Cairo.- The results from the “Survey of Young People in Egypt” (SYPE) were released this December in a final dissemination conference at Gran Hyatt Hotel. The Population Council and the Decision Support Center (ISDR) conducted a comprehensive situation analysis of 15,029 young people from 11,372 families, with the support of UNFPA and UNICEF among other partners.
The main topics included in the research were: health, education, employment, migration marriage and civic participation. According to H. E. Ambassador Moushira Khattab, Minister of Family and Population, “the survey will help us identify the needs of many citizens of border governorates and will become a guidance for decision-makers and policy makers”.
Egypt is at a stage in its demographic transition with a marked "youth bulge," a period in which the proportion of youth in the population increases significantly compared to other age groups. About 62 percent of the total population is 29 or under, and nearly 40 percent is between the ages of 10 to 29.
Ms. Safaa El Kogali, the regional director of the Population Council, highlighted that over two million young people are out of school; 80 percent of which are girls from rural areas and in Upper Egypt. In her speech, she also remarked that 1 out of 5 young people expressed their interest in international migration. Also, males of 15-29 are more likely to say they want to migrate (30%) than females (7%). “I am an optimist. –she said- If we all work together to address these issues we can tackle a lot of them”.
The report is available at: www.popcouncil.org/SYPE
