Egypt's Minister of Health and Population, Khaled Abdel Ghaffar; held a press conference on Sunday to announce the preparations for the Global Conference on Population, Health and Development, which will be held from 5 to 8 September under the auspices of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi. The press conference was held in the presence of representatives from the United Nations, international organizations, ambassadors, leaders of the Ministry of Health and Population, and representatives of television channels and local and foreign media. Abdel Ghaffar claimed that the population growth "eats up the revenues achieved by the state" in terms of economic growth and development, which negatively affects development efforts and per capita spending on education, health care and housing, as well as its share of water and agricultural land. The minister stressed the importance of considering the current demographic situation and its repercussions on the future, noting that Egypt now ranks fourteenth in terms of population in the world, explaining that the population in Egypt exceeds 105 million people. He said that Egypt is achieving continuous improvement, as the number of births decreased from 2.7 million in 2014 to 2.183 million in 2022, and the total fertility rate decreased to 2.85 children per woman in 2021 compared to 3.5 children per woman in 2014. Family planning is to reach 66.4% in 2021, compared to about 58.5% in the 2014 survey. The minister noted that it is expected that the world population may reach about 8.5 billion in 2030 and 9.7 billion in 2050, and more than half of the expected increase in the world population until 2050 is concentrated in eight countries, including Egypt. The conference will witness the participation of decision-makers, ministers of health and population from different countries, ambassadors of countries, international partner agencies, UN and USAID, banking entities, entrepreneurs, the media and representatives of civil society, intellectuals, and sponsors of success partners. Abdel Ghaffar said that the national strategy concerned with population issues is up for discussion during the conference and was developed by experts. The strategy also includes studying various countries' experiences to reach the optimal method that suits Egyptian society.
