_#_Land use: arable land 3%; permanent crops 2%; meadows and pastures 0%; forest and woodland NEGL%; other 95%; includes irrigated 5%
_#_Environment: Nile is only perennial water source; increasing soil salinization below Aswan High Dam; hot, driving windstorm called khamsin occurs in spring; water pollution; desertification
_#_Note: controls Sinai Peninsula, only land bridge between Africa and remainder of Eastern Hemisphere; controls Suez Canal, shortest sea link between Indian Ocean and Mediterranean; size and juxtaposition to Israel establish its major role in Middle Eastern geopolitics
_*People #_Population: 54,451,588 (July 1991), growth rate 2.3% (1991)
_#_Birth rate: 33 births/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Death rate: 10 deaths/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Net migration rate: NEGL migrants/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Infant mortality rate: 82 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)
_#_Life expectancy at birth: 60 years male, 61 years female (1991)
_#_Total fertility rate: 4.5 children born/woman (1991)