Dr. John R. Mott of the US YMCA, had an audience with King Fouad, Kind of Egypt, to have his blessing for establishing the YMCA Organization in Egypt.

On January 6, 1923, it was the unforgettable day in the history of the YMCA in Egypt, when the Cairo YMCA was inaugurated and took place in a unique place under the auspices of the king.

Population: 78,866,635 (July 2009 est.)
Age Structure:
0-14 years: 33% (male 13,308,407/female 12,711,900)
15-64 years: 62.7% (male 25,138,546/female 24,342,230)
65 years and over: 4.3% (male 1,546,774/female 1,818,778) (2009 est.)

Birth Rate:
25.43 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)
Death Rate: 4.88 deaths/1,000 population (July 2009 est.)
Infant mortality Rate:
total: 27.26 deaths/1,000 live births
country comparison to the world: 81
male: 28.93 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 25.51 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)
Life Expectancy:
total population: 72.12 years
country comparison to the world: 122
male: 69.56 years
female: 74.81 years (2009 est.)
HIV/AIDS – adult prevalence rate: less than 0.1% (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS – people living with HIV/AIDS: 9,200 (2007 est.)
HIV/AIDS – deaths: fewer than 500 (2007 est.)
Ethnic Groups: Egyptian 99.6%, other 0.4% (2006 census)

Religions: Muslim (mostly Sunni) 90%, Coptic 9%, other Christian 1%
Languages: Arabic (official), English and French widely understood by educated classes
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 71.4%
male: 83%
female: 59.4% (2005 est.)
Government Type: republic
Capital: Cairo
Geographic coordinates: 30 03 N, 31 15 E
Time difference: UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
Daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Friday in April; ends first Friday in August
Independence: 28 February 1922 (from the UK)
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal and compulsory

Currency: Egyptian pounds (EGP)
Population below poverty line: 20% (2005 est.)

Transnational Issues:

Disputes – international:
Sudan claims but Egypt de facto administers security and economic development of Halaib region north of the 22nd parallel boundary; Egypt no longer shows its administration of the Bir Tawil trapezoid in Sudan on its maps; Gazan breaches in the security wall with Egypt in January 2008 highlight difficulties in monitoring the Sinai border; Saudi Arabia claims Egyptian-administered islands of Tiran and Sanafir

Refugees and internally displaced persons:
refugees (country of origin): 60,000 – 80,000 (Iraq); 70,198 (Palestinian Territories); 12,157 (Sudan) (2007)

Trafficking in persons:
current situation: Egypt is a transit country for women trafficked from Eastern European countries to Israel for sexual exploitation, and is a source for children trafficked within the country for commercial sexual exploitation and domestic servitude, although the extent to which children are trafficked internally is unknown; children were also recruited for domestic and agricultural work; some of these children face conditions of involuntary servitude, such as restrictions on movement, non-payment of wages, threats, and physical or sexual abuse
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List – Egypt is on the Tier 2 Watch List for the third year in a row because it did not provide evidence of increasing efforts to investigate and prosecute traffickers; however, in July 2007, the government established the “National Coordinating Committee to Combat and Prevent Trafficking in Persons,” which improved inter-governmental coordination on anti-trafficking initiatives; Egypt made no discernible efforts to punish trafficking crimes in 2007 and the Egyptian penal code does not prohibit all forms of trafficking; Egypt did not increase its services to trafficking victims during the reporting period (2008)

Illicit drugs:
transit point for cannabis, heroin, and opium moving to Europe, Israel, and North Africa; transit stop for Nigerian drug couriers; concern as money laundering site due to lax enforcement of financial regulations

**Information retreived from CIA – The World Factbook: www.cia.gov