Egypt said Saturday its population stands at nearly 95 million, in addition to an estimated 9.4 million who live abroad, according to the latest census figures.<\/p>\n
The figures were announced during a televised ceremony in which the findings of the country\u2019s latest census were read by Abu-Bakr al-Gindy, head of the state\u2019s Statistics Bureau.<\/p>\n
The figure for Egypt\u2019s population \u2014 94,798,827 million as of April \u2014 is an increase of 22 million since 2006, when the latest census was held. The country\u2019s population stood at 38.3 million in 1986 and 59.3 million 10 years later.<\/p>\n
Al-Gindi said Egyptians aged between 15 and 34 accounted for 34.8 percent of the population.<\/p>\n
Egypt\u2019s capital, Cairo, and its twin province of Giza have a combined population of 18.1 million.<\/p>\n
Egypt, the most populous Arab nation, has been struggling to check its population growth \u2014 about 2 million a year \u2014 to allow its ambitious economic reforms to make a difference to the country\u2019s poor majority. The reforms, introduced gradually over the past three years, included the floatation of the currency, lifting state subsidies on fuel, raising utility charges and introducing a value added tax.<\/p>\n
The economy, battered by years of turmoil following the 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak, has started showing signs of recovery, although that has yet to impact on the daily grind most Egyptians endure to make ends meet in the face of 30 percent inflation.<\/p>\n
In a report released this weekend, the central bank forecasts GDP growth of five percent in the current 2017-18 fiscal year, which began July 1. It says GDP growth was expected to reach 6.5 percent by the year 2020.<\/p>\n
The report also put Egypt\u2019s foreign debt at $79 billion by June this year, a jump of $23.2 billion over the figure 12 months earlier. The increase, the bank said, should give no reason for alarm.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe foreign debt remains within safe boundaries as per international criteria,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Egypt said Saturday its population stands at nearly 95 million, in addition to an estimated 9.4 million who live abroad, according to the latest census figures. The figures were announced during a televised ceremony in which the findings of the country\u2019s latest census were read by Abu-Bakr al-Gindy, head of the state\u2019s Statistics Bureau. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":40521,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7863],"tags":[23009],"class_list":["post-40520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-section","tag-egypts-population"],"yoast_head":"\n