Land use: arable land 3%; permanent crops 2%; meadows and pastures
0%; forest and woodland NEGL%; other 95%; includes irrigated 5%
Environment: Nile is only perennial water source; increasing soil
salinization below Aswan High Dam; hot, driving windstorm called khamsin
occurs in spring; water pollution; desertification
Note: controls Sinai Peninsula, only land bridge between Africa
and remainder of Eastern Hemisphere; controls Suez Canal, shortest sea
link between Indian Ocean and Mediterranean; size and juxtaposition to
Israel establish its major role in Middle Eastern geopolitics
PEOPLE
Population: 54,451,588 (July 1991), growth rate 2.3% (1991)
Birth rate: 33 births/1,000 population (1991)
Death rate: 10 deaths/1,000 population (1991)
Net migration rate: NEGL migrants/1,000 population (1991)
Infant mortality rate: 82 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)
Life expectancy at birth: 60 years male, 61 years female (1991)
Total fertility rate: 4.5 children born/woman (1991)
Religion: (official estimate) Muslim (mostly Sunni) 94%;
Coptic Christian and other 6%
Language: Arabic (official); English and French widely understood
by educated classes
Literacy: 48% (male 63%, female 34%) age 15 and over can
read and write (1990 est.)
Labor force: 15,000,000 (1989 est.); government, public sector
enterprises, and armed forces 36%; agriculture 34%; privately owned
service and manufacturing enterprises 20% (1984); shortage of skilled
labor; 2,500,000 Egyptians work abroad, mostly in Iraq and the Gulf Arab
states (1988 est.)
Organized labor: 2,500,000 (est.)
GOVERNMENT
Long-form name: Arab Republic of Egypt
Type: republic
Capital: Cairo
Administrative divisions: 24 governorates (muhafazat,
singular--muhafazah); Ad Daqahliyah, Al Bahr al Ahmar,
Al Buhayrah, Al Fayyum, Al Gharbiyah, Al Iskandariyah,
Al Ismailiyah, Al Jizah, Al Minufiyah, Al Minya,
Al Qahirah, Al Qalyubiyah, Al Wadi al Jadid, Ash
Sharqiyah, As Suways, Aswan, Asyut, Bani Suwayf, Bur
Said, Dumyat, Janub Sina, Matruh,
Shamal Sina, Suhaj
Independence: 28 February 1922 (from UK); formerly United Arab
Republic
Constitution: 11 September 1971
Legal system: based on English common law, Islamic law, and
Napoleonic codes; judicial review by Supreme Court and Council of State
(oversees validity of administrative decisions); accepts compulsory ICJ
jurisdiction, with reservations
National holiday: Anniversary of the Revolution, 23 July (1952)
Executive branch: president, prime minister, Cabinet
Legislative branch: unicameral People's Assembly (Majlis
al-Chaab); note--there is an Advisory Council (Majlis al-Shura) that
functions in a consultative role
Judicial branch: Supreme Constitutional Court
Leaders:
Chief of State--President Mohammed Hosni MUBARAK (was made acting
President on 6 October 1981 upon the assassination of President Sadat and
sworn in as President on 14 October 1981);
Head of Government--Prime Minister Atef Mohammed Najib SEDKY
(since 12 November 1986)
Political parties and leaders: formation of political parties must
be approved by government;
National Democratic Party (NDP), President Mohammed Hosni MUBARAK,
leader, is the dominant party;
legal opposition parties are
Socialist Liberal Party (SLP), Kamal MURAD;
Socialist Labor Party, Ibrahim SHUKRI;
National Progressive Unionist Grouping (NPUG), Khalid MUHYI-AL-DIN;
Umma Party, Ahmad al-SABAHI;
New Wafd Party (NWP), Fuad SIRAJ AL-DIN;
Misr al-Fatah Party (Young Egypt Party), Ali al-Din SALIH;
Democratic Unionist Party, Muhammad Abd al-Mun'im TURK;
The Greens Party, Hasan RAJAB
Suffrage: universal and compulsory at age 18
Elections:
President--last held 5 October 1987 (next to be held October
1993); results--President Hosni MUBAREK was reelected;
People's Assembly--last held 29 November 1990 (next to be held
November 1995); results--NDP 78.4%, NPUG 1.4%, independents 18.7%;
seats--(454 total, 444 elected)--including NDP 348,
NPUG 6, independents 83; note--most opposition parties boycotted;
Advisory Council--last held 8 June 1989 (next to be held June
1995);
results--NDP 100%;
seats--(258 total, 172 elected) NDP 172
Communists: about 500 party members
Other political or pressure groups: Islamic groups are illegal, but
the largest one, the Muslim Brotherhood, is tolerated by the government;
trade unions and professional associations are officially sanctioned
Diplomatic representation: Ambassador El Sayed Abdel Raouf EL
REEDY; Chancery at 2310 Decatur Place NW, Washington DC 20008;
telephone (202) 232-5400; there are Egyptian Consulates General in
Chicago, Houston, New York, and San Francisco;
US--Ambassador Frank G. WISNER; Embassy at Lazougi Street,
Garden City, Cairo (mailing address is APO New York 09674-0006);
telephone 20 (2) 355-7371; there is a US Consulate General in
Alexandria
Flag: three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and black
with the national emblem (a shield superimposed on a golden eagle facing
the hoist side above a scroll bearing the name of the country in Arabic)
centered in the white band; similar to the flag of Yemen which has a
plain white band; also similar to the flag of Syria which has two green
stars and of Iraq which has three green stars (plus an Arabic
inscription) in a horizontal line centered in the white band
ECONOMY
Overview: Egypt has one of the largest public sectors of all
the Third World economies, most industrial plants being owned by the
government. Overregulation holds back technical modernization and
foreign investment. Even so, the economy grew rapidly during the late
1970s and early 1980s, but in 1986 the collapse of world oil prices
and an increasingly heavy burden of debt servicing led Egypt to begin
negotiations with the IMF for balance-of-payments support. As part of
the 1987 agreement with the IMF, the government agreed to institute
a reform program to reduce inflation, promote economic growth, and
improve its external position. The reforms have been slow in coming,
however, and the economy has been largely stagnant for the past
three years. The addition of 1 million people every seven months
to Egypt's population exerts enormous pressure on the 5% of the total
land area available for agriculture.
GDP: $37.0 billion, per capita $700; real growth rate 1.0% (1990
est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 26% (FY90)
Unemployment rate: 15% (1989 est.)
Budget: revenues $7 billion; expenditures $11.5 billion,
including capital expenditures of $4 billion (FY89 est.)
Exports: $3.8 billion (f.o.b., 1990);
commodities--crude and refined petroleum, cotton yarn, raw cotton,
textiles, metal products, chemicals;
partners--EC, Eastern Europe, US, Japan
Imports: $11.4 billion (f.o.b., 1989);
commodities--machinery and equipment, foods, fertilizers, wood
products, durable consumer goods, capital goods;
partners--EC, US, Japan, Eastern Europe
External debt: $52 billion (December 1990 est.)
Industrial production: growth rate 2-4% (1989 est.); accounts
for 24% of GDP
Electricity: 11,273,000 kW capacity; 42,500 million kWh produced,
780 kWh per capita (1989)
Agriculture: accounts for 20% of GNP and employs more than
one-third of labor force; dependent on irrigation water from the Nile;
world's sixth-largest cotton exporter; other crops produced include rice,
corn, wheat, beans, fruit, vegetables; not self-sufficient in food;
livestock--cattle, water buffalo, sheep, and goats; annual fish catch
about 140,000 metric tons
Economic aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $15.7
billion; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments
(1970-88), $9.3 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $2.9 billion;
Communist countries (1970-89), $2.4 billion
COMMUNICATIONS
Railroads: 5,110 km total; 4,763 km 1,435-meter standard gauge,
347 km 0.750-meter gauge; 951 km double track; 25 km electrified
Highways: 51,925 km total; 17,900 km paved, 2,500 km gravel,
13,500 km improved earth, 18,025 km unimproved earth
Inland waterways: 3,500 km (including the Nile, Lake Nasser,
Alexandria-Cairo Waterway, and numerous smaller canals in the delta);
Suez Canal, 193.5 km long (including approaches), used by oceangoing
vessels drawing up to 16.1 meters of water
Airports: 91 total, 82 usable; 66 with permanent-surface runways;
2 with runways over 3,659 m; 44 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 22 with
runways 1,220-2,439 m
Telecommunications: system is large but still inadequate for needs;
principal centers are Alexandria, Cairo, Al Mansurah, Ismailia, and
Tanta; intercity connections by coaxial cable and microwave;
extensive upgrading in progress; 600,000 telephones (est.); stations--25
AM, 5 FM, 47 TV; satellite earth stations--1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT, 1
Indian Ocean INTELSAT, 1 INMARSAT, 1 ARABSAT; 4 submarine coaxial
cables; tropospheric scatter to Sudan; radio relay to Libya (may not be
operational); radio relay to Jordan
DEFENSE FORCES
Branches: Army, Navy, Air Force, Air Defense Command
Manpower availability: males 15-49, 13,333,285; 8,665,260 fit for
military service; 584,780 reach military age (20) annually
Defense expenditures: $2.8 billion, 7.3% of GDP (1991)
