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Egypt vs. Libya

Demographics

EgyptLibya
Population106,437,241 (July 2021 est.)7,017,224 (July 2021 est.)

note: immigrants make up just over 12% of the total population, according to UN data (2019)
Age structure0-14 years: 33.62% (male 18,112,550/female 16,889,155)

15-24 years: 18.01% (male 9,684,437/female 9,071,163)

25-54 years: 37.85% (male 20,032,310/female 19,376,847)

55-64 years: 6.08% (male 3,160,438/female 3,172,544)

65 years and over: 4.44% (male 2,213,539/female 2,411,457) (2020 est.)
0-14 years: 33.65% (male 1,184,755/female 1,134,084)

15-24 years: 15.21% (male 534,245/female 513,728)

25-54 years: 41.57% (male 1,491,461/female 1,373,086)

55-64 years: 5.52% (male 186,913/female 193,560)

65 years and over: 4.04% (male 129,177/female 149,526) (2020 est.)
Median agetotal: 24.1 years

male: 23.8 years

female: 24.5 years (2020 est.)
total: 25.8 years

male: 25.9 years

female: 25.7 years (2020 est.)
Population growth rate2.17% (2021 est.)1.76% (2021 est.)
Birth rate26.44 births/1,000 population (2021 est.)22.23 births/1,000 population (2021 est.)
Death rate4.36 deaths/1,000 population (2021 est.)3.46 deaths/1,000 population (2021 est.)
Net migration rate-0.34 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2021 est.)-1.15 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2021 est.)
Sex ratioat birth: 1.06 male(s)/female

0-14 years: 1.07 male(s)/female

15-24 years: 1.07 male(s)/female

25-54 years: 1.03 male(s)/female

55-64 years: 1 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.92 male(s)/female

total population: 1.05 male(s)/female (2020 est.)
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female

0-14 years: 1.04 male(s)/female

15-24 years: 1.04 male(s)/female

25-54 years: 1.09 male(s)/female

55-64 years: 0.97 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.86 male(s)/female

total population: 1.05 male(s)/female (2020 est.)
Infant mortality ratetotal: 18.25 deaths/1,000 live births

male: 19.74 deaths/1,000 live births

female: 16.67 deaths/1,000 live births (2021 est.)
total: 11.48 deaths/1,000 live births

male: 12.97 deaths/1,000 live births

female: 9.93 deaths/1,000 live births (2021 est.)
Life expectancy at birthtotal population: 74.01 years

male: 72.54 years

female: 75.57 years (2021 est.)
total population: 76.93 years

male: 74.68 years

female: 79.29 years (2021 est.)
Total fertility rate3.23 children born/woman (2021 est.)3.13 children born/woman (2021 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate<.1% (2020 est.)0.1% (2020)
Nationalitynoun: Egyptian(s)

adjective: Egyptian
noun: Libyan(s)

adjective: Libyan
Ethnic groupsEgyptian 99.7%, other 0.3% (2006 est.)

note: data represent respondents by nationality
Berber and Arab 97%, other 3% (includes Egyptian, Greek, Indian, Italian, Maltese, Pakistani, Tunisian, and Turkish)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS24,000 (2020 est.)9,500 (2020)
ReligionsMuslim (predominantly Sunni) 90%, Christian (majority Coptic Orthodox, other Christians include Armenian Apostolic, Catholic, Maronite, Orthodox, and Anglican) 10% (2015 est.)Muslim (official; virtually all Sunni) 96.6%, Christian 2.7%, Buddhist 0.3%, Hindu <0.1, Jewish <0.1, folk religion <0.1, unafilliated 0.2%, other <0.1 (2010 est.)

note: non-Sunni Muslims include native Ibadhi Muslims (<1% of the population) and foreign Muslims
HIV/AIDS - deaths<500 (2020 est.)<100 (2020)
LanguagesArabic (official), English, and French widely understood by educated classes

major-language sample(s):
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Arabic (official), Italian, English (all widely understood in the major cities); Berber (Nafusi, Ghadamis, Suknah, Awjilah, Tamasheq)

major-language sample(s):
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The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information.
Literacydefinition: age 15 and over can read and write

total population: 71.2%

male: 76.5%

female: 65.5% (2017)
definition: age 15 and over can read and write

total population: 91%

male: 96.7%

female: 85.6% (2015)
Education expendituresNANA
Urbanizationurban population: 42.9% of total population (2021)

rate of urbanization: 1.9% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)
urban population: 81% of total population (2021)

rate of urbanization: 1.45% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)
Drinking water sourceimproved: urban: 100% of population

rural: 98.8% of population

total: 100% of population

unimproved: urban: 0% of population

rural: 1.2% of population

total: 0.6% of population (2017 est.)
improved: total: 98.5% of population

unimproved: total: 1.5% of population (2017 est.)
Sanitation facility accessimproved: urban: 99.8% of population

rural: 97.6% of population

total: 98.5% of population

unimproved: urban: 0.2% of population

rural: 2.4% of population

total: 1.5% of population (2017 est.)
improved: total: 100% of population

unimproved: total: 0% of population (2017 est.)
Major cities - population21.323 million CAIRO (capital), 5.381 million Alexandria (2021)1.170 million TRIPOLI (capital), 919,000 Misratah, 836,000 Benghazi (2021)
Maternal mortality rate37 deaths/100,000 live births (2017 est.)72 deaths/100,000 live births (2017 est.)
Children under the age of 5 years underweight7% (2014)11.7% (2014)
Physicians density0.45 physicians/1,000 population (2018)2.09 physicians/1,000 population (2017)
Hospital bed density1.4 beds/1,000 population (2017)3.2 beds/1,000 population (2017)
Obesity - adult prevalence rate32% (2016)32.5% (2016)
Demographic profile

Egypt is the most populous country in the Arab world and the third most populous country in Africa, behind Nigeria and Ethiopia. Most of the country is desert, so about 95% of the population is concentrated in a narrow strip of fertile land along the Nile River, which represents only about 5% of Egypt's land area. Egypt's rapid population growth - 46% between 1994 and 2014 - stresses limited natural resources, jobs, housing, sanitation, education, and health care.

Although the country's total fertility rate (TFR) fell from roughly 5.5 children per woman in 1980 to just over 3 in the late 1990s, largely as a result of state-sponsored family planning programs, the population growth rate dropped more modestly because of decreased mortality rates and longer life expectancies. During the last decade, Egypt's TFR decline stalled for several years and then reversed, reaching 3.6 in 2011, and has plateaued the last few years. Contraceptive use has held steady at about 60%, while preferences for larger families and early marriage may have strengthened in the wake of the recent 2011 revolution. The large cohort of women of or nearing childbearing age will sustain high population growth for the foreseeable future (an effect called population momentum).

Nevertheless, post-MUBARAK governments have not made curbing population growth a priority. To increase contraceptive use and to prevent further overpopulation will require greater government commitment and substantial social change, including encouraging smaller families and better educating and empowering women. Currently, literacy, educational attainment, and labor force participation rates are much lower for women than men. In addition, the prevalence of violence against women, the lack of female political representation, and the perpetuation of the nearly universal practice of female genital cutting continue to keep women from playing a more significant role in Egypt's public sphere.

Population pressure, poverty, high unemployment, and the fragmentation of inherited land holdings have historically motivated Egyptians, primarily young men, to migrate internally from rural and smaller urban areas in the Nile Delta region and the poorer rural south to Cairo, Alexandria, and other urban centers in the north, while a much smaller number migrated to the Red Sea and Sinai areas. Waves of forced internal migration also resulted from the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and the floods caused by the completion of the Aswan High Dam in 1970. Limited numbers of students and professionals emigrated temporarily prior to the early 1970s, when economic problems and high unemployment pushed the Egyptian Government to lift restrictions on labor migration. At the same time, high oil revenues enabled Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and other Gulf states, as well as Libya and Jordan, to fund development projects, creating a demand for unskilled labor (mainly in construction), which attracted tens of thousands of young Egyptian men.

Between 1970 and 1974 alone, Egyptian migrants in the Gulf countries increased from approximately 70,000 to 370,000. Egyptian officials encouraged legal labor migration both to alleviate unemployment and to generate remittance income (remittances continue to be one of Egypt's largest sources of foreign currency and GDP). During the mid-1980s, however, depressed oil prices resulting from the Iran-Iraq War, decreased demand for low-skilled labor, competition from less costly South Asian workers, and efforts to replace foreign workers with locals significantly reduced Egyptian migration to the Gulf States. The number of Egyptian migrants dropped from a peak of almost 3.3 million in 1983 to about 2.2 million at the start of the 1990s, but numbers gradually recovered.

In the 2000s, Egypt began facilitating more labor migration through bilateral agreements, notably with Arab countries and Italy, but illegal migration to Europe through overstayed visas or maritime human smuggling via Libya also rose. The Egyptian Government estimated there were 6.5 million Egyptian migrants in 2009, with roughly 75% being temporary migrants in other Arab countries (Libya, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates) and 25% being predominantly permanent migrants in the West (US, UK, Italy, France, and Canada).

During the 2000s, Egypt became an increasingly important transit and destination country for economic migrants and asylum seekers, including Palestinians, East Africans, and South Asians and, more recently, Iraqis and Syrians. Egypt draws many refugees because of its resettlement programs with the West; Cairo has one of the largest urban refugee populations in the world. Many East African migrants are interned or live in temporary encampments along the Egypt-Israel border, and some have been shot and killed by Egyptian border guards.

Despite continuing unrest, Libya remains a destination country for economic migrants. It is also a hub for transit migration to Europe because of its proximity to southern Europe and its lax border controls. Labor migrants have been drawn to Libya since the development of its oil sector in the 1960s. Until the latter part of the 1990s, most migrants to Libya were Arab (primarily Egyptians and Sudanese). However, international isolation stemming from Libya's involvement in international terrorism and a perceived lack of support from Arab countries led QADHAFI in 1998 to adopt a decade-long pan-African policy that enabled large numbers of Sub-Saharan migrants to enter Libya without visas to work in the construction and agricultural industries. Although Sub-Saharan Africans provided a cheap labor source, they were poorly treated and were subjected to periodic mass expulsions.

By the mid-2000s, domestic animosity toward African migrants and a desire to reintegrate into the international community motivated QADHAFI to impose entry visas on Arab and African immigrants and to agree to joint maritime patrols and migrant repatriations with Italy, the main recipient of illegal migrants departing Libya. As his regime neared collapse in 2011, QADHAFI reversed his policy of cooperating with Italy to curb illegal migration and sent boats loaded with migrants and asylum seekers to strain European resources. Libya's 2011 revolution decreased immigration drastically and prompted nearly 800,000 migrants to flee to third countries, mainly Tunisia and Egypt, or to their countries of origin. The inflow of migrants declined in 2012 but returned to normal levels by 2013, despite continued hostility toward Sub-Saharan Africans and a less-inviting job market.

While Libya is not an appealing destination for migrants, since 2014, transiting migrants - primarily from East and West Africa - continue to exploit its political instability and weak border controls and use it as a primary departure area to migrate across the central Mediterranean to Europe in growing numbers. In addition, more than 200,000 people were displaced internally as of August 2017 by fighting between armed groups in eastern and western Libya and, to a lesser extent, by inter-tribal clashes in the country's south.

Contraceptive prevalence rate58.5% (2014)27.7% (2014)
Dependency ratiostotal dependency ratio: 64.6

youth dependency ratio: 55.8

elderly dependency ratio: 8.8

potential support ratio: 11.4 (2020 est.)
total dependency ratio: 47.7

youth dependency ratio: 41

elderly dependency ratio: 6.7

potential support ratio: 15 (2020 est.)

Source: CIA Factbook