By Troy Carter
Today is World Population Day, an event that was created in 1987 in what was then called Day of 5 Billion which was organized to bring attention to Earth’s rapidly growing population. The event was made an annual one and became what we recognize today.
This year the world’s population is expected to reach an astounding 7 billion and on some days in Cairo it feels like everyone of them is driving a car on the 6th of October Bridge or shoving into a subway car at Sadat station.
Egypt’s population is 82.9 million according to the World Bank’s data. At its current growth rate the population will likely reach 160 million by 2050. This makes Egypt the most populous Arab country, with Sudan coming in a distant second, and the third largest in Africa. (Even after the breakaway of the south, Sudan will probably be slightly more populous than Algeria which has a population of 34.9 million.)
Casual observers believe that overpopulation causes poverty but it is the other way around. Poverty is the fuel of population growth. If the state and civil society effectively address the wide-spread poverty in Egypt, population growth will slow or stop.
Probably the quickest way to both slow population growth and address poverty would be to focus on primary education, particularly that of girls. Female Egyptians are arguably the countries most maltreated resource, by unlocking their potential with education and improved health care Egypt’s progress on tackling multiple issues will dramatically accelerate.
And frankly if the Central Asia Institute can make headway in mountainous villages of rural Pakistan the job in Egypt should be relatively easy, especially so with the recent outpouring of young Egyptians who are earnestly pleading in Tahrir Square for a chance to lead. The global youth are the most interconnected and technologically sophisticated group in the history of the world and the only thing standing in their march to progress is the remnants of an outdated, authoritarian regime.
But aside from reforming and properly funding the education system, Egypt needs to adopt serious family planning policies and build institutional capacity to make sure that every child is wanted and that reproductive health is maximized. This means we need to work together to break the stigma of contraception and make sure costs are not prohibitive.
But World Population Day isn’t just about slowing the swell of humanity, it’s about realizing that we share one world, the environment, and the way we treat it effects everyone. Future generations will be saddled with the problems that we’re creating today and furthermore our own health is risked by living in Cairo, a smog and dust choked city who’s air quality sets the bottom of the scale.
And speaking of Cairo, the next generations of Egyptians won’t be living in the Delta or Upper Egypt, they’ll be living in cities. Imagine the chaos of a future Cairo with a a population that isn’t 22 million but 40 million. This underlines an important point, the city needs to adopt a 50-year master plan for renovation, growth, and sustainability now.
All this leads back to where Egypt is today and reinforces the need for a radical change in the political system. The presidential system of governance in which the president has king-like powers of decree and can completely disregard the will of the people must be discarded.
Egypt’s new constitution must give the people the ability to regularly guide the state’s policies and priorities through a strong parliament and an unbiased press that will shine light into the depths of corrupt and illegal behavior. Realizing this, that World Population Day is inherently connected to political freedom, it’s easy to see that Tahrir Square in Cairo gives the fight against overpopulation its greatest expression.
Troy Carter is a former US Senate Defense Fellow and 5-year veteran of the US Army. He now studies political science at The American University in Cairo.
