Egypt - Demographics

Capital - Cairo

Official languages - Arabic

Demonym - Egyptian

Government Semi-presidential republic
- President Hosni Mubarak
- Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif

Establishment
- First Dynasty c.3150 BC
- Independence from United Kingdom 28 February 1922
- Republic declared 18 June 1953
- National Day 23 July (to celebrate 23 July 1952)

Area
- Total 1,002,450 km2 (30th)
- 387,048 sq mi
- Water (%) 0.632

Population
- March 2009 estimate 76 million[1] (16th)
- Density 76/km2 (120th)
- 196/sq mi

Currency - Bahraini dinar (BHD)
Time zone - (UTC+2)
Drives on - the right
Internet TLD .eg
Calling code +20

officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia. Covering an area of about 1,010,000 square kilometers (390,000 sq mi), Egypt is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west.

Egypt is one of the most populous countries in Africa and the Middle East. The great majority of its estimated 76 million live near the banks of the Nile River, in an area of about 40,000 square kilometers (15,000 sq mi), where the only arable agricultural land is found. The large areas of the Sahara Desert are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypt's residents live in urban areas, with the majority spread across the densely-populated centres of greater Cairo, Alexandria and other major cities in the Nile Delta.

Egypt is famous for its ancient civilization and some of the world's most famous monuments, including the Giza pyramid complex and its Great Sphinx. The southern city of Luxor contains numerous ancient artifacts, such as the Karnak Temple and the Valley of the Kings. Egypt is widely regarded as an important political and cultural nation of the Middle East.

Egypt possesses one of the most developed economies in the Middle East, with sectors such as tourism, agriculture, industry and service at almost equal rates in national production. Consequently, the Egyptian economy is rapidly developing, due in part to legislation aimed at luring investments, coupled with both internal and political stability, along with recent trade and market liberalization.
One of the ancient Egyptian names of the country, Kemet , is derived from the fertile black soils deposited by the Nile floods, distinct from the deshret, or, of the desert. The name is realized as kīmi and kīm in the Coptic stage of the Egyptian language, and appeared in early Greek as (Khēmía). Another name was "land of the riverbank".

Egypt is bordered by Libya to the west, Sudan to the south, and by the Gaza Strip and Israel to the east. Egypt's important role in geopolitics stems from its strategic position: a transcontinental nation, it possesses a land bridge (the Isthmus of Suez) between Africa and Asia, which in turn is traversed by a navigable waterway (the Suez Canal) that connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Indian Ocean via the Red Sea.

courtesy : wikipedia