As of January 2018, 221,675 refugees and asylum-seekers were registered in Egypt, with 3,118 newly registered in 2018, according to a new report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Egypt. The number of Syrian refugees registered with the organization reached 127,414, comprising 57 percent of the total number of refugees registered in the country, according to the report. In second place came Egypt's neighboring Sudanese refugees with 36,196, followed by Ethiopians with 14,564 and Eritreans with 12,959. South Sudanese refugees in Egypt totalled 10,518, while there were 6,732 Iraqis registered and 6,714 Somalis. Other nationalities formed 6,579 of the total population of refugees registered in the country. As for demographics, males formed 52 percent of refugees, while females 48 percent. Thirty-nine percent of registered refuges were below 17 years of age, whereas 57 percent were aged between 18-59 years, according to the report. Refugees older than 60 years old comprised 4 percent of the refugee population in Egypt. According to the residence of populations of refugees by governorates, Cairo came in first place with 35 percent, hosting 77,665 refugees, of which 22,962 are Syrians. Giza governorate came in second place, hosting 70,584, of which 36,305 are Syrians, comprising the highest population of Syrian refugees residing in the country. Eighty-two percent of the refugee population are registered in Cairo, Giza, Sharqeya, Monoufeya, Qalubeya and Ismailia governorates. As of January 2018 to February 2018, 3,118 refugees were registered with Egypt's UNHCR office, 722 Syrians and 1,823 of other nationalities, the report said. Egypt is actively participating in international forums to develop frameworks for dealing with and protecting immigrants and refugees. In November 2017, Egypt's Minister of Social Solidarity Ghada Wali said the country hosts refugees from 59 countries without restrictions, profiling or limitations to their freedoms. The minister affirmed Egypt has the highest rate of enrollment of Syrian children in schools at 40,000, and they receive the same education and services as Egyptian citizens. Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said in 2016 that Egypt hosts five million refugees and immigrants despite facing its own economic challenges, yet there are no official figures on the number of unregistered refugees and illegal immigrants in the country.
