At 2.30pm on Tuesday, Egypt's populations recorded 100,000,000, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS). Chairperson of CAPMAS Khairat Barakat said in a press conference that the event "stands against the development plans the country holds," highlighting that the population increase is equivalent to the danger of the "terrorism that Egyptian society is fighting." Khairat explained that 201 people were born every hour in 2019, which is 2.9% lower than the average rate in 2018. "However, the decrease is not as hoped or expected," he said. Egypt is currently the largest Arab country in population, the third in Africa, and the 14th globally. Cairo is the fastest growing governorate in 2019, Giza is the second most, while Assuit comes as the slowest. Khairat explained that if Egypt continues with such a population increase, the Egyptian population will reach 192,000,000 by 2052. "Yet, with the governmental campaigns seeking the prevention of that, we hope to reach 143,000,000 by the same time." The current birth rate is 3.4 children per woman, and governmental efforts seek to reduce it to 2.1 by 2052. For her side, Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning, Monitoring, and Administrative Reform stated in the press conference that governmental efforts plan to take advantage of the increased population by providing citizens with proper education and training courses, that take place in cooperation with a number of international entities. She further elaborated that the government is currently working on reducing the population growth through educating women and doing away mainstream misconceptions, especially in rural areas. "Educating women is an essential element in reducing the population increase. Properly educating women, means offering them job opportunities that eventually lead to less children," she concluded.
