rces
natural hazards: periodic droughts; frequent earthquakes, flash
floods, landslides, volcanic activity; hot, driving windstorm called
khamsin occurs in spring; duststorms, sandstorms
international agreements: party to - Biodiversity, Climate Change,
Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law
of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection,
Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Wetlands; signed, but not ratified
- Desertification, Tropical Timber 94

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 Sea; size, and
juxtaposition to Israel, establish its major role in Middle Eastern
geopolitics

@Egypt:People

Population: 62,359,623 (July 1995 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 37% (female 11,380,668; male 11,872,728)
15-64 years: 59% (female 18,250,706; male 18,641,830)
65 years and over: 4% (female 1,204,477; male 1,009,214) (July 1995
est.)

Population growth rate: 1.95% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 28.69 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Death rate: 8.86 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Net migration rate: -0.35 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 74.5 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 61.12 years
male: 59.22 years
female: 63.12 years (1995 est.)

Total fertility rate: 3.67 children born/woman (1995 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Egyptian(s)
adjective: Egyptian

Ethnic divisions: Eastern Hamitic stock (Egyptians, Bedouins, and
Berbers) 99%, Greek, Nubian, Armenian, other European (primarily
Italian and French) 1%

Religions: Muslim (mostly Sunni) 94% (official estimate), Coptic
Christian and other 6% (official estimate)

Languages: Arabic (official), English and French widely understood by
educated classes

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.)
total population: 48%
male: 63%
female: 34%

Labor force: 16 million (1994 est.)
by occupation: government, public sector enterprises, and armed forces
36%, agriculture 34%, privately owned service and manufacturing
enterprises 20% (1984)
note: shortage of skilled labor; 2,500,000 Egyptians work abroad,
mostly in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Arab states (1993 est.)

@Egypt:Government

Names:
conventional long form: Arab Republic of