Should Egyptians celebrate hitting the 100 million population mark?

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el Sisi has often described the country's growing population as a "national security threat". As the birth of a girl on Wednesday in upper Egypt's impoverished Minya governorate marked Egypt's 100 millionth citizen, a week before Egyptian cabinet said it was on a "high alert" to fight the population explosion, it remains to be seen how a country run by a military dictator will manage its human capital in the face of rising unemployment, shrinking resources, widespread corruption and an acute political crisis.

Egypt's statistics agency also projected that its population will reach 145 million by 2030.

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly met with a number of ministers to discuss family planning efforts nationwide.

Madbouly said the government will take some measures to control population growth and urged relevant ministries to prepare action plans on the issue.

Limiting families to having two children is currently enforced by the state.

Here's an insight into the major problems the country is facing today and why it's likely to get worse in the coming years.

Unemployment

A third of young Egyptians are unemployed. The total workforce will reach 80 million within a decade, while at least 10 percent of the population is currently unemployed. Moreover,

A lack of open market economic policies, high tax rates and a lack of competitive market in the country are the main causes of ongoing unemployment problems.

However, with the high population growth, Egypt should be able to create more and more job opportunities as it did before. Economic growth should be at least triple of the population growth, which is the expected between 5-6 percent for this year.

Nearly 32 percent of the population of Egypt were living below the national poverty line in the 2018 fiscal year, up from 27.8 percent in 2015.

The nominal wage growth was below the inflation between 2016 and 2018.

Water shortage and infrastructure problems

Together with economical threats, Egypt has long been on the verge of water shortages caused by climate change.

A dam built by Ethiopia on the Nile River has been a controversial issue between two countries because it cuts Egypt’s water source.

Agricultural lands have also been transformed to living areas as people are seeking to build new buildings and roads.

Cairo, home of nearly one in five Egyptians, has also become more congested in recent years. People try to find a way to leave the city, however, many job opportunities are concentrated in a single metropolis.

Sisi's offshore military adventurism

After the coup against Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, Sisi beefed up his autocratic regime by increasing military spending at the cost of the revival of the economy.

Military owned companies hurt the fiscal structure of the economy while they have many tax exemptions in several sectors.

On the other hand, the Sisi regime’s direct involvement in the Libyan civil war and indirect meddling in Yemen's civil war have had an immense impact on the Egyptian economy.