The population of Egypt. Ethnic groups

The population of Egypt in its ethnic composition is the most homogeneous among the inhabitants of the North African states. This country is considered the largest of all Arab and the second among African (after Nigeria) countries.

Ethnic groups

98% of the inhabitants are Egyptians. With them assimilated different, Arabic-speaking including ethnic minorities, which settle on the periphery of ethnic Egyptian territory. These groups are small not only in comparison with the Egyptians, but also from other African and Arab countries. The population of Egypt includes several large, after the Egyptians, groups: Sinai and Nubians. The first are a transitional ethnos. They inhabit the Sinai Peninsula, especially the coastal zones. In these areas, the Palestinian refugees live, the Egyptians here mainly - people of military professions, employees, workers who come to these areas for a certain period. Nubians are also a very peculiar ethnic group. It was formed in the second half of the 20th century, after the ethnic groups mahas, kunuz and local Arabo-Nubian tribes were evicted from Nubia.

The population of Egypt. Groups of Berbers and Bischarin

Representatives of the last ethnos are the northernmost of the tribes of the badge. Within the state borders, only a part of the bisharins are settled, the number of which is 20,000. They still lead a semi-nomadic or nomadic way of life, driving the flocks of sheep and camel herds to desert pastures from Lake Nasser and back. To date, among the bisharin, a large percentage of residents are urban dwellers. The number of Berbers, also included in the population of Egypt, is no more than a thousand people. They dwell on the border with Libya, the Mediterranean coast and the oasis of Siwa.

Disputes over the nation

About half a century the question of whether the Egyptians are considered a separate nation or adjacent to the general Arab is unresolved. Until relatively recently, the lower strata of the townspeople and the Fellahs vaguely represented their nationality. Today opinions are significantly divided. So, for example, some Muslims say they belong to the Egyptian nation, while the other says that the Arabs, and the Egyptians as well, are elements of one ethnic group. Most of the residents still hesitate or seek to find compromise wording. It should be said that this issue has not only academic significance. This dispute also concerns nationalism, both Egyptian and Arab, pan-Islamism, topical political, linguistic and other problems, which concern Egypt itself. The population (2013, namely its beginning, by the number of borns is not much different from 2012) today has about 84 million people. At the same time, the standard of living of people is quite low. Despite the fact that the country has introduced a system of compulsory six-year education, rural, for example, children during the harvesting or sowing period are often deprived of the opportunity to study. And the peasants today make up about 55% of the total population of Egypt.