Egypt is the most populous country in the Middle East and the second-most populous on the African continent. Nearly 100% of the country's 78,887,007 (2006 est.) people live in three major regions of the country: Cairo and Alexandria and elsewhere along the banks of the Nile; throughout the Nile delta, which fans out north of Cairo; and along the Suez Canal. These regions are among the world's most densely populated, containing an average of over 3,820 persons per square mile (1,540 per km².), as compared to 181 persons per sq. mi. for the country as a whole.
Egypt has long been the cultural and informational centre of the Arab world, and Cairo is the regions largest publishing and broadcasting centre. ... The Culture of Egypt has five thousand years of recorded history. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... Politics of Egypt takes place in a framework of a semi-presidential republic, whereby the President of Egypt is de facto both head of state and head of government, and of a party system dominated by the National Democratic Party. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... A world map showing the continent of Africa. ... Cairos location in Egypt Coordinates: Governor Dr. Abdul Azim Wazir Area    - City 210 km²  - Metro 1,492 km² Population    - City (2005) 7,438,376  - Density 35,420/km²  - Urban 10,834,495  - Metro 15,200,000 Time zone EET (UTC+2) EEST (UTC+3) Cairo (Arabic: ‎ translit: ) comes from... Alexandria Modern Alexandria. ... The Nile (Arabic: ‎, translit: , Ancient Egyptian iteru) is a major north-flowing river in Africa, generally regarded as the longest river—though not the most voluminous—on Earth. ... Ships moored at El Ballah during transit The Suez Canal (Arabic: ‎, translit: ), is a large artificial maritime canal in Egypt west of the Sinai Peninsula. ...

Small communities spread throughout the desert regions of Egypt are clustered around oases and historic trade and transportation routes. The government has tried with mixed success to encourage migration to newly irrigated land reclaimed from the desert. However, the proportion of the population living in rural areas has continued to decrease as people move to the cities in search of employment and a higher standard of living. Erg Chebbi, Morocco In geography, a desert is a landscape form or region that receives very little precipitation. ... High-altitude aerial view of irrigation in the Heart of the Sahara ( ) Irrigation is the replacement or supplementation of rainfall with water from another source in order to grow crops or plants. ... The Standard of living refers to the quality and quantity of goods and services available to people and the way these services and goods are distributed within a population. ...

Overview

Egypt has endured as a unified state for more than 5,000 years, and archaeological findings show that primitive tribes lived along the Nile long before the dynastic history of the pharaohs began. In about 3150 BC, Egypt was united under a single ruler known as Mena, or Menes, who inaugurated the 30 pharaonic dynasties into which Egypt's ancient history is divided—the Old and Middle Kingdoms and the New Empire. The pyramids at Giza (near Cairo), which were built in the fourth dynasty, testify to the power of the pharaonic religion and state. The Great Pyramid, the tomb of Pharaoh Khufu (also known as Cheops), is the only surviving monument of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Ancient Egypt reached the peak of its power, wealth, and territorial extent in the period called the New Empire (1567-1085 BC). Archaeology, archeology, or archology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech/discourse) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains and environmental data, including architecture, artifacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ... General context: Ancient Egypt. ... Pharaoh is a title used to refer to any ruler, usually male, of the Egyptian kingdom in the pre-Christian, pre-Islamic period. ... Menes was an Egyptian pharaoh of the First dynasty, to some authors the founder of this dynasty, to others the Second. ... The Old Kingdom is the name commonly given to that period in the 3rd millennium BC when Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization complexity and achievement - this was the first of three so-called Kingdom periods, which mark the high points of civilization in the Nile Valley (the... The Middle Kingdom is a period in the history of ancient Egypt stretching from the establishment of the Eleventh Dynasty to the end of the Fourteenth Dynasty, roughly between 2030 BC and 1640 BC. The period comprises of 2 phases, the 11th Dynasty, which ruled from Thebes and the 12th... The New Kingdom is the period in ancient Egyptian history between the 16th century BCE and the 11th century BC, covering the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties of Egypt. ... The Giza Pyramids, part of the Giza Necropolis The Giza Necropolis (coordinates ) stands on the Giza Plateau, on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt. ... Cairos location in Egypt Coordinates: Governor Dr. Abdul Azim Wazir Area    - City 210 km²  - Metro 1,492 km² Population    - City (2005) 7,438,376  - Density 35,420/km²  - Urban 10,834,495  - Metro 15,200,000 Time zone EET (UTC+2) EEST (UTC+3) Cairo (Arabic: ‎ translit: ) comes from... The Fourth dynasty of Egypt was the second of the four dynasties considered forming the Old Kingdom. ... Great Pyramid of Giza from a 19th century stereopticon card photo. ... Khufu Protected by Khnum[1] Horus name Medjedu Nebty name Nebty-r-medjed Golden Horus Bikwy-nub Consort(s) Meritates, Henutsen, plus two other queens whose names are not known[2] Issues Djedefra, Kawab, Khafre, Djedefhor, Banefre, Khufukaef, Hetepheres II, Meresankh II, Khamerernebty[2] Father Sneferu Mother Hetepheres I Died... The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (from left to right, top to bottom): Great Pyramid of Giza, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Temple of Artemis, Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Mausoleum of Maussollos, Colossus of Rhodes and the Lighthouse of Alexandria. ... Khafres Pyramid (4th dynasty) and Great Sphinx of Giza (c. ...

The last native dynasty fell to the Persians in 341 BC, who in turn were successively replaced by Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Turks and British. Almost fully independent from Britain in 1922, Egypt acquired full sovereignty following World War II. The completion of the Aswan High Dam in 1971 and the resultant Lake Nasser have altered the time-honored place of the Nile River in the agriculture and ecology of Egypt. A rapidly growing population, limited arable land, and dependence on the Nile all continue to overtax resources and stress society. The government has struggled to ready the economy for the new millennium through economic reform and massive investment in communications and physical infrastructure. The Persians of Iran (officially named Persia by West until 1935 while still referred to as Persia by some) are an Iranian people who speak Persian (locally named Fârsi by native speakers) and often refer to themselves as ethnic Iranians as well. ... The Roman Empire is the name given to both the imperial domain developed by the city-state of Rome and also the corresponding phase of that civilization, characterized by an autocratic form of government. ... Byzantine Empire at its greatest extent c. ... The Arabs (Arabic: عرب ) are an ethnic group found throughout the Middle East and North Africa. ... Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead... Map of Egypt showing the location of Aswan and Lake Nasser. ... View of Lake Nasser from Abu Simbel Map showing the location of Lake Nasser Lake Nasser (Arabic: Buhayrat Nasir) is a vast artificial lake in southern Egypt and northern Sudan. ... There is also Nile, a death metal band from South Carolina, USA. The Nile in Egypt Length 6 695 km Elevation of the source 1 134 m Average discharge 2 830 m³/s Area watershed 3 400 000 km² Origin Africa Mouth the Mediterranean Basin countries Uganda - Sudan - Egypt The... A series of International Monetary Fund arrangements, coupled with massive external debt relief resulting from Egypts participation in the Gulf War coalition, helped Egypt improve its macroeconomic performance during the 1990s. ...

Population

Demographics of Egypt, Data of FAO, year 2005; number of inhabitants in thousands.

Egyptians are mainly descended from ancient Egyptian society, and the vast majority live in Egypt where they constitute the primary ethnic group at 97-98% (about 76.4 million) of the total population. The Egyptian people have spoken only languages from the Afro-Asiatic family throughout their history from Old Egyptian to modern Egyptian Arabic (Masri). Approximately 90% of the population is Muslim and 10% is Christian (9% Coptic, 1% other Christian). Image File history File links Egypt_demography. ... Image File history File links Egypt_demography. ... It has been suggested that FAOSTAT be merged into this article or section. ... Map showing the distribution of Afro-Asiatic languages The Afro-Asiatic languages are a language family of about 240 languages and 285 million people widespread throughout North Africa, East Africa, the Sahel, and Southwest Asia. ... Written records of the ancient Egyptian language have been dated from about 3200 BC. Egyptian is part of the Afro-Asiatic group of languages and is related to Berber and Semitic (languages such as Arabic, Amharic, Tigrinya and Hebrew). ... Egyptian Arabic (Marī, مصري) is part of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family, descended mainly from a medieval dialect of Arabic. ... Jesus Christ in a Coptic icon. ...

Ethnic minorities in Egypt include the Bedouin Arab tribes of the Sinai Peninsula and the eastern desert, the Berber-speaking community of the Siwa Oasis and the Nubian people clustered along the Nile in the southernmost part of Egypt. There are also sizable minorities of Beja and Dom. The country was host to many different communities during the colonial period, including Greeks, Italians, Syrians, Jews and Armenians, though most either left or were compelled to leave after a slew of political developments swept the country in the 1950s. The country still hosts some 90,000 refugees and asylum seekers, mostly Palestinians and Sudanese. A Bedouin man resting on a hillside at Mount Sinai Bedouin, derived from the Arabic (‎), a generic name for a desert-dweller, is a term generally applied to Arab nomadic pastoralist groups, who are found throughout most of the desert belt extending from the Atlantic coast of the Sahara via... Sinai Peninsula, Gulf of Suez (west), Gulf of Aqaba (east) from Space Shuttle STS-40 For other uses of the word Sinai, please see: Sinai (disambiguation). ... The Berber languages (or Tamazight) are a group of closely related languages mainly spoken in Morocco and Algeria. ... The Siwis are a Berber ethnic group living in the Siwa Oasis. ... The Siwa Oasis is an oasis in Egypt, located between the Qattara Depression and the Egyptian Sand Sea in the Libyan Desert. ... Today Nubia is the region in the south of Egypt, along the Nile and in northern Sudan, but in ancient times it was an independent kingdom. ... BEJA PEOPLE The Beja tribes are the indigenous inhabitants of the Eastern Region of the Sudan. ... The Dom (or Domi) of the Middle East are part of the larger Roma (or Gypsies) ethnic group. ... In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a Palestinian refugee is a refugee from Palestine created by the Palestinian Exodus, which Palestinians call the Nakba (نكبة, meaning disaster). History Most of the refugees had already fled by the time the neighboring Arab states intervened on the side of Palestinians...

Education

The literacy rate in modern Egyptian society is about 57% of the adult population. Education is free through university and compulsory from ages six through 15. Rates for primary and secondary education have strengthened in recent years. Ninety-three percent of children enter primary school and about one-quarter drop out after the sixth year; in 1994-95, 87% entered primary school and about half dropped out after the sixth year. There are 20,000 primary and secondary schools with some 10 million students, 13 major universities with more than 500,000 students, and 67 teacher colleges. Major universities include Cairo University (100,000 students), Alexandria University, and the 1,000-year-old Al-Azhar University, one of the world's major centers of Islamic learning. [[Image:University_Of_Cairo. ... Alexandria University (Arabic: جامعة الإسكندرية ) is a university in Alexandria, Egypt. ... Al-Azhar University in Cairo Egypt Al-Azhar University (Arabic: الأزهر الشريف; al-Azhar al-Shareef, the Noble al-Azhar), is connected to the mosque in Cairo named to honor Fatima Az-Zahraa, the daughter of the prophet Muhammad, from whom the Fatimid Dynasty claimed descent. ...

Demographic data from the CIA World Factbook

Population: 78,887,007 (July 2006 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 32.6% (male 13,172,641; female 12,548,346)
15-64 years: 62.9% (male 25,102,754; female 24,519,698)
65 years and over: 4.5% (male 1,510,280; female 2,033,288) (2006 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.75% (2006 est.)

Birth rate: 22.94 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Death rate: 5.23 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Net migration rate: -0.21 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.74 male(s)/female
total population: 1.02 male(s)/female (2006 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 31.33 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 71.29 years
male: 68.77 years
female: 73.93 years (2006 est.)

Total fertility rate: 2.83 children born/woman (2006 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Egyptian(s)
adjective: Egyptian

Ethnic groups: Egyptians 97%, Nubians, Berbers, Bedouin Arabs, Beja, Dom 2%, European and other 1% The Nubians are an ethnic group in Egypt and Sudan. ... The Siwis are a Berber ethnic group living in the Siwa Oasis. ... A Bedouin man resting on a hillside at Mount Sinai Bedouin, derived from the Arabic (‎), a generic name for a desert-dweller, is a term generally applied to Arab nomadic pastoralist groups, who are found throughout most of the desert belt extending from the Atlantic coast of the Sahara via... The Arabs (Arabic: عرب ) are an ethnic group found throughout the Middle East and North Africa. ... BEJA PEOPLE The Beja tribes are the indigenous inhabitants of the Eastern Region of the Sudan. ... The Dom (or Domi) of the Middle East are part of the larger Roma (or Gypsies) ethnic group. ...

Religions: Muslim (mostly Sunni) 90%, Coptic Christian and other 10% Al-Azhar Islamic university in Cairo Egypt, connected to a mosque built around 971, is the oldest continuously operating university in the world. ... Sunni Muslims are the largest denomination of Islam. ... Jesus Christ in a Coptic icon. ...

Languages: Arabic (official), Masri (national), Egyptian (inc. Coptic). English and French widely understood by educated classes Arabic ( or just ), is the largest member of the family of Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family (classification: South Central Semitic) and is closely related to Hebrew, Amharic, and Aramaic. ... Egyptian Arabic (Marī, مصري) is part of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family, descended mainly from a medieval dialect of Arabic. ... Coptic is the most recent phase of ancient Egyptian. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 57.7%
male: 68.3%
female: 46.9% (2003 est.)

References

• This article contains material from the CIA World Factbook (2006 edition) which, as a US government publication, is in the public domain.
• This article contains material from the US Department of State's Background Notes which, as a US government publication, is in the public domain.

World Factbook 2004 cover The World Factbook is an annual publication by the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States with basic almanac-style information about the various countries of the world. ... The Background Notes series is a collection of works by the United States Department of State. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...

See also

• Egypt
• Egyptians
• List of cities in Egypt