Egypt birth rate down 62% in 3 years

Egypt’s birth rate has fallen by 62 per cent over the last three years, the country’s health ministry announced yesterday.

According to the ministry official data, the country’s birth rate in 2017 amounted to 2.55 million newborns, compared to 6.68 million new babies in 2015.

The Deputy of the Minister of Health, Tariq Tawfik, said that the government’s population strategy aims at reaching 112 million people by 2030 instead of 128 million. This, Tawfik noted, will save the state 200 billion Egyptian pounds ($11 billion), which would be spent on education, health and security services.

Egypt is currently organising birth-control and family planning awareness campaigns in the rural areas, in an attempt to slow population growth which President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi said was a “threat to development”.

Egypt is the largest Arab country by population. According to the government’s official data, 94 million Egyptians live in the country.

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