On the Population Policy of the Government of Egypt

The article is devoted to the population programs of the government of Egypt. At the present moment, their number amounts to almost forty, but they have not yet been a subject of thorough research by Africanists. The rate of population growth in Egypt remains at a high level, with the country’s population reaching 118 million by 2025. This forms the preconditions for increasing social tension in society, aggravates the problems of unemployment, living standards, provokes food and environmental crises. Population policy and its main component, the family planning program, have been implemented by the government since the middle of the 20th century with the help of Western organizations and the United Nations. Traditional worldview, religious tenets, family attitudes and other factors hinder the implementation of policies aimed at reducing the birth rate, especially in rural areas in Upper Egypt, where a quarter of the population lives, but which account for more than 40% of all newborns. However, some Egyptian theologians, including those from the leading Al-Azhar University, note that family planning policies in general are not contrary to Islamic practices. Egyptian experts recommend the implementation of family planning programs, emergency measures in the field of health care, social security, improvement of women’s education, especially among young women and girls living in remote rural areas where, despite the official ban, child marriages, characterized by early childbearing, are concluded. These measures are having an effect, fertility rates are gradually declining, but Egypt’s high population growth is maintened.