In a village in Minya Governorate, south of Cairo, and at noon last Tuesday, the little girl, Yasmine Rabie, came to the world, raising Egypt's population to one hundred million.
In an article in the American New York Times, David Sims wrote that monitoring the birth of a hundred million people does not only indicate reproduction, but is disturbing in a country that suffers from the obsession of population explosion, which exacerbates poverty and unemployment, and contributes to the scarcity of basic resources such as land and water.
Sims is a lecturer at the American University in Cairo and author of Understanding Cairo: The Logic of a City Out of Control.
The American expert said that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi described the population increase as a threat to national security equal to terrorism, and tried to avoid it with a "2 adequacy" campaign, but the presidential campaign failed like many of its counterparts.
But the opposition believes that successive governments take the population increase in a peg attached to its failure to confront the deteriorating economy and declining rates of development.
The article reports that childbearing rates have risen since 2008 to 3.5 children per woman, according to United Nations statistics, and that the rate of increase in the population reached 1.8% annually, a rate that adds one million citizens every six months in Egyptian cities and towns that are already crowded with people.
The American writer pointed out that the population crisis was amplified in Egypt due to its cruel and unforgiving geography, as 95% of the population lives on only about 4% of the land, which is a green belt equal to almost half of Ireland's area and follows the Nile as it continues to crawl across the desert, and then branch To two branches in the fertile Nile Delta.
The article says that the construction of a huge new dam on the Nile in Ethiopia - due to start filling this summer - raised Egyptians' concerns about the current approach to living on the river.
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He adds that fertility rates are the highest in rural areas, where the large family is considered a blessing that everyone seeks, but its impact is significantly felt in Greater Cairo.
The writer says that Ahmed Abdel Hadi, who works as a taxi driver and has four children, does not care about the government's efforts to determine birth control, but rather that he mocks him and says that "human capital has its value, and the man's family is a reflection of his income, and this is what should determine the number of children who He gave birth to them, not someone trying to dictate his opinion. "
But the article indicates the success of birth control campaigns during the era of former President Hosni Mubarak, where rates fell from 5.2% to 3% according to government figures, but the birth rate returned to rise in conjunction with the start of the Arab Spring in 2011 for reasons that are not entirely clear, but it is likely to be Caused by economic and government turmoil and low contraceptive financing by Western governments and organizations.
During Al-Sisi's era, the government sent thousands of family planning advocates to rural areas, offered cheap contraceptives, and Al-Azhar endorsed government plans and affirmed that the Islamic religion does not prohibit family planning.
But critics say the government is talking about birth control, but its actions are not consistent with her slogans, and Sisi's wife has not been an influential force in family planning, while officials have tried to alleviate the problem through public health programs.
The gynecologist and obstetrician at Ain Shams University, Amr Nadim, talks about the problem of the wrong supply of variable-quality contraceptives, poor medical training, and the funding of the US government, in addition to not obliging new doctors to receive training courses in the field of family planning, adding, "We do not have strategic solutions Women in the face of these dilemmas. "
Poverty worsens
The article cited examples of highly populated developing countries that had managed to control the problem, such as Vietnam, which reduced the rate of increase to 1%, as did Bangladesh with a population of more than 160 million people.
More than 700,000 young Egyptians enter the job market every year, adding that it is "an arduous task for any government, and providing housing for these is another challenge," said Alexander Poderosa, the UNFPA representative in Egypt.
The article stated that Sisi had established many mega projects like the new capital, but very few Egyptians could afford to live in developed and luxurious places.
He pointed out that most people are crammed into informal informal settlements that are constantly spreading on the outskirts of Cairo and other cities, where villages are transformed into cities that harbor the poor, while agricultural lands are followed by informal development.
Experts say the government has a dismal record in providing new housing for the poor, and, according to the author, the poverty rate is rising, reaching 32.5% last summer, according to government statistics.
"The high fertility rate may be a reflection of this economic failure, as Egypt returns to its rural roots. If you are a poor person, you will have more children," the writer added.
He pointed out that the story of the 100 million baby was met by many Egyptians, who were not surprised by the difficulties of life in a crowded city until the explosion.
Ahmed Alaa, 24, who works as a marketing representative, said that his desire to avoid crowding often paralyzes his working days, and this often means just staying at home.
"This congestion has become very natural, and you cannot set a date to do anything because of the traffic frenzy," he added.