The Arabist

The Arabist

By Issandr El Amrani and friends.

Statistics

Imbaba,an informal settlement in the north part of Cairo that sprang up in the 1970s with the massive arrival of Upper Egyptian migrants, is officially Egypt's most fertile neighborhood. As opposed to the neighborhood across the Nile from Imbaba, the swanky island of Zamalek, which is the least fertile (but of course, while around the same size, it is also much less densely populated). A good illustration of the many divides in Egypt:

CAIRO: Imbaba, an elaborate squatter area in Giza, Egypt, records 23,000 newborn babies annually, compared to the least fertile upscale Zamalek area with its 235 yearly births.


According to a recently published report by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAMPAS), Imbaba, which has a population of 1.1 million living on an area of 17,000 square km, contributes 1.1 percent to Egypt’s annual population rise.


Official statistics claim that Egypt’s population grows by 1.9 million every year, denoting a birth rate of 25.8 percent. The number is expected to go down to 1.2 in the next few years. The annual death rate of 6.3 percent (452,000 people) means that the overall natural population increase ra



[From Daily News Egypt - Imbaba, Egypt’s Most ‘Fertile’ Neighborhood, Says Report]