“The population will increase and it will affect our economy. We must solve this problem." We've been hearing comments like this since the 1960s on TV and the radio, in newspapers and even films and serials. All the concerned officials urge Egyptians to consider family planning. The matter is a serious one, but is this advice falling on deaf ears? According to the State-run Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS), the population of Egypt doubles every half a century. In 1800, the Egyptians were 2.5 million. In 1850, they became 5 million, in 1900 10 million, in 1950 20 million and in 2000 66.7 million. In fact, as you can see, between 1950 and 2000, the population didn't just double, it more than tripled. On January 1, 2006 the population was almost 71.35 million ��" 51.2 per cent males and 48.8 per cent females. As early as 1959, governmental economists expressed concern about the negative impact of high population growth rates on the country's development efforts. In 1966, the Government initiated a nationwide birth control programme aimed at reducing the annual population growth rate to 2.5 per cent or less. Since then State-run family planning clinics have distributed birth control information and contraceptives. These programmes were somewhat successful in reducing the population growth rate, but in 1973 the rate began to increase again. According to CAPMAS, between 2000 and 2005, the population increased by 1.3 million every year: that means a little Egyptian born every 23.4 seconds. Children aged less than 15 account for 37.5 per cent (26.9 million) of the Egyptian population, while 60.5 per cent (40.34 million) are aged 15 to 64 and people aged over 64 make up 1.8 per cent of the population, according to CAPMAS statistics for 2006. "The population growth has had a bad effect on development in Egypt, with an increasing economic burden on the individual and the State, overcrowding in the cities and declining services. "Urban encroachment on agricultural land has led to more pollution, more child labour and more crime," says Moshira el-Shafie, a communications adviser and USAID contractor. She explains that there are many reasons for population growth, including the unbalanced distribution of population. First of all, according to her, nearly all of Egyptian citizens live on only 6 per cent of Egypt's landmass; the other 94 per cent of Egypt's land is desert, inhabited only by 998,000 citizens. "It's had a bad effect on social institutions, which in 2006 employed nearly 22 million citizens, a figure predicted to rise to 29 million in 2021. This means 478,000 new jobs need to be created every year in these institutions,” she told the Egyptian Mail. "The increasing population inevitably leads to a decreasing per capita share of public utilities, including potable water, electricity, health, education and transport, placing an enormous burden on the public purse." El-Shafie adds that, in the crowded places in big cities crime has risen by 69.2 per cent, compared to 25.8 per cent in the countryside. "The governorates, which are contributing most to the population, are the Upper Egyptian ones. These people are poor and have a belief that when they have many children they will use them for work. And thus appears the problem of child labour," she says. "We are now beginning to give more attention to these governorates after years of neglect in the fields of education and development. It will take some time before they become like citizens in the Delta governorates, in some of which 70 per cent of couples use family planning methods." In March last year, Egypt created the Ministry of State for Family and Population to come up with strategies and plans, as well as to implement them and co-ordinate the efforts of all the concerned ministries and authorities to end the agonising problem of overpopulation. The mandate of the Ministry of State for Family and Population is to draw up policies, strategies and operational work plans related to family empowerment and wellbeing, working across different sectors ��" education, health, labour, economic development, investment and information ��" in co-ordination with the relevant ministries. "We want to improve the quality of the Egyptian citizen's life," said Minister of State for Family and Population Moshira Khattab. "Citizens complain of crowded schools and transport and rising prices, but they don't link this with the overpopulation that they are responsible for," she told Egyptian TV a fortnight ago. Population growth is a key challenge for this generation and the generations to come. If couples have two children, they can bring them up in a healthy way, she said. "Egypt's burgeoning population increases health risks for women and children and erodes the quality of life by reducing access to education, nutrition and employment," she warned. From as of now until 2017, according to her, there will be a media campaign, consisting of TV ads, in which famous people will speak in a simple way about the bad effects of having many children on education, health and economic conditions. There is also a hotline number (16021) the Egyptian public can ring about family planning methods. There will also be 17,000 people in all of Egypt's governorates visiting people's homes and advising them face to face about the dangers of overpopulation. "The aim is to close the gap between the people and the Government because both want to achieve the same vision," the Minister said. "As the President said, overpopulation is a crucial national issue. We must confess that the situation is dangerous and we should admit that the increase devours our economic progress and development."
