As of January 1, 2023, the aggregate Egyptian population was estimated at almost 104.5 million inhabitants. The capital city, Cairo, was the most populated area in the country, with 10.2 million residents. Moreover, the governorate of Giza followed, with up to 9.46 million people living in the area. South Sinai was the least inhabited governorate in the nation. The touristic region had a mere 115,000 people actively residing in the governorate. A scarcely populated area and a populous capitalEgypt has a total area of close to 1.01 million square kilometers. Yet, only around 105,200 square kilometers of the country are inhabited, representing only around 10.5 percent of the available landmass. Most of the Egyptian population lives along the Nile River due to the majority of the land being a desert. In fact, El Wadi ElGidid, also known as New Valley governorate, located in the south of Egypt's Western Desert, covers almost 42.3 percent of the country. Notably, the population density in Cairo was higher compared to the other governorates at over 5,610 people per square kilometer. Population growth and a New Administrative Capital     Since 1952, the country’s population faced a rapid increase growing from close to 21.5 million to current levels. Between 2012 and 2022, the population growth of Egypt was highest in 2014 at nearly 2.34 percent, dropping yearly ever since. In March 2015, Egypt’s current Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, who was at that time Minister of Housing and Urban Utilities, announced the establishment of the New Administrative Capital. One of the fundamental goals is to decrease the current overpopulation in Greater Cairo and its inability to absorb a fast-growing population.

This statistic shows the biggest cities in Egypt in 2023. In 2023, approximately *** million people lived in Cairo, making it the biggest city in Egypt.

Actual value and historical data chart for Egypt Population In Largest City

Egypt EG: Population in Largest City data was reported at 19,648,312.000 Person in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 19,229,733.000 Person for 2016. Egypt EG: Population in Largest City data is updated yearly, averaging 9,346,005.500 Person from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 19,648,312.000 Person in 2017 and a record low of 3,680,160.000 Person in 1960. Egypt EG: Population in Largest City data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Egypt – Table EG.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population in largest city is the urban population living in the country's largest metropolitan area.; ; United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects.; ;

As of July 1, 2023, the population density of Egypt was close to 937.6 individuals per square kilometer. Cairo, the capital city, was the most densely inhabited in the country, with 5,668.4 people per square kilometer. Kalyoubia followed, with nearly 5,250 inhabitants per square kilometer. Moreover, the third and fourth most densely populated governorates were Alexandria and Gharbia, with around 3,195 people per square kilometer and 2,795 people per square kilometer, respectively. It is worth noting that Cairo, parts of Giza, and Kalyoubia make up Greater Cairo due to their proximity.

Egypt EG: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data was reported at 47.163 % in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 47.028 % for 2016. Egypt EG: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data is updated yearly, averaging 39.100 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 47.163 % in 2017 and a record low of 36.002 % in 1960. Egypt EG: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Egypt – Table EG.World Bank: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population in largest city is the percentage of a country's urban population living in that country's largest metropolitan area.; ; United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects.; Weighted average;

This dataset is about cities in Egypt. It has 41 rows. It features 5 columns: country, population, latitude, and longitude.

Historical dataset of population level and growth rate for the Cairo, Egypt metro area from 1950 to 2025.

This horizontal bar chart displays urban population (people) by capital city using the aggregation sum in Egypt. The data is filtered where the date is 2021. The data is about countries per year.

Cairo, in Egypt, ranked as the most populated city in Africa as of 2025, with an estimated population of over 23 million inhabitants living in Greater Cairo. Kinshasa, in Congo, and Lagos, in Nigeria, followed with some 17.8 million and 17.2 million, respectively. Among the 15 largest cities in the continent, another one, Kano, was located in Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa. Population density trends in Africa As of 2023, Africa exhibited a population density of 50.1 individuals per square kilometer. Since 2000, the population density across the continent has been experiencing a consistent annual increment. Projections indicated that the average population residing within each square kilometer would rise to approximately 58.5 by the year 2030. Moreover, Mauritius stood out as the African nation with the most elevated population density, exceeding 627 individuals per square kilometre. Mauritius possesses one of the most compact territories on the continent, a factor that significantly influences its high population density. Urbanization dynamics in Africa The urbanization rate in Africa was anticipated to reach close to 45.5 percent in 2024. Urbanization across the continent has consistently risen since 2000, with urban areas accommodating only around a third of the total population then. This trajectory is projected to continue its rise in the years ahead. Nevertheless, the distribution between rural and urban populations shows remarkable diversity throughout the continent. In 2024, Gabon and Libya stood out as Africa’s most urbanized nations, each surpassing 80 percent urbanization. As of the same year, Africa's population was estimated to expand by 2.27 percent compared to the preceding year. Since 2000, the population growth rate across the continent has consistently exceeded 2.3 percent, reaching its pinnacle at 2.63 percent in 2013. Although the growth rate has experienced a deceleration, Africa's population will persistently grow significantly in the forthcoming years.

Historical dataset of population level and growth rate for the Tanta, Egypt metro area from 1950 to 2025.

This bar chart displays population (people) by capital city using the aggregation sum in Egypt. The data is filtered where the date is 2023. The data is about countries per year.

Historical dataset of population level and growth rate for the Alexandria, Egypt metro area from 1950 to 2025.

The below dataset shows the top 800 biggest cities in the world and their populations in the year 2024. It also tells us which country and continent each city is in, and their rank based on population size. Here are the top ten cities:

• Tokyo, Japan - in Asia, with 37,115,035 people.
• Delhi, India - in Asia, with 33,807,403 people.
• Shanghai, China - in Asia, with 29,867,918 people.
• Dhaka, Bangladesh - in Asia, with 23,935,652 people.
• Sao Paulo, Brazil - in South America, with 22,806,704 people.
• Cairo, Egypt - in Africa, with 22,623,874 people.
• Mexico City, Mexico - in North America, with 22,505,315 people.
• Beijing, China - in Asia, with 22,189,082 people.
• Mumbai, India - in Asia, with 21,673,149 people.
• Osaka, Japan - in Asia, with 18,967,459 people.

Historical dataset of population level and growth rate for the Bur Said, Egypt metro area from 1950 to 2025.

Based on a collection of estimates, over the past 9,000 years, there have been at least 48 cities with a claim to the title of "the world's most populous city". While these can be found on four separate continents, the majority are concentrated in three major regions; 12 of these cities were in present-day Iraq or Syria (then-Mesopotamia), nine were in China, and seven in Egypt. Additionally, many of these cities were found across the Mediterranean, not only during Antiquity (Alexandria, Carthage, and Rome), but also during the Middle Ages (Constantinople, Cordova, and Fez), highlighting the economic significance of this region throughout history.

Many of the older entries in this list are now just archeological sites, although several have been continuously inhabited for millennia, such as Luoyang and Xi'an in China, which both have populations of several million in 2022. It may also be possible that the first entry, Jericho, is the world's oldest, continuously inhabited settlement, although this is a topic of debate.

This geographical dataset consists of a series of four shapefiles. The main one, EGY_SEC, provides the delineation for the villages (Yahya), cities (Madina), and neighbourhoods (Shiyakha) of Egypt's larger towns. This shapefile comprises 5410 geocoded geographical units linked with the 1996 census data.

The EGY_SEC geographical layer of Egypt's smallest administrative units has been sourced from various paper map series (notably Egyptian administrative military maps and the 1/25.000 series). The layer is georeferenced using Egypt's datum (Egypt 1907 / Blue Belt).

The previous work of Sylvie Fanchette¹ on the Nile Delta population mapping has been instrumental in the making of this geodataset.

It was created in the frame of the programme EGIPTE “Explorations Géographiques Informatisées de la Population et du Territoire de l’Égypte » funded by CNRS from 2004 to 2006 (PIR-Ville). It was coordinated by François Moriconi and Eric Denis with the support of Hala Bayoumi and Ahmed Wagih, and hosted during the 1990s’ by the CEDEJ in Cairo.

An updated version of this map is used and can be viewed on the join website: https://www.cedejcapmas.org

The other 3 shapefiles are:

NILE for the Nile River layer

EGYPT for the governorate/muhafaza level layer

EGYPT_GOV for the district-level layer

The dataset is notably in the special issue of the Journal Geocarrefour (Revue de Géographie de Lyon), vol. 73, n°3, 1998 titled Géographie sociale de l'Egypte.

See also:

Denis, E. (1998). Croissance urbaine et dynamique socio-spatiale Le Caire de 1950 à 1990. L'espace géographique, 129-142.

Denis, É., & Moriconi-Ébrard, F. (1998). La population de l'Egypte 1897-1996. L'information Géographique, 62(1), 12-23.

1. S. Fanchette. 1997. Le delta du Nil. Densités de population et urbanisation des campagnes. Fascicule de Recherches n°32. Urbama-Orstom. Tours. 389 p.

Historical dataset of population level and growth rate for the Asyut, Egypt metro area from 1950 to 2025.

This bar chart displays male population (people) by capital city using the aggregation sum in Egypt. The data is filtered where the date is 2023. The data is about countries per year.

Historical dataset of population level and growth rate for the Aswan, Egypt metro area from 1950 to 2025.