More than 75% of Egyptians aware of 'overpopulation problem': Cabinet's information centre survey

MENA , Ahram Online , Sunday 29 Jan 2023

A survey by the Cabinet’s Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC) shows that 75.6 percent of citizens are aware of the "overpopulation problem" in Egypt.

Egyptians

 

About 11.9 percent of those surveyed have no idea about the problem the state is facing as a result of overpopulation, the IDSC said Sunday.

The poll was conducted in December and covered a number of Egyptian families in all governorates.

Overpopulation is one of Egypt’s major problems and constitutes the main obstacle to development efforts, the IDSC said.

It also hinders efforts by the state to secure best services for citizens and fight other economic problems, such as unemployment and poverty, the IDSC added.

About 91.1 percent of the surveyed families supported family programmes, while 1.9 percent were against them, according to the IDSC.

The IDSC poll also showed that 52.5 percent of those surveyed believe that, in light of the current circumstances, each family should have no more than two children, while 29.1 percent said that each family should have three children.

Egypt's population increased by 1.6 million in 2022 to reach 104.4 million in December, up from 102.8 in January, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS).

Previously, CAPMAS said that the country’s population could reach 192 million people by 2052 if current growth rates continue. However, it says that this projection could be reduced to 143 million if state efforts to reduce fertility rates are intensified.

Government officials have said that the state will need to double its spending on infrastructure projects and development over the coming 30 years to accommodate the expected growth.

In recent years, the country has launched several campaigns and programmes to curb runaway population growth, spending over EGP 100 million (approximately $5.2 million) annually to provide birth control for free or at lowered prices.

In August, CAPMAS reported a 20 percent drop in the fertility rate in Egypt, from 3.5 births per woman in 2014 to 2.8 in 2021.

Egypt aims to further reduce the fertility rate to 1.6 births per woman, according to adviser to the chairman of CAPMAS Hussein Abdel-Aziz.

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