Egypt’s population nears 100 million, putting pressure on resources and jobs

CAIRO: Sitting in her sister’s apartment on a noisy Cairo street, Rania Sayed one day hopes to leave a city that is becoming more congested as Egypt’s population ticks up to 100 million, a milestone it will pass next month.

Like many others, she wants to move to one of the new satellite settlements being built for a booming population whose rapid growth President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi has identified as one of Egypt’s biggest challenges alongside terrorism.

“I want to move them (her two children) to a place where people have better mentalities, where there is education,” said the 36-year-old resident of the Ard Al Lewa district, where rows of apartment blocks rise above dusty, unpaved streets.

“Unfortunately, things are very difficult in places like this...so I hope to be able to live to a good social standard.”Egypt’s 100 millionth person is expected to be clocked up on the official statistics agency’s digital counter in central Cairo in February.

The newborn will join a nation where six people in ten are under 29 years old, said Aleksandar Bodiroza, representative of the U.N. populations fund in Egypt.Many Arab and African countries are struggling with rising populations. But in Egypt the pressures are acute, because 97% of its people live on just 8% of its territory, crowded along the Nile, Bodiroza added.

Creating new space for housing, schools and hospitals is a priority as Egypt’s population grows by 2.5 million people a year, he said. In inhabited areas, 1,400 people are packed into every square kilometer.

The biggest problem is jobs. The workforce will reach 80 million within 10 years, the World Bank says. But to create enough jobs, annual economic growth needs to be at least triple the population growth rate, said Radwa El-Swaify, head of research at Pharos, a Cairo financial firm.