Language:
Arabic with an Egyptian dialect, though a significant percentage of the educated population are capable in English, French and/or Italian.

Currency:
Egyptian Pound, as in the rest of Egypt, though US Dollars and Euros are freely exchanged.

Country dialing code:
+20.

Religion:
90-94 % Muslim, most of the rest is Coptic Christian. Most Muslims are Sunni, though no specific percentages seem to be available. While Copts make up the largest percentage of Christians, there is a small, declining number of Catholics, and apparently an increasing number of protestants, mostly Episcopal.

Time zone:
GMT + 2.

Electricity:
220 volts AC, 50Hz; round two-pin plugs are used.

Average January temp:
17.5ºC (63.5ºF); 8ºC (47ºF) at night.

Average July temp:
36.5ºC (97.7ºF).

Annual rainfall:
25mm (1 inch) per year, usually Dec-Mar.

Land Mass:
About 214.2 sq km stretching along the banks of the River Nile for 40km (25 miles) (metropolitan area) Greater Cairo, including all suburbs, is estimated to cover an area of 86,369.3 square kilometers of which the region of Giza accounts for 85,153.6.

Population :
The average annual population growth rate from 1960 to 1994 was 2.1%. For the years 1994 to 2001, the estimated average annual growth rate is 1.6%. About 36 percent of the population is under 15 years of age.

The population estimate is 6,789,479 for the city and 14,872,204 for the greater Metropolitan Area. The population density is 31,727 per square kilometer for the city and 2361 for the greater metropolitan area. The average household size is 4.4 persons per household.

The average life expectancy is 60 to 65 for males, and 63 to 68 for females. The crude birth rate is 30.6 per 1000 people, and the crude death rate is 7.3 per 1000 people.

Economy :
The Greater Cairo Metropolitan area is the major urban, industrial, and financial agglomeration in Egypt. Per capita GNP is 5,630.2 L.E.($1,656). Cairo proper GNP is 8,854.3 L.E. GNP. The total number of poor persons in 1995-96 was 749,400. The unemployment rate in 1995 was 7.6%.

Among the labor force, 0.8% are involved in agriculture, 32.3% in industry, and 66.9% in services. Professional and technical staff represent 25.4%, and 70% of those of working age are employed in the informal sector.

Health and Environment :
Cairo is plagued by countless illnesses from bacterial infections, viruses, parasitic infections and malnutrition. Cairo has serious air pollution from motor vehicles and factories, which combine to make Cairo's air pollution level one of the highest in the world. Air quality is severe and comprises 2.1 percent of all deaths. Environmental problems are primarily a by-product of population explosion and industrial overexpansion. Sources of water pollution range from industrial effluent discharged into the Nile to untreated sewage that finds its way into waterways and ground water. Waste generated per day equals 8500 of solid waste and 30 tons of hazardous waste.

Infrastructure and Social Services :
Water —85% of the city's population have access to potable water, supplied by local water works and the Nile River. The average per capita supply is 300 liters daily.

Electricity —99% of the populations have access to electricity, which is provided by hydroelectric and gas power.

Waste —Septic tanks serve only about 25% of the city's population; 70.9% have access to sewage connections.

Transportation — Infrastructure includes railways, an underground metro (currently Africa's only metro system), motor highways and buses. Cairo has had a dramatic growth in the number of private vehicles. It has an insufficient bus and tram fleet and inadequately developed secondary road network. Automobile Ownership in Cairo Proper is estimated at 114 per 1,000 people. In 1993, 73 people per every 1000 in the city owned passenger cars. How Cairenes Get Around:

• Walking: 36%

• Microbus 18%

• Bus 12%

• Metro 11%

• Car 13%

• Taxi 4%

• Other Pubic Transportation 6%

Cairo's 42.5 kilometer metro carries 60,000 passengers per hour in each direction.

Health —Infant mortality is 42.2 per 1000 live births, a big reduction from 240 in 1961. There are 100 hospitals and 12,834 doctors in Cairo.

Education —The adult literacy rate (for people aged 15+) is 70.8%.

Enrollment ratios in schools are 93.9% for the total population and 93.7% for females.

Housing —Cairo's housing stock has expanded with a surplus of about 1 million housing units.

Egypt Climate and Weather:
Throughout Egypt, days are commonly warm or hot, and nights are cool. Egypt has only two seasons: a mild winter from November to April and a hot summer from May to October. The only differences between the seasons are variations in daytime temperatures and changes in prevailing winds. In the coastal regions, temperatures range between an average minimum of 14° C in winter and an average maximum of 30° C in summer.

Temperatures vary widely in the inland desert areas, especially in summer, when they may range from 7° C at night to 43° C during the day. During winter, temperatures in the desert fluctuate less dramatically, but they can be as low as 0° C at night and as high as 18° C during the day.

The average annual temperature increases moving southward from the Delta to the Sudanese border, where temperatures are similar to those of the open deserts to the east and west. In the north, the cooler temperatures of Alexandria during the summer have made the city a popular resort. Throughout the Delta and the northern Nile Valley, there are occasional winter cold spells accompanied by light frost and even snow. At Aswan, in the south, June temperatures can be as low as 10° C at night and as high as 41° C during the day when the sky is clear.

Egypt receives fewer than eighty millimeters of precipitation annually in most areas. Most rain falls along the coast, but even the wettest area, around Alexandria, receives only about 200 millimeters of precipitation per year. Alexandria has relatively high humidity, but seas breezes help keep the moisture down to a comfortable level. Moving southward, the amount of precipitation decreases suddenly. Cairo receives a little more than one centimeter of precipitation each year. The city, however, reports humidity as high as 77 percent during the summer. But during the rest of the year, humidity is low. The areas south of Cairo receive only traces of rainfall. Some areas will go years without rain and then experience sudden downpours that result in flash floods. Sinai receives somewhat more rainfall (about twelve centimeters annually in the north) than the other desert areas, and the region is dotted by numerous wells and oases, which support small population centers that formerly were focal points on trade routes. Water drainage toward the Mediterranean Sea from the main plateau supplies sufficient moisture to permit some agriculture in the coastal area, particularly near Al Arish.

A phenomenon of Egypt's climate is the hot spring wind that blows across the country. The winds, known to Europeans as the sirocco and to Egyptians as the khamsin, usually arrive in April but occasionally occur in March and May. The winds form in small but vigorous low-pressure areas in the Isthmus of Suez and sweep across the northern coast of Africa. Unobstructed by geographical features, the winds reach high velocities and carry great quantities of sand and dust from the deserts. These sandstorms, often accompanied by winds of up to 140 kilometers per hour, can cause temperatures to rise as much as 20° C in two hours. The winds blow intermittently and may continue for days, cause illness in people and animals, harm crops, and occasionally damage houses and infrastructure.