Geography (1)
Category : Egypt
New Page 9

1) Natural geography
 

Area > Comparative
slightly more than three times the size of New Mexico

Area > Comparative to US places
slightly more than three times the size of New Mexico

Area > Land

995,450 sq km

[30th of 238]

Area > Land (per capita)

12.182 sq km per 1,000 people

[118th of 227]

Area > Total

1,001,450 sq km

[36th of 250]

Area > Total (per capita)

12.256 sq km per 1,000 people

[123rd of 231]

Area > Water

6,000 sq km

[59th of 239]

Area > Water (per capita)

73.427 sq km per million people

[103rd of 225]

Capital city with population

Cairo - 7,010,000

Climate
desert; hot, dry summers with moderate winters

Coastline

2,450 km

[57th of 271]

Elevation extremes > Highest point

Mount Catherine 2,629 m

Elevation extremes > Lowest point

Qattara Depression -133 m

Forested Land

0.1%

[193rd of 193]

Geographic coordinates

27 00 N, 30 00 E

Geography > Note
controls Sinai Peninsula, only land bridge between Africa and remainder of Eastern Hemisphere; controls Suez Canal, a sea link between Indian Ocean and Mediterranean Sea; size, and juxtaposition to Israel, establish its major role in Middle Eastern geopolitics; dependence on upstream neighbors; dominance of Nile basin issues; prone to influxes of refugees

Irrigated land

34,220 sq km

[17th of 196]

Irrigated land (per capita)

480.163 sq km per million people

[45th of 167]

Land area > sq. km

995,450 km²

[29th of 206]

Land area > sq. km (per capita)

13.446 km² per 1,000 people

[99th of 206]

land border lengths > D-F > Number of neighbours

4

[3rd of 14]

land border lengths > D-F > Total Borders

2,665 km

[4th of 14]

Land boundaries > Border countries
Gaza Strip 11 km, Israel 266 km, Libya 1,115 km, Sudan 1,273 km

Land boundaries > Total

2,665 km

[67th of 166]

Land boundaries > Total (per capita)

32.614 km per million people

[152nd of 164]

Land use > Arable land

2.92%

[168th of 258]

Land use > Other

96.58%

[69th of 258]

Land use > Permanent crops

0.5%

[142nd of 258]

Largest city population

9,690,000

[10th of 174]

Largest city population (per capita)

0.125 per capita

[99th of 174]

Largest city with population

Cairo - 7,010,000

Location
Northern Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Libya and the Gaza Strip, and the Red Sea north of Sudan, and includes the Asian Sinai Peninsula

Map references
Africa

Maritime claims > Contiguous zone

24 nautical mile

[42nd of 83]

Maritime claims > Continental shelf
200 m depth or to the depth of exploitation

Maritime claims > Exclusive economic zone

200 nautical mile

[67th of 123]

Maritime claims > Territorial sea

12 nautical mile

[132nd of 191]

Natural hazards
periodic droughts; frequent earthquakes, flash floods, landslides; hot, driving windstorm called khamsin occurs in spring; dust storms, sandstorms

Natural resources
petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, phosphates, manganese, limestone, gypsum, talc, asbestos, lead, zinc

northernmost point > Latitude

31°36'N

Population density

67.58 people per sqkm

[123rd of 256]

Population density > people per sq. km

74.37 people/m²

[106th of 204]

Rural population density > rural population per sq. km of arable land

1,411.56 people/km² of arable lan

[1st of 188]

Surface area > sq. km

1,001,450 km²

[29th of 206]

Surface area > sq. km (per capita)

13.527 km² per 1,000 people

[99th of 207]

tallest mountains > Mountain

Mount Catherine

Terrain
vast desert plateau interrupted by Nile valley and delta


 

SOURCES
CIA World Factbook, 22 August 2006 ; All CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 18 December 2008; United Nations World Statistics Pocketbook and Statistical Yearbook, City Population, CIA World Factbook, World Gazetteer, Official government websites.; FAO; World Development Indicators database; Wikipedia: List of land border lengths ; United Nations World Statistics Pocketbook and Statistical Yearbook; Wikipedia: List of countries by northernmost point ; Heal The World Foundation.; Wikipedia: List of tallest mountains by country

ALTERNATIVE NAMES
Egypt, Arab Republic of Egypt, Jumhuriyat Misr al-Arabiyah, Misr

Environment
 

Acidification

0%

[111st of 141]

Adjusted savings: carbon dioxide damage > % of GNI

1.18 % of GNI

[25th of 179]

Adjusted savings: net forest depletion > % of GNI

0.24 % of GNI

[37th of 57]

Adjusted savings: particulate emission damage > % of GNI

0.92 % of GNI

[32nd of 165]

Areas under protection

35

[75th of 146]

Areas under protection (per capita)

0.451578 per 1 million people

[133rd of 146]

Biosphere reserves area

2,456 thousand hectares

[21st of 86]

Biosphere reserves area (per capita)

31.6879 thousand hectares per 1

[42nd of 86]

Breeding birds threatened

4.58%

[37th of 136]

Carbon efficiency

1.45 CO2 emissions/$ GDP

[56th of 141]

CFC consumption

36,637.7

[28th of 107]

CFC consumption (per capita)

0.472708 per 1,000 people

[42nd of 107]

CO2 Emissions

127,130

[27th of 178]

CO2 Emissions (per capita)

1.64027 per 1,000 people

[93rd of 176]

CO2 emissions > kg per 2000 PPP $ of GDP

0.52 kg/PPP$

[42nd of 170]

CO2 emissions > kt

139,626.2 kt

[29th of 195]

CO2 emissions > kt (per capita)

1.959 kt per 1,000 people

[105th of 196]

Current issues
agricultural land being lost to urbanization and windblown sands; increasing soil salination below Aswan High Dam; desertification; oil pollution threatening coral reefs, beaches, and marine habitats; other water pollution from agricultural pesticides, raw sewage, and industrial effluents; limited natural fresh water resources away from the Nile, which is the only perennial water source; rapid growth in population overstraining the Nile and natural resources

Ecological footprint

1.7

[81st of 141]

Endangered species protection

19%

[106th of 141]

Environmental agreement compliance

4.42

[35th of 70]

Fertiliser consumption

3,926.08 hundred grams/hectare

[10th of 141]

Forest area > % of land area

0.07 % of land area

[194th of 195]

Forest area > sq. km

670 km²

[162nd of 195]

Forest area > sq. km (per capita)

9.05 km² per 1,000 people

[192nd of 195]

Freshwater withdrawal

68.3

[13th of 124]

Freshwater withdrawal > Agricultural

86%

[41st of 124]

Freshwater withdrawal > Domestic

8%

[86th of 124]

Freshwater withdrawal > Industrial

6%

[60th of 124]

Groundwater withdrawals

85.1

[54th of 188]

International agreements > Party to
Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands

International agreements > Signed but not ratified
none of the selected agreements

Known breeding bird species

123

[130th of 146]

Known breeding bird species (per capita)

1.58697 per 1 million people

[142nd of 146]

Known mammal species

98

[86th of 145]

Known mammal species (per capita)

1.26442 per 1 million people

[138th of 145]

Marine areas under protection

12

[30th of 95]

Marine areas under protection (per capita)

0.154827 per 1 million people

[72nd of 95]

Marine fish catch

155,133 tons

[49th of 141]

Marine fish catch (per capita)

2.00156 tons per 1,000 people

[83rd of 141]

Non-wildness

2.37%

[78th of 141]

NOx emissions per populated area

2.18 thousand metric tons/squ

[6th of 141]

Organic water pollutant (BOD) emissions > kg per day

186,059.2 kg/day

[15th of 115]

Organic water pollutant (BOD) emissions > kg per day per worker

0.2 kg per day per worker

[15th of 115]

PM10, country level > micrograms per cubic meter

134.79 mcg/m³

[6th of 185]

Pollution > Carbon dioxide 1999

33,730

[29th of 199]

Protected area

0.8

[129th of 147]

SO2 emissions per populated area

4,090 thousand metric tons/squ

[13th of 141]

SO2 exports

816.09 hundred metric tons

[94th of 141]

Threatened species

33

[64th of 158]

Threatened species > Mammal

15

[51st of 160]

Total renewable water resources

86.8 cu km

[8th of 31]

Urban NO2 concentration

43.83 micrograms/m3

[91st of 141]

Urban SO2 concentration

69 micrograms/m3

[47th of 141]

Water > Availability

-0.24 thousand cubic metres

[133rd of 141]

Water > Dissolved oxygen concentration

7.49 mls/litre

[79th of 141]

Water > Freshwater pollution

3.58 tons/cubic km

[16th of 69]

Water > Phosphorus concentration

0.6 mls/litre

[18th of 141]

Water > Salinisation

1,977.91

[13th of 141]

Water > Severe water stress

88.1

[14th of 140]

Water > Suspended solids

3.88 mls/litre

[109th of 141]

Water pollution, chemical industry > % of total BOD emissions

9 %

[28th of 114]

Water pollution, clay and glass industry > % of total BOD emissions

0.3 %

[19th of 112]

Water pollution, food industry > % of total BOD emissions

50.66 %

[21st of 114]

Water pollution, metal industry > % of total BOD emissions

10.76 %

[11th of 94]

Water pollution, other industry > % of total BOD emissions

2.81 %

[34th of 107]

Water pollution, paper and pulp industry > % of total BOD emissions

8.16 %

[44th of 111]

Water pollution, textile industry > % of total BOD emissions

17.72 %

[10th of 114]

Water pollution, wood industry > % of total BOD emissions

0.59 %

[47th of 114]

Wetlands of intl importance > Area

106 thousand hectares

[63rd of 112]

Wetlands of intl importance > Area (per capita)

1.36764 thousand hectares per 1 m

[90th of 112]

Wildness

70.06%

[10th of 141]


SOURCES
Stockholm Environment Institute at York, Acidification in Developing Countries: Ecosystem Sensitivity and the Critical Loads Approach at the Global scale, 2000 via ciesin.org; World Development Indicators database; World Resources Institute; 2000 IUCN Red List, and World Resources Institute,World Resources 2000-2001, Washington, DC: WRI, 2000. Original sources: World Conservation Monitoring Center, IUCN-The World Conservation Union, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and other sources.; Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center; UNEP, Production and Consumption of Ozone Depleting Substances, 1986-1998, October 1999. via ciesin.org; World Resources Institute. 2003. Carbon Emissions from energy use and cement manufacturing, 1850 to 2000. Available on-line through the Climate Analysis Indicators Tool (CAIT) at Washington, DC: World Resources Institute; All CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 18 December 2008; World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Living Planet Report 2000, Gland, Switzerland: 2000, and Redefining Progress.; Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, Report on National Reports Required Under Article VIII, Paragraph 7(a), of the Convention, Eleventh Meeting of the Conference of the Parties, Gigiri, Kenya, April 2000; Michael E. Porter et al, The Global Competitveness Report 2001. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. via ciesin.org; World Bank, World Development Indicators 2001. Washington, DC: World Bank, 2001. via ciesin.org; ; FAOSTAT on-line database; Wild Areas Project (WAP), joint Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and CIESIN project to map the last wild places on the earth's surface. Accessed via ciesin.org; Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: Special Report on Emissions Scenarios, Data Version 1.1, B1Illustrative Marker Scenario with model IMAGE; Gregg Marland, Tom Boden, and Bob Andres, University of North Dakota, via net publication; Jacaranda Atlas; International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, RAINS-ASIA and Co-operative Programme formonitoring and evaluation of the long range transmission of air pollutants in Europe (EMEP) via ciesin.org; United Nations World Statistics Pocketbook and Statistical Yearbook; World Resources Institute, World Resources 1998-99; World Bank, World Development Indicators 2000; WHO,Air Management Information System-AMIS 2.0, 1998; and Global Urban Observatory, Citibase, 1999. via ciesin.org; Center for Environmental Systems Research, University of Kassel, WaterGAP 2.1B, 2001 via ciesin.org; United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Global Environmental Monitoring System/Water Quality Monitoring System, with data for an additional 29 countries from Prescott-Allen,R. The Well being of Nations, Washington, DC: Island Press, 2001; World Bank, World Development Indicators 2001, Washington, DC: World Bank, 2001 (for BOD emissions)and Center for Environmental Systems Research, University of Kassel, WaterGap 2.1, 2000 (for data on waterquantity). via ciesin.org; United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Global Environmental Monitoring System/Water Quality Monitoring System, with data for an additional 29 countries from Prescott-Allen, R. The Well being of Nations, Washington, DC: Island Press, 2001; Center for Environmental Systems Research, University of Kassel, WaterGap 2.1, 2000 via ciesin.org; Wild Areas Project (WAP), joint Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and CIESIN project to map the lastwild places on the earth's surface. via ciesin.org

ALTERNATIVE NAMES
Egypt, Arab Republic of Egypt, Jumhuriyat Misr al-Arabiyah, Misr