Egypt, the most populated nation in the Arab world, had its population expand at the lowest pace in decades in 2023—1.4%, according to the planning ministry.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt frequently emphasizes the need to control population growth, blaming the country’s budget and services for being overburdened by the country’s recent high birth rate.
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It is believed that 60% of the population lives below or near the poverty line in a nation plagued by a shortage of water, a dearth of employment possibilities, and congested hospitals and schools.
World Bank data from 1961 indicates that Egypt’s population growth peaked in 1984–85 at 2.8 percent, then fell to 1.9 percent in 2006 before increasing to 2.3 percent in 2014.
According to the data, it has progressively decreased since then, hitting 1.6 percent in 2022.
Sisi has started a number of massive projects that critics claim waste money and add to Egypt’s debt load, but he claims will create jobs and infrastructure for the country’s expanding population.
Egypt started a family-planning campaign called “Two Is Enough” in 2019 with the goal of questioning the customs of large families in rural areas.
