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 80 deaths/1000 live births (1992)

Life expectancy at birth: 58 years male, 62 years female (1992)

Total fertility rate: 4.4 children born/woman (1992)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy: 48% (male 63%, female 34%) age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.)

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name
Conventional long form: Arab Republic of Egypt

Government type: republic

Capital: Cairo

Administrative divisions:

Dependent areas

Independence: 28 February 1922 (from UK; formerly United Arab Republic

National holiday: Anniversary of the Revolution, 23 July (1952)

Constitution: 11 September 1971

Legal system: based on English common law, Islamic law, and Napoleonic codes; judicial review by Supreme Court and Council of State (oversees validity of administrative decisions; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: universal and compulsory at age 18
Advisory Council: last held 8 June 1989 (next to be held June 1995); results - NDP 100%; seats - (258 total, 172 elected) NDP 172
People's Assembly: last held 29 November 1990 (next to be held November 1995); results - NDP 78.4%, NPUG 1.4%, independents 18.7%; seats - (437 total, 444 elected) - including NDP 348, NPUG 6, independents 83; note - most opposition parties boycotted
President: last held 5 October 1987 (next to be held October 1993); results - President Hosni MUBARAK was reelected
Communists: about 500 party members

Executive branch: president, prime minister, Cabinet

Legislative branch: unicameral People's Assembly (Majlis al-Cha'b; note - there is an Advisory Council (Majlis al-Shura) that functions in a consultative role

Judicial branch: Supreme Constitutional Court

Political parties and leaders

International organization participation:
Diplomatic representation:
US:

Diplomatic representation

Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and black with the national emblem (a shield superimposed on a golden eagle facing the hoist side above a scroll bearing the name of the country in Arabic) centered in the white band; similar to the flag of Yemen, which has a plain white band; also similar to the flag of Syria that has two green stars and to the flag of Iraq, which has three green stars (plus an Arabic inscription) in a horizontal line centered in the white band

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


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Economy overview:
GDP: exchange rate conversion - $39.2 billion, per capita $720; real growth rate 2% (1991 est.)

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate

Real gdp per capita ppp

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products: accounts for 20% of GDP and employs more than one-third of labor force; dependent on irrigation water from the Nile; world's sixth-largest cotton exporter; other crops produced include rice, corn, wheat, beans, fruit, vegetables; not self-sufficient in food; livestock - cattle, water buffalo, sheep, and goats; annual fish catch about 140,000 metric tons

Industries: textiles, food processing, tourism, chemicals, petroleum, construction, cement, metals

Industrial production growth rate:

Labor force: 15,000,000 (1989 est.); government, public sector enterprises, and armed forces 36%; agriculture 34%; privately owned service and manufacturing enterprises 20% (1984); shortage of skilled labor; 2,500,000 Egyptians work abroad, mostly in Iraq and the Gulf Arab states (1988 est.)
Organized labor: 2,500,000 (est.)

Unemployment rate: 15% (1991 est.)

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget: revenues $9.4 billion; expenditures $15.9 billion, including capital expenditures of $6 billion (FY90 est.)

Public debt

Taxes and other revenues

Revenue

Fiscal year: 1 July - 30 June

Current account balance

Inflation rate consumer prices

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares

Current account balance

Exports: $4.5 billion (f.o.b., 1991 est.)
Commodoties: crude oil and petroleum products, cotton yarn, raw cotton, textiles, metal products, chemicals
Partners: EC, Eastern Europe, US, Japan

Imports: $11.7 billion (f.o.b., 1991 est.)
Commodoties: machinery and equipment, foods, fertilizers, wood products, durable consumer goods, capital goods
Partners: EC, US, Japan, Eastern Europe

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: Egyptian pounds (#E) per US$1 - 3.3310 (January 1992), 2.7072 (1990), 2.5171 (1989), 2.2233 (1988), 1.5183 (1987)


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Electricity access

Electricity production: 13,500,000 kW capacity; 45,000 million kWh produced, 820 kWh per capita (1991)

Electricity consumption

Electricity exports

Electricity imports

Electricity installed generating capacity

Electricity transmission distribution losses

Electricity generation sources

Petroleum

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones fixed lines

Telephones mobile cellular

Telephone system

Broadcast media

Internet country code

Internet users

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Percent of gdp:

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports:

Airports with paved runways

Airports with unpaved runways

Heliports

Pipelines: crude oil 1,171 km; petroleum products 596 km; natural gas 460 km

Railways

Roadways

Waterways:

Merchant marine:
Civil air: 50 major transport aircraft

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs