As results of the 2006 census are made public, Dena Rashed sifts through a mine of information No one is going to dispute that in Egypt getting accurate information from official bodies is at times similar to wringing water from stone, and this applies whether you are a journalist, researcher or simply a curious citizen. Last week, though, was an exception: the final results of the 13th national census are now available to the public, offering detailed statistics gathered over 16 months by almost 120,000 employees and covering streets, buildings, and, most important, people. The Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) announced the preliminary results of the 2006 census last year, estimating that Egyptians living both inside and outside Egypt had reached 76.6 million. At last week's press conference CAPMAS revised that figure upwards: as of May 2008 the number of Egyptians had increased to 78.7 million, an almost 25 per cent increase on the 1996 census. Head of CAPMAS Abu Bakr El-Guindi is well aware of the skepticism with which many greet official statistics. "We did not make up any of the numbers and we are proud of the work we have done," he told the audience at the launch of the census findings. "All the information we have gathered is displayed on maps and graphs which are so detailed that they identify individual apartments." The names of the inhabitants of those apartments, however, in line with CAPMAS's privacy codes, are withheld. Leading statistician, and author of four UN Arab Human Development reports, Nader Fergani argues that there is likely to be a high margin of error in censuses. "The results are not always representative of reality, especially when you are dealing with such a large number of people." El-Guindi, though, is proud of the achievements of the census team, whose task was facilitated by the fact that they had the manpower and authority to access every home in the land. The results contradict several commonly held assumptions and are likely to disappoint those men who had used a perceived ratio of women to men of 4:1 as a justification for second marriages. No such discrepancy in numbers exists. There are 37 million males in Egypt and 35.5 million females. They are divided into 17 million family units, 7.8 million of which live in urban centres and the rest in rural areas. Family planning campaigns over the last decade have some impact. The average number of people per family is now 4.1 compared with 4.6 per cent in 1996. While 46 million Egyptians are currently legally eligible to marry, only 29 million have chosen to tie the knot. For the first time CAPMAS has collected data on couples who are married but whose unions remain unconsummated. They count for making 0.5 per cent of the eligible group. There are also 400,000 divorcees in Egypt, a figure little changed since the 1996 census. Fifty per cent of the population is aged between 15 and 45, and just 12 per cent aged between 45 and 60. The census records a decrease in illiteracy rates to 29 per cent, spread equally between genders, down from 39 per cent in 1996. Almost 50 per cent of the total is to be found among 35 to 65 year olds. The number of people holding university degrees or other higher education qualifications has grown to 9.5 per cent of the total population from 5.6 in 1996. Some figures, though, are likely to be less accurate than others. The number of Egyptians with special needs is a case in point. Estimated at 500,000, the figure is likely to be higher, the discrepancy a result of members of the public being loath to disclose such information to census officials. The 2006 census places unemployment at 9.7 per cent of the workforce, up from 8.9 in 1996. Of the current number of unemployed, 92 per cent have never had a job. The average number of people per room in Egypt is 1.15, compared to 1.2 in 1996. Of Egypt's 17 million families 70 per cent live in apartments, five per cent in villas or houses and six per cent in rooms in shared buildings. Two per cent live in tied accommodation, such as the rooms provided for doormen, and an estimated 0.19 per cent live in shacks. Some 0.02 per cent of the population is resident in graveyards. Electricity reaches 99 per cent of families. Only 47 per cent, however, are connected to the general sewage network, while 8.6 per cent have access to local networks. Cairo remains the most populous city, home to 6.7 million families, followed by Sharqiya with 5.3 million and Daqahliya with 4.9 million. The Red Sea, Al-Wadi Al-Gadid and South Sinai governorates between them are home to less than one per cent of the population while the newly created governorates Sixth of October and Helwan are home to 2.6 and 1. 7 million citizens respectively. All information collated in the census, says El-Guindi, is published on the CAPMAS website.
