Egypt

National name: Jumhuriyat Misr al-Arabiyah

Geography 

Capital: Cairo
Major Towns: Alexandria, Aswan, Luxor, Gizeh, Suez, Dahab, Sharm el-Sheikh
Location (geographical coordinates/latitude and longitude): 30°2'N, 31°13'E
Time Zone: UTC+2
Size (Land and Sea): 1,001,450 sq km
Borders with Gaza Strip 11 km, Israel 266 km, Libya 1,115 km, Sudan 1,273 km
Elevation extremes: Lowest point: Qattara Depression -133 m; highest point: Mount Catherine 2,629 m
 
Politics 

Head of State: President: Hosni Mubarak (1981), Prime Minister: Ahmed Nazif (2004)
Form of Government: Semi-presidential Republic
Independancy (from UK): June 18, 1953 
Currency: Egyptian pound (EGP)

Industry 

Main industries: Textiles, food processing, tourism, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, hydrocarbons, construction, cement, metals, light manufactures
Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, phosphates, manganese, limestone, gypsum, talc, asbestos, lead, zinc
Agriculture: cotton, rice, corn, wheat, beans, fruits, vegetables; cattle, water buffalo, sheep, goats

Population and People 

Population: 80,335,036 (July 2007 est.)
Population density per sq mi: 209
Growth rate: 1.7%
Birth rate: 22.53 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Total fertility rate: 2.77 children born/woman (2007 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 30.1/1000
Religion: Muslim (mostly Sunni) 90%, Coptic 9%, other Christian 1%
Languages: Arabic (official), English and French widely understood by educated classes
Ethnic groups / Tribes: Egyptian 98%, Berber, Nubian, Bedouin, and Beja 1%, Greek, Armenian, other European (primarily Italian and French) 1%
Average age: 0-14 years: 32.2% (male 13,234,428/female 12,631,681); 15-64 years: 63.2% (male 25,688,703/female 25,082,200); 65 years and over: 4.6% (male 1,576,376/female 2,121,648) (2007 est.)
Life expectancy: 71.6
Literacy (definition: age 15 and over can read and write): Total population: 71.4%; male: 83%; female: 59.4% (2005 est.)

• Land bridge to Asia
• Sinai Peninsula
• Most populous country in the Middle East and the second-most populous on the African continent
• Sahara Desert
• Nile Delta
• Ancient civilization
• Some of the world's most famous monuments, including the Pyramids and the Great Sphinx
• Ancient Egyptian names of the country: "black land", is derived from the fertile black soils deposited by the Nile floods
• One of the oldest cultures in the world
• Economy depends mainly on agriculture, media, petroleum exports, and tourism
• Cairo is Africa's largest city
• Egypt has the highest number of Nobel Laureates in Africa and the Arab World
• Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz was the first Arabic-language writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature
• Cairo International Film Festival
• Actor Omar Sharif was born in Egypt
• Egypt receives the least rainfall in the world
• Valley of the Kings
• Magical underwater world
• Desert oases
• Camel trains
• Bazaars
• Alexandria, 'The Pearl of the Mediterranean' 
• Mount Sinai, revered as the site of God’s revelation of the Ten Commandments
• Sufi dancing
• Karnak Temple
• Aswan Dam
• The Suez Canal links the Red Sea with the Mediterranean 
  

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