Egypt achieves record birth rates in 2024

Shafaq News/ For the first time since 2007, Egypt has reported a notable drop in its annual birth rate, with 2024 seeing just 1.968 million births.

This marks a decline of 77,000 births, or 3.8%, compared to the previous year, and the first time in nearly two decades that the country has seen birth rates fall below the 2 million mark, according to Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Egypt's Health Minister.

Statistically, Egypt’s fertility rate is now below the regional average for the Arab world, which stood at 3.1 children per woman. Countries like Yemen, Iraq, and Sudan have some of the highest fertility rates in the Arab world, with rates exceeding 4 children per woman.

Globally, the average fertility rate is around 2.3 children per woman, which is already below the replacement level of 2.1 needed to maintain a stable population. Egypt’s rate of 2.41 children per woman is slightly above this global average, though it is lower than many countries in the Arab world.

The countries with the highest fertility rates globally include Niger, Chad, and Mali, where women have, on average, more than 7 children. On the other hand, nations with the lowest fertility rates include Japan, South Korea, and Italy, where the rate is below 1.5 children per woman.

The United Nations projects that the world’s population will peak at 10.3 billion in the mid-2080s before gradually declining to 10.2 billion by the end of the century, driven by lower fertility rates worldwide.