Sisi attends conference to announce 2017 census

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi attended Saturday a conference held by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) to announce the results of the 2017 census.

Prime Minister Sherif Ismail and House of Representatives Speaker Ali Abdel Aal were present at the conference along with a galaxy of ministers, governors and senior officials.

The conference was also attended by a number of Arab and international organizations.

President Sisi posed for a photo op with CAPMAS Head Abu Bakr el Gendy, Minister of Planning Hala El Saeed and employees who took part in preparing the census.

Conducted every 10 years, this year's census is the first electronic one. 
The 2017 census is the first to be conducted electronically throughout Egypt's history of 14 censuses since the earliest census which was conducted in 1897, Planning Minister Hala el Saeed said.

Saeed highlighted the high value of the census information and their role in supporting decision makers.

She described the census as Egypt's hope and the backbone of development policies in the upcoming decade.

Unlike the previous censuses that were based on conventional ways of data collection, the 2017 census depended on the new technologies like the internet to collect the population data, the minister went on to say.
The 2017 electronic census represents a quantum leap in Egypt's census, minister Saeed said, adding that the census data have been collected over two months instead of two years required by the conventional method.

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi's visit to the CAPMAS last April to follow up the progress of the census and register his personal data has given an impetus to the census process, Saeed noted.

She added that over 40,000 youths took part in the data collection process after receiving high-quality training. 
A documentary highlighting the history of statistics and census in Egypt, since the establishment of the CAPMAS in 1887 till 2017, was featured during the conference.

Addressing the conference, CAPMAS Head Abu Bakr el Gendy said that CAPMAS didn't spare any effort in conducting the 2017 inclusive census.

He thanked all those who rendered the census project success.

Gendy, meanwhile, hailed efforts of Prime Minister Sherif Ismail, ex-planning minister Ashraf el Araby and the Ministry of Interior in easing the mission of the CAPMAS.

The CAPMAS head also extended thanks to the sisterly and friendly nations that offered technical support for conducting the census. 
Egypt's population stood at 94.798,827 million citizens living in Egypt in April 2017, while the population of Egyptian expatriates hit 9.4 million, CAPMAS Head Abu Bakr el Gendy said.

The total population of Egyptians, both living in Egypt and abroad, hit 104.2 citizens, Gendy said, adding that one in every 10 Egyptians is living abroad.

Over the past century, Egypt's population growth has witnessed three phases with a notable growth reported in the second phase which extended from 1920s till 2000, CAPMAS head pointed out.

Since 2000, the population growth became slower, yet, the rate is still fast.

In 1986, Egypt's population stood at 48.3 million, while in 2006 it reached 72.8 million citizens with an increase of 35.5 million. 

On the course of 30 years, Egypt's population between 1986 and 2016 has increased by 96.5 percent, Gendy noted. Throughout the last 10 years, the population recorded a growth of 22 million.

The number of Egyptian families reached 23.5 million families, compared with 9.7 million families in 1986, 12.7 million in 1996 and 17.3 million in 2006.

Within 30 years the number of families increased by 13.7 million, in 20 years by 10.8 million and to 6.2 million in 10 years.

Egypt is ranked the 13th among World's population, Gendy said, stating that the population of the coastal cities represents one third of the total population with nearly 29.5 million living there.

The coastal cities are followed by rural areas which are home for about 24.5 million citizens.

The comparison between the censuses of 2006 and 2017 shows that Giza, whose population increased to 2.8 million, is the governorate with the highest population growth rates.

Giza is followed by Sharqia, Qalyubia, Cairo then Dakahlia. 

The age group between 15- 24 years old represents 18.2 percent of the whole population, while youths between 15-34 account for about 34.5 percent, Gendy added. 
The number of illiterate people in Egypt has reached 18.4 percent, compared with 25 percent recorded by the previous census, said CAPMAS Head Abu Bakr el Gendy.

Up to 5.7 million among the age group between 10-34 are illiterate with a percentage of 13.5 percent.

Education dropout rates hit 28.8 million citizens, 12.4 million of them in Upper Egypt and 12 million in coastal areas, Gendy pointed out.

He added that the number of married Egyptians reached 68 percent, while the unmarried recorded 24 percent.

The number of child brides, under 18 years old, reached 40 percent with a total of 118 child marriage cases.

People with disabilities make about 10.7 percent of the total population, Gendy stated.

More than half of the Egyptians are covered by health insurance, 93.3 percent of them have government insurance while 5.8 percent have private one.

CAPMAS head added that about two thirds of the Egyptians can use technology.

With 16.2 million buildings, the number of units inside buildings stand at 43.2 million, Gendy said, noting that buildings are mostly residential with only 5.1 percent used as workplaces.

Source: MENA