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nd French are widely understood by educated classes.

The Egyptian dialect is the most widely understood of all other Arabic dialects.

Literacy

72.0 percent. Male: 83.0 percent. Female: 59.4 percent (2007)

Ethnic groups

Egyptians 99.6 percent, Others 0.4 percent (2006 census)

Life Expectancy

70 years (men), 75 years (women)

Source: the CIA World Fact Book, American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt

1.2 Political Development

Egypt has maintained essentially the same political state structure since 1952. It became a constitutional monarchy in 1922 and, following the revolution in 1952, declared itself a Republic in 1953. The first President, Mohamed Naguib, was ousted by Gamal Abdel Nasser, whose leadership over the next 18 years left a long-lasting political, economic and social imprint on Egypt. His successor was Anwar El Sadat (1970-1981) who was later followed by the current President, Mohammed Hosni Mubarak.

During President Nasser’s presidency, extensive agricultural and industrial development projects were initiated. Progressive economic and social reforms were also implemented. With the death of President Nasser in September 1970, Anwar El-Sadat assumed office. The Sadat period witnessed changes in the political, social and economic domains and simultaneously the private sector was granted greater involvement in the country’s economy through the implementation of the “Open Door Policy”.

Hosni Mubarak assumed power in October 1981. He undertook economic reforms that succeeded in channelling finance towards productive investment in industry and agriculture. A major thrust of Egypt’s national economic policy under President Mubarak is an effort to broaden the economic base by promoting local, Arab and foreign investment.

President Mubarak was re-elected on 7 September 2005 for a fifth successive term. This was the first contested presidential election in Egypt, following a change to the constitution in May 2005. President Mubarak’s National Democratic Party (NDP) holds the majority, with 311 of the 454 seats in the People’s Assembly. The largest opposition bloc, the Muslim Brotherhood (nominally independents) holds 88 seats.

Although Egypt has changed its constitution to allow the opposition to contest presidential polls, potential candidates must meet strict criteria for participation. Religious political parties continue to be banned.

1.3 Economy

Egypt possesses one of the most diversified and vibrant economies in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of US $162.1 billion in 2007-08. Since 1991, a series of ambitious domestic economic reform programs have been introduced to reduce the size of the public sector and expand the role of the private sector. The pace of structural reforms through fiscal and monetary policies, privatisation and new business legislation, has helped Egypt’s progress towards a more market-oriented economy leading to an increased inflow of private and foreign investment in the economy. These economic reforms ushered in a period of high economic growth (7.2% in 2007-08, compared with 3.1% growth in 2002-03).

Egypt’s economy is dominated by the services sector followed by the growing industry sector. Due to the nature of its ge