Egypt to conduct family planning survey amid population explosion

Egypt will conduct a major family planning survey this year, following previous studies in 2009 and 2014, as it struggles with overpopulation.

The study by the US non-profit group Population Council, in collaboration with the Egyptian government, will survey 17,000 young people starting in February on attitudes towards a wide range of topics related to population trends.

In 2022, Egypt’s population grew by nearly 1.6 million people to reach a total of about 104.4 million at the start of this year, according to the country’s statistics agency Capmas. A baby was born every 14.4 seconds on average.

Although Egypt has managed to bring down its fertility rate from 3.5 births per woman in 2014 to 2.8 in 2021, the population continues to grow at a pace that presents significant challenges to social stability and the economy.

“The efforts are paying off, but the important thing is to keep going with these efforts,” said Dr Nahla Abdel Tawab, director of the Population Council’s Egypt office.

“We will continue to increase because we have a large base of women in their reproductive years, so those women will have to have children.”