Egypt's population will reach 90 million people at 9:55pm on Sunday according to the state's Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS). Meanwhile, the number of Egyptians living abroad is 8 million, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' estimates. The statistics indicated that the natural increase rate rose in the years 2000-2014 at a rate of 2.52%, after it was 2.11% in 2000. Indications show the rate started to decline at the beginning of 2001 when it was 2.05% and continued to decline until it reached 1.94% in 2007. The index began to rise until it reached its peak in mid-2012 at 2.55%, before falling again in 2014. CAPMAS confirmed that Cairo remains the most populated governorate in Egypt, with 9.437 million people, followed by Giza with 7.755 million people and Nile Delta's Sharqeya with 6.629 million people. In Upper Egypt, Minya is considered the most populated governorate with 5.603 million people, CAPMAS revealed. The least crowded governorate in Egypt is the Red Sea with 371,098 people. Head of CAPMAS Abu Bakr El-Gendy said in press statements Sunday that the increasing population rates in Egypt are "disastrous", and that this increase has significant impact on the rates of development. It is difficult for Egypt to apply China's one child policy due to the lack of awareness among citizens, especially in rural areas, he said.
