The United Nations Population Fund has released a report on the population status in Egypt for 2016, in cooperation with the Egyptian Center for Public Opinion Research (Baseera), warning against the risks of population growth and saying that current and projected growth rates will result in Egypt’s population reaching 119 million by 2030. “We are facing a catastrophe,” said Sherif, who urged for executive plans to be drawn up to resolve the problem and asked the Health Ministry to do so. Shawqy promised this would be concluded within two weeks, to be tackled with Sherif. He described the rising birth rate as illogical, saying that the population increased by more than 20 million in the nine years between 2006 to 2015. “We are facing a huge increase that we will be unable to avoid,” he said, adding that this population growth threatens national security and social stability, in addition to other challenges concerning water, food, environment and the economy.

Source: Egypt Independent May 23, 2017 09:33 UTC