resources: crude oil, natural gas, iron ore, phosphates,
manganese, limestone, gypsum, talc, asbestos, lead, zinc

_#_Land use: arable land 3%; permanent crops 2%; meadows and pastures
0%; forest and woodland NEGL%; other 95%; includes irrigated 5%

_#_Environment: Nile is only perennial water source; increasing soil
salinization below Aswan High Dam; hot, driving windstorm called khamsin
occurs in spring; water pollution; desertification

_#_Note: controls Sinai Peninsula, only land bridge between Africa
and remainder of Eastern Hemisphere; controls Suez Canal, shortest sea
link between Indian Ocean and Mediterranean; size and juxtaposition to
Israel establish its major role in Middle Eastern geopolitics

_*_People
_#_Population: 54,451,588 (July 1991), growth rate 2.3% (1991)

_#_Birth rate: 33 births/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Death rate: 10 deaths/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Net migration rate: NEGL migrants/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Infant mortality rate: 82 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)

_#_Life expectancy at birth: 60 years male, 61 years female (1991)

_#_Total fertility rate: 4.5 children born/woman (1991)

_#_Nationality: noun--Egyptian(s); adjective--Egyptian

_#_Ethnic divisions: Eastern Hamitic stock 90%; Greek, Italian,
Syro-Lebanese 10%

_#_Religion: (official estimate) Muslim (mostly Sunni) 94%;
Coptic Christian and other 6%

_#_Language: Arabic (official); English and French widely understood
by educated classes

_#_Literacy: 48% (male 63%, female 34%) age 15 and over can
read and write (1990 est.)

_#_Labor force: 15,000,000 (1989 est.); government, public sector
enterprises, and armed forces 36%; agriculture 34%; privately owned
service and manufacturing enterprises 20% (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: 24 governorates (muhafazat,
singular--muhafazah); Ad Daqahliyah, Al Bahr al Ahmar,
Al Buhayrah, Al Fayyum, Al Gharbiyah, Al Iskandariyah,
Al Ismailiyah, Al Jizah, Al Minufiyah, Al Minya,
Al Qahirah, Al Qalyubiyah, Al Wadi al Jadid, Ash
Sharqiyah, As Suways, Aswan, Asyut, Bani Suwayf, Bur
Said, Dumyat, Janub Sina, Matruh,
Shamal Sina, Suhaj

_#_Independence: 28 February 1922 (from