Small communities spread throughout the desert regions of Egypt are clustered around oases and historic trade and transportation routes. The government has tried with mixed success to encourage migration to newly irrigated land reclaimed from the desert. However, the proportion of the population living in rural areas has continued to decrease as people move to the cities in search of employment and a higher standard of living.

According to the Peterson Institute for International Economics and other proponets of demographic structural approach (cliodynamics), the basic problem Egypt has is unemployment driven by a demographic youth bulge: with the number of new people entering the job force at about 4% a year, unemployment in Egypt is almost 10 times as high for college graduates as it is for people who have gone through elementary school, particularly educated urban youth, who are precisely those people that were seen out in the streets during 2011 Egyptian revolution.

Population of Egypt

Egypt has a population of 82,999,393 (APR 2011).According to the International Organization for Migration, an estimated 2.7 million Egyptians live abroad and contribute actively to the development of their country through remittances (US$ 7.8 in 2009), circulation of human and social capital, as well as investment. Approximately 70% of Egyptian migrants live in Arab countries (923,600 in Saudi Arabia, 332,600 in Libya, 226,850 in Jordan, 190,550 in Kuwait with the rest elsewhere in the region) and the remaining 30 % are living mostly North America (318,000 in the United States, 110,000 in Canada) and Europe (90,000 in Italy).

The vast majority of the population of Egypt consists of ethnic Egyptians (94% of the population or 74.1 million according to the CIA Factbook, 72.5 million according to Al-Ahram Weekly). The vast majority of Egyptians are native speakers of modern Egyptian Arabic (Masri). According to the CIA World Factbook, approximately 91% of the population is Muslim and 9% is Christian (8% Coptic Orthodox, 1% other Christian).

Ethnic minorities in Egypt include the Bedouin Arab tribes of the Sinai Peninsula and the eastern desert, the Berber-speaking community of the Siwa Oasis and the Nubian people clustered along the Nile in the southernmost part of Egypt. There are also sizable minorities of Beja and Dom.

The country was host to many different communities during the colonial period, including Greeks, Italians, Syrians, Jews and Armenians, though most either left or were compelled to leave after political developments in the 1950s. The country still hosts some 90,000 refugees and asylum seekers, mostly Palestinians and Sudanese.

Education

The literacy rate in modern Egyptian society is highly debated. Education is free through university and compulsory from ages six through 15, though enforcement may be lax. Rates for primary and secondary education have strengthened in recent years. The vast majority of children enter primary school though a significant number drop out. There are approx. 200,000 primary and secondary schools with some 10 million students, 13 major universities with more than 500,000 students, and 67 teacher colleges. Major universities include AUC (American University in Cairo), Cairo University (100,000 students), Ain Shams University, Alexandria University, and the 1,000-year-old Al-Azhar University, one of the world's major centers of Islamic learning. The former first lady has created many project towards the advancement of Egyptian education and the efforts to force education to the remaining 7-9% of students who drop out illegally. Child labor is a contributing factor to these dropouts but it is considered a serious crime to work children under the legal age and charges are taken very seriously at this time.

CIA World Factbook Demographic Statistics

Population pyramid in 2005. Many of those 30 and younger are educated citizens who are experiencing difficulty finding work.

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated

Population

80,471,879 (July 2010 est.)

Age structure

0-14 years: 31.8% no(male 13,292,961/female 12,690,711)
15-64 years: 63.5% (male 26,257,440/female 25,627,390)
65 years and over: 4.7% (male 1,636,560/female 2,208,455) (2008 est.)
0-14 years: 33% (male 13,308,407/female 12,711,900)
15-64 years: 62.7% (male 25,138,546/female 24,342,230)
65 years and over: 4.3% (male 1,546,774/female 1,818,778) (2010 est.)

Median Age

Total: 24 (2007)
Male: 24 (2007)
Female: 24 (2007)

Population growth rate

2.033 %(2010 est.)

Birth rate

25.43 births/1,000 population (2010 est.)

Death rate

4.88 deaths/1,000 population (2010 est.)

Net migration rate

-0.21 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Gender ratio

at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.74 male(s)/female
total population: 1.02 male(s)/female (2006 est.)

Infant mortality rate

27.26 deaths/1,000 live births (2010 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 72.4 years
male: 69.5 years
female: 74.8 years (2010 est.)

Total fertility rate

2.97 children born/woman (2011 est.)

Nationality

noun: Egyptian(s)
adjective: Egyptian

Ethnic groups

The CIA World factbook lists "Egyptians" as 99.6%, and "other" as 0.4% (2006 census). "Other" refers to people who are not citizens of Egypt, who come to Egypt to work for international companies, diplomats, etc.
Other sources[citation needed] give more detailed statistics, including Bedouins, the Beja (ca. 1 million), the Nubians (ca. 300,000 in 1996), Dom (ca. 230,000 in 1996), Greeks (ca. 400,000~ 18,000,000), Berbers (ca. 5,000).

Religions

Muslim 90%[8] (Sunni > 90%
Christianity 9%[9]
Bahá'í: less than 2,000 individuals (< 0.003%).
Judaism: less than 200 individuals.

Languages

Main article: Languages of Egypt
Arabic (official; see also Egyptian Arabic and Sa'idi Arabic); English widely understood as well.

Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 71.4%
male: 83%
female: 59.4% (2005 est.)