As Egypt struggles with overpopulation, Al-Ahram Weekly reports on a plan to control the country's population explosion, reports Reem Leila One of the main challenges facing Egypt is overpopulation. Since the creation of the Family and Population Ministry more than a year ago Egypt has not made satisfactory gains in controlling the country's massive population growth. Minister of State for Family and Population Mushira Khattab described the problem as one of Egypt's most critical issues as the number of people in the country increases by more than 1.5 million annually. Khattab said overpopulation was the main contributor to other problems the ministry is facing. After almost a year on the job, Khattab defended her record, saying the ministry had drawn up a plan to solve the problem. The Egyptian family is a top priority on the political leadership agenda. As such, Khattab said the ministry will start a training plan for the national population councils, local councils and NGOs operating in the field of family planning in all governorates to increase public awareness of the risks involved in overpopulation. The ministry has sent working teams to Sohag, Minya and Beni Sweif to increase people's awareness about the dangers of overpopulation and the importance of birth control. Six more teams will be sent to 6 October governorate, Fayoum, Assiut, Qena, Luxor and Aswan. Khattab stated material used in media campaigns will be improved. In cooperation with the Ministry of Interior, awareness campaigns are to be conducted among soldiers to boost their knowledge about the significance of reducing rates of population growth. "A specialised committee from the Ministry of State for Family and Population is currently revising school curricula at primary levels to create awareness among school students about the importance of controlling population growth, in addition to initiating programmes to serve this goal," Khattab said. Egypt's population could more than double by 2050, reaching 160 million, hindering social and economic development unless something is done to address this compelling problem. High rates of population growth is to be blamed for overburdening the state's resources, and it now constitutes a major challenge and fundamental obstacle to development. Even if measures are taken to slow down the rate of population growth, experts predict that the population of Egypt will reach close to 100 million in 2025. Population experts believe the challenge needs to be tackled by this generation and by generations to come if it is not to obstruct efforts for development and improving standards of living. "Egypt is unable to meet the basic needs of its population. If it was able to feed itself it would not need to squander a third of its import budget on food," said Hussein Abdel-Aziz, a member of the executive committee of the National Population Council. Fewer people means less competition for scarce resources such as land, food and water and also lowers the rate of unemployment, Abdel-Aziz added. Abdel-Aziz stresses the government's commitment to reducing growth rates, arguing that raising awareness of the benefits of smaller families, particularly among rural populations, is a key plank of government policy. Abdel-Aziz also said that the possibility of fining families that have more than three children had been raised but stressed that the issues "have not yet been discussed with the authorities concerned ." In the last 30 years Egypt's population has doubled. Despite the economy expanding at an annual rate of seven per cent, unemployment is rampant and 40 per cent of Egyptians live on or below the poverty line. Accordingly, Khattab stated, 7,317 female rural instructors have been trained to increase rural women's awareness about the importance of birth control, while 5,000 more will be trained by the end of November. "Their mission will be to increase people's awareness among 2.8 million families in rural areas as well as socially and economically empowering them by the end of 2011," Khattab said. Khattab supports the argument that "giving birth to children should be in proportion to families' financial abilities. She also pointed out that "a proper understanding of religion is essential to implement birth control in Egypt". A plan is being introduced in Upper Egypt areas to increase the rate of using contraceptives from 52.7 per cent in 2010 to 57.1 in 2011. Many people in rural areas refrain from registering newborns. "It's a big problem," Khattab argued. "We must work on persuading people to register their children in order to know the actual figures and rates of population growth." Khattab insists that the ministry seeks to place a limit on the number of children each family can have to 2.1 child for each woman by 2017.
