New CAPMAS Report Reveals 11.8% of Egyptian Children 'Never Wanted'

In light of reports that Egypt’s population grew by 750,000 people in just 170 days by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), the government organisation examined some of the driving factors behind this spike. Their report shows that 20% of Egyptian children born in 2021 were unplanned, and that 11.8% of them were initially unwanted. Unplanned pregnancies in Egypt also increased from 8.3% in 2014 to 20% in 2020.

CAPMAS’s statistics further reveal that the desire to have children differs according to women’s geographical location and level of education. Women with high school or undergraduate degrees were shown to have an average of 2.6 children, while women who haven’t graduated elementary school have an average of 3.6 children. In urban areas, the average number of children per household was 2.2, as opposed to 3.7 in Upper Egypt and rural areas in 2021.