The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) will celebrate National Population Day by organising a 5-km run in Egypt's coastal city of Alexandria on Friday. The event is hosted in collaboration with the Ministry of Youth and Sport (MOYS) and the European Union (EU), focusing on raising awareness about family planning, according to a press statement of the EU delegation to Egypt on Wednesday. The event will be attended by Alexandria Governor Mohamed Sultan, UNFPA Representative in Egypt Aleksandar Bodiroza, and EU Ambassador to Egypt Ivan Surkoš. The 5-km run will witness an announcement of the kick-off of a UNFPA partnership with the EU to support the implementation of Egypt's National Population Strategy with efforts to scale up family planning activities at its core, said the statement. Egypt's population witnessed a dramatic increase during the last decade and is estimated at 94.8 million people, compared to a total of 72 million people in 2006, said the statement, noting that 62% of Egypt's population is below the age of 29. The country is reaching the peak of the "youth bulge", the largest cohort of young people in its history. The UNFPA, with its partners, aims to leverage the opportunities provided by the 2030 agenda to promote reproductive health, including family planning, said the statement, noting that the UNFPA recognises the growing contribution of sports to the realisation of ambitious goals of sustainable development.
