Population Boom Continues to Stretch Cairo's Resources

A report from EuroMonitor International predicts that Cairo is expected to add 500,000 additional people to the city's 22.8 million residents in 2017. Egypt's 2.4 percent population growth is double that of other developing countries, reports ENCA (via Reuters), bringing the country's population to 92 million.

Cairo's population increase is primarily being fed by migrants from southern Egypt, hoping to escape poverty while also earning money to send back home to their families. Cairo is currently housing many of the migrants in informal settlements that ring the city; these "slums" are estimated to house 850,000 people in buildings without basic utilities like water or sewerage connections. In order to address the population increase, the Egyptian government is currently building a new capital city in the desert to the east of Cairo. ENCA reports that 17,000-18,000 new residential units are expected to be completed and available for occupancy in the new capital city sometime next year.