Children play with balloons as Muslim after prayers on the first day of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan in the Heliopolis neighbourhood, in the Egyptian capital Cairo, on May 2, 2022. AFP
World Children’s Day has been annually celebrated on 20 November since 1959 when the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child.
The number comprises nearly 40 percent of Egypt’s 104 million population, according to a previous CAPMAS announcement.
The CAPMAS report revealed that the total number of children includes 21.4 million boys (51.6 percent) and 20 million girls (48.4 percent).
Most children – 25.3 million (61 percent) – live in rural areas, with a smaller number – 16.2 million (39 percent) – living in urban areas.
The relative share of boys and girls in both urban and rural areas mirrors the national distribution.
National child labour rates dropped in 2021 in comparison to 2014, according to the report, declining from seven percent to 5.6 percent with the biggest drop occurring in rural areas.
However, most child labour still occurs in rural areas in Upper Egypt (8.4 percent) and Lower Egypt (5.7 percent). The percentage was lowest in urbanised areas (2.7 percent).
School dropout rates at the national level are four times higher in middle school (0.87 percent) than primary school (0.2 percent).
Boys are more likely than girls to drop out of primary school (0.23 vs 0.17 percent), but less likely to drop out of middle school (0.66 vs 1.1 percent).
Classroom density at public schools averages 30 children per classroom for pre-primary school, 52 for primary school and 48 for middle school.
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