Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Egyptian born every 23.4 seconds | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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CAIRO (AFP) -An Egyptian is born every 23.4 seconds, raising the country’s population to 73.6 million since last year, newspapers reported, citing the National Centre for Mobilisation and Statistics.

The census conducted in January includes 2.3 millions Egyptians living abroad, said the centre’s president Abu Bakr al-Gundi.

In the last population survey carried out in January 2005, Egypt’s population stood at 71.89 million, including two million citizens in foreign countries.

Men make up 51 percent of the population, with an average life span of 69 years, while women, who account for 48.8 percent of the nation, are expected to live an average of 73 years, Gundi said.

Egypt’s population remains largely young, with 37.7 percent of its citizens under 15 while another 40.8 percent are between the ages of 15 and 40.

Cairo is the most concentrated area in the country, where 11.1 percent of Egyptians live, compared to 0.1 percent for the southern Sinai peninsula.

The population has increased at a rate of 1.3 million people a year since 2000.

President Hosni Mubarak has regularly spoken out against the rising birth rate as a huge obstacle to development.