The population of Egypt, on Tuesday officially surpassed 100 million, reaching a new record in spite government’s efforts to promote birth control and curtail population growth.
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The Statistics Agency of the Government (CAPMAS), disclosed this on its website in Cairo.
Egypt is the Arab world’s most populous country. In recent decades, the government has launched several family planning campaigns seeking to slow population growth and ease the pressure on its struggling economy.
The country’s economy was battered by political unrest following the 2011 uprising which forced long-time President Hosny Mubarak out of power.
However, militant attacks in response to the army-led 2013 ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi further dampened its growth.
President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi introduced a series of harsh economic reforms in 2014, including slashing subsidies and liberalising the exchange rate, measures the government said were necessary to heal the ailing economy.
The country’s population stood at 94.8 million in the 2017 census.