Egypt Location:
Physical. Egypt is located in Northern Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Red Sea and the Gaza Strip to the east, Sudan to the south, and Libya to the west. It covers an area about three times the size of New Mexico. Egypt is a vast desert plateau interrupted by the Nile valley and delta. The climate is reflective of a desert with hot, dry summers and moderate winters. Some natural resources include petroleum, iron ore, gypsum, phosphates, lead, limestone, and manganese.
Egypt Geography:
Geography
Area: 386,258 square miles
Capital: Cairo (pop 6,800,000)
Environmental concerns: loss of agricultural land; increasing soil salinization; desertification; oil pollution threatening coral reefs and marine habitats; other water pollution; rapid population growth
Geographical features: a vast desert plateau interrupted by the Nile Valley and Delta
Climate: desert with dry, hot summers and moderate winters
Egypt People:
People. More than 70,700,000 people live in Egypt. They recognize Arabic as the official language while French and English remain widely understood by the educated classes. Ethnically, the people are composed of Eastern Hamitic stock (Egyptians, Bedouins, and Berbers 99%). The religious make-up of the country is as follows: Muslim (mostly Sunni 94%) and Coptic Christian (6%).
70,712,345 people; Eastern Hamitic including Egyptian, Bedouin, Arab, Nubian (99%)
Annual growth rate: 1.66%
Major languages are Arabic and English
Religions: Muslim, mostly Sunni (94%); Coptic Christian (6%)
Egypt Government:
Government. President Mohammed Hosni Mubarak came to power when Islamic fundamentalists killed Anwar Sadat in 1981. He was the Air Force commander and designer of Egypt’s 1973 success against Israel. Mubarak has taken severe steps to control Islamic fundamentalists and their attacks by extending the state of emergency. His repressive measures have resulted in 1200 deaths by police and militants in the 1990's and 16,000 jailed without charges. Following Sadat’s death Mubarak moved the country back toward the Arab states, which had been alienated by its peace treaty with Israel
Egypt became a republic on July 23, 1952; it gained independence from British rule on February 28, 1922
President Mohammed Hosni Mubarak is the head of state
5 major political parties
Universal and compulsory suffrage at 18
Egypt Economy:
Economy. Egypt’s economy is unstable due to rapid demographic growth and limited arable land (96% of all the land is desert). Its high level of education has resulted in a net export of its skilled labor to other Arab countries, but has also contributed to an inefficient government bureaucracy. Agriculture accounts for almost one-third of national income. However, as a result of rapid population growth, rural to urban migration, and Sadat’s open door policy for imports, Egypt imports 60% of its food. Important oil and natural gas deposits strengthen the industrial sector of the economy.
Egypt’s GDP growth rate, which had held steady at 4-5 percent a year, has been hard hit by the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US and the invasion of Iraq. The tourist industry, which normally provides 12% of revenues, has been especially affected. In March 2004, the government banned imports of all but essential goods for a period of three months to conserve dwindling foreign exchange.
One example of how globalization has affected the poor in Egypt is that in January 2003, the government stopped renewing the license of the Zabbaleen, a 60,000-member Coptic community that traditionally collected one third of the 10,000 daily tons of garbage in Cairo. Foreign companies will make future collection, leaving these people without employment.
In March 2004, the government made an agreement to set up Qualifying Industrial Zones where manufacturers, principally of textiles, may export goods duty-free to the US, provided that 35% of the goods are locally produced and a portion is reserved for Israeli products. This should increase the percentage of exports to the US significantly.
Currency: Egyptian pounds
Per capita GDP: $3,700
GDP: $ 258 billion
GDP growth rate: 2.5%
Inflation rate: 2.3%
Labor force: 32% agriculture; 17% industry; 51% services
Egypt Communication:
Communication and transportation
3,972,000 main telephone lines
600,000 Internet users
39,744 miles of highway (much barely usable)
2,973 miles of railroad
92 airfields
1,703,000 motor vehicles
Egypt More Information:
www.sis.gov.eg | 
