According to the latest estimation conducted by EDHR, Egypt’s population reached nearly 65335.6 hundreds in 2001. The highest population density is in Cairo, where it reaches 2136.1 person per square kilometer against 63.7 person per square kilometer in Egypt as a whole. In Upper Egypt , it reached 97.8 persons compared to 867.8 persons in Lower Egypt .In frontier governorates it slightly exceeded 1 person per K.m.2 (Egypt Human Development Report 2003)

This indicates the heterogeneity of population distribution across the inhabited areas in Egypt which in turn affects the seriousness of the population problem in Egypt.

There has been continuous increase in the size of the population, according to the results of the last five censuses, in spite of the decrease in fertility levels.

The population growth rate reached 2.1% in 1996 -2001. (Egypt Human Development Report 2003).

There has been a noticeable change in the percentages of children below 18 years during the last two decades. This category represented 47% of the total population in 1976, however it decreased to 42% in 1996. Then it increased to reach 49.2% in 2000. The proportion of the elderly (65+) was 3.6% in 1976 and decreased to 3.2% in 1996. But it witnessed a slight increase reaching 3.6% in 2000. (EDHS 2000)

Note: The DHS site offers the facility of creating statistical tables from the (EDHS 2000)

It is widely known that Egypt is characterized by a high proportion of children, and the dependency ratio is considered to be high according to international standards. Dependency ratio was 77% in 1986, but it declined substantially to 69.9% in 2001 according to  Egypt Human Development Report 2003 (EHDR 2003). However this proportion is still high compared to several developed and developing countries.

Source: Egypt Human Development Report 2003 (EHDR 2003).