The lack of a policy to redistribute the growing population may lead to a population explosion in Cairo, demographic experts have warned.
Magdi Abdel Qader, an adviser at the Cairo Demographic Center, projected that Egypt’s total population will rise to 103 million by 2030. The population of the capital–which currently stands at 8 million–will rise to 10.5 million, predicted Abdel QWader, who also warned that Cairo does not have enough space to accommodate such a growth in population. He added that the population density will reach 3500 person per square kilometer.
Abdel Qader pointed out that populations in governorates close to Cairo are also predicted to increase, which will lead to a larger number of informally-built areas. This, in turn, will lead to higher rates of unemployment. The demographic expert therefore recommended relocating people to new cities as a way to overcome this future scenario.
Hesham Makhlouf, head of the Demographic Society, held the government responsible for the current maldistribution of the population, saying land in governorates is being used to build tourist resorts instead of being used to solve the problems of the youth.
Fadia Abdel Salam, an expert at the Institute of National Planning, said several other countries have large populations but do not suffer from the same problems as we do in Egypt because they have managed to strike a balance between their resources and the size of their populations.
Abdel Salam added that Egypt is rich in human resources, since 40% of the population are in their fertile age period. She warned however of water problems, saying that the current size of the population requires 78 billion cubic meters of water.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
