The Egyptian government has embarked on a birth control sensitization project in a bid to slow down the country’s population growth.
The country is already the most populous in the Arab world, with a population of 93 million people.
Authorities have projected that the country’s population will hit 128 million by 2030 if fertility rates of 4.0 births per thousand women continue.
Egypt’s statistics agency CAPMAS last month said that the country saw the birth of 2.6 million babies in 2016.
“The two biggest dangers that Egypt faces throughout its history are terrorism and population growth and this challenge decreases Egypt’s chances of moving forward,” President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told a youth conference last month.
Egypt’s health minister last month started Operation Lifeline, a strategy to reduce the birth rate to 2.4 and save the government up to $11.3 billion by 2030.
The operation’s main focus will be the rural areas, where reports suggest that many see having large families as a source of economic strength.
The health ministry said it would deploy 12,000 family planning advocates to 18 rural provinces but gave no details of how it would attract more women to the programme.
The ministry has set up nearly 6,000 family planning clinics where women receive free check-ups and can buy heavily subsidized contraceptives.
