- Published on 09 November 2016
To understand how realistic the population growth rates projected for various projects were, we calculated the most recent actual growth rate per governorate based on census data produced for 1996 and 2006 by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).
To get an even more realistic population growth rate, especially for frontier governorates where tourism is heavy, we omitted all the population in temporary lodging (so-called “general buildings” or masakin ‘amma), which include hotels, hostels, orphanages and prisons.
| Governorate | Census | GR | |
| 1996 | 2006 | ||
| TOTAL | 59,018,241 | 72,349,119 | 2.26 |
| Cairo | 6,735,172 | 8,388,828 | 2.46 |
| Alexandria | 3,321,844 | 4,099,348 | 2.34 |
| Port Said | 465,351 | 559,581 | 2.02 |
| Suez | 415,146 | 508,306 | 2.24 |
| Damietta | 911,653 | 1,094,305 | 2.00 |
| Daqahlia | 4,214,578 | 4,974,545 | 1.80 |
| Sharkia | 4,273,725 | 5,343,086 | 2.50 |
| Qalubia | 3,287,422 | 4,242,956 | 2.91 |
| Kafr al-Sheikh | 2,218,987 | 2,613,739 | 1.78 |
| Gharbia | 3,396,473 | 4,001,199 | 1.78 |
| Munufia | 2,750,053 | 3,260,097 | 1.85 |
| Beheira | 3,986,177 | 4,743,845 | 1.90 |
| Ismailia | 712,233 | 949,048 | 3.32 |
| Giza | 4,761,823 | 5,690,497 | 1.95 |
| Beni Sweif | 1,856,425 | 2,286,368 | 2.32 |
| Fayoum | 1,986,109 | 2,505,725 | 2.62 |
| Minya | 3,299,764 | 4,150,397 | 2.58 |
| Assiut | 2,776,783 | 3,417,695 | 2.31 |
| Sohag | 3,113,012 | 3,737,171 | 2.01 |
| Qena | 2,433,897 | 2,992,392 | 2.29 |
| Aswan | 966,428 | 1,176,217 | 2.17 |
| Luxor | 358,880 | 449,790 | 2.53 |
| Red Sea | 143,025 | 233,438 | 6.32 |
| Wadi al-Gadid | 138,140 | 183,493 | 3.28 |
| Matruh | 209,745 | 319,897 | 5.25 |
| North Sinai | 250,542 | 340,737 | 3.60 |
| South Sinai | 43,854 | 86,419 | 9.71 |