Birth rate: 34 births/1,000 population (1990)
Death rate: 10 deaths/1,000 population (1990)
Net migration rate: NEGL migrants/1,000 population (1990)
Infant mortality rate: 90 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)
Life expectancy at birth: 60 years male, 61 years female (1990)
Total fertility rate: 4.7 children born/woman (1990)
Nationality: noun—Egyptian(s); adjective—Egyptian
Ethnic divisions: 90% Eastern Hamitic stock; 10% Greek, Italian, Syro-Lebanese
Religion: (official estimate) 94% Muslim (mostly Sunni), 6% Coptic Christian and other
Language: Arabic (official); English and French widely understood by educated classes
Literacy: 45%
Labor force: 15,000,000 (1989 est.); 36% government, public sector enterprises, and armed forces; 34% agriculture; 20% privately owned service and manufacturing enterprises (1984); shortage of skilled labor; 2,500,000 Egyptians work abroad, mostly in Iraq and the Gulf Arab states (1988 est.)
Organized labor: 2,500,000 (est.)
Government
Long-form name: Arab Republic of Egypt
Type: republic
Capital: Cairo
Administrative divisions: 26 governorates (muḩāfaz̧at, singular—muḩāfaz̧ah); Ad Daqahlīyah, Al Baḩr al Aḩmar, Al Buḩayrah, Al Fayyūm, Al Gharbīyah, Al Iskandarīyah, Al Ismā‘īlīyah, Al Jīzah, Al Minūfiyah, Al Minyā, Al Qāhirah, Al Qalyūbīyah, Al Wādī al Jadīd, Ash Sharqīyah, As Suways, Aswān, Asyūţ, Banī Suwayf, Būr Sa‘īd, Dumyāt, Janūb Sīnā’, Kafr ash Shaykh, Maţrūḩ, Qinā, Shamal Sīnā’, Sūhāj
Independence: 28 February 1922 (from UK); formerly United Arab Republic
Constitution: 11 September 1971
Legal system: based on English common law, Islamic law, and Napoleonic codes; judicial review by Supreme Court and Council of State (oversees validity of administrative decisions); accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations
National holiday: Anniversary of the Revolution, 23 July (1952)
Executive branch: president, prime minister, Cabinet
Legislative branch: unicameral People's Assembly (Majlis al-Sha’ab); note there is an Advisory Council (Majlis al-Shura) that functions in a consultative role
Judicial branch: Supreme Constitutional Court
Leaders: Chief of State—President Mohammed Hosni MUBARAK (was made acting President on 6 October 1981 upon the assassination of President Sadat and sworn in as President on 14 October 1981);
Head of Government—Prime Minister Atef Mohammed Najib SEDKY (since 12 November 1986)
Political parties and leaders: formation of political parties must be approved by government; National Democratic Party (NDP), President Mohammed Hosni Mubarak, leader, is the dominant party; legal opposition parties are Socialist Liberal Party (SLP), Kamal Murad; Socialist Labor Party, Ibrahim Shukri; National Progressive Unionist Grouping, Khalid Muhyi-al-Din; Umma Party, Ahmad al-Sabahi; and New Wafd Party (NWP), Fu’ad Siraj al-Din
Suffrage: universal and compulsory at age 18
Elections: President—last held 5 October 1987 (next to be held October 1993); results—President Hosni Mubarek was re- elected;
People's Assembly—last held 6 April 1987 (next to be held April 1992); results—NDP 69.3%, Socialist Labor Party Coalition 17%, NWP 10.9%; seats—(458 total, 448 elected)—NDP 346, Socialist Labor Party Coalition 60, Labor-Liberal-Muslim Brotherhood Alliance 60 (37 belong to the Muslim Brotherhood), NWP 36, independents 7;
Advisory Council (Majlis al-Shura)—last held October 1986 (next to be held October 1992); results—percent of vote by party NA; seats—(210 total, 140 elected)
Communists: about 500 party members
Other political or pressure groups: Islamic groups are illegal, but the largest one, the Muslim Brotherhood, is tolerated by the government and recently gained a sizable presence in the new People's Assembly; trade unions and professional associations are officially sanctioned
Member of: ACC, AfDB, Arab League, CCC, FAO, G-77, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAC, ICAO, IDA, IDB—Islamic Development Bank, IFAD, IFC, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOOC, IPU, IRC, ITU, IWC—International Wheat Council, NAM, OAPEC, OAU, OIC, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WSG, WTO; Egypt was suspended from Arab League and OAPEC in April 1979 and readmitted in May 1989
Diplomatic representation: Ambassador El Sayed Abdel Raouf EL REEDY; Chancery at 2310 Decatur Place NW, Washington DC 20008; telephone (202) 232-5400; there are Egyptian Consulates General in Chicago, Houston, New York, and San Francisco; US—Ambassador Frank G. WISNER; Embassy at 5 Sharia Latin America, Garden City, Cairo (mailing address is FPO New York 09527); telephone [20][2] 355-7371; there is a US Consulate General in Alexandria
Flag: three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and black with the national emblem (a shield superimposed on a golden eagle facing the hoist side above a scroll bearing the name of the country in Arabic) centered in the white band; similar to the flags of the YAR which has one star, Syria which has two stars, and Iraq which has three stars all green and five-pointed in a horizontal line centered in the white band
Economy
Overview: Egypt has one of the largest
public sectors of all the Third World
economies, most industrial plants being
owned by the government. Overregulation
holds back technical modernization and
foreign investment. Even so, the economy
grew rapidly during the late 1970s and
early 1980s, but in 1986 the collapse of
world oil prices and an increasingly heavy
burden of debt servicing led Egypt to
begin negotiations with the IMF for
balance-of-payments support. As part of
the 1987 agreement with the IMF, the
government agreed to institute a reform
program to reduce inflation, promote
economic growth, and improve its external
position. The reforms have been slow in
coming, however, and the economy has
been largely stagnant for the past three
years. With 1 million people being added
every eight months to Egypt's population,
urban growth exerts enormous pressure on
the 5% of the total land area available for
agriculture.
GDP: $38.3 billion, per capita $700; real growth rate 1.0% (1989 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 25% (1989 est.)
Unemployment rate: 15% (1989 est.)
Budget: revenues $7 billion; expenditures $11.5 billion, including capital expenditures of $4 billion (FY89 est.)
Exports: $2.55 billion (f.o.b., 1989); commodities—raw cotton, crude and refined petroleum, cotton yarn, textiles; partners—US, EC, Japan, Eastern Europe
Imports: $10.1 billion (c.i.f., 1988); commodities—foods, machinery and equipment, fertilizers, wood products, durable consumer goods, capital goods; partners—US, EC, Japan, Eastern Europe
External debt: $45 billion (December 1989)
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