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Official Name: Arab Republic of Egypt
Location: Officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, a country in north-eastern Africa bordered by the
Mediterranean Sea to the north, Israel and the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south,
and Libya to the west. The principal geographic feature of the country is the Nile River. |
| Capital: Cairo
Area: Egypt has a maximum length from north to south of about 1085 km (about 675 mi) and a maximum width, near the
southern border, of about 1255 km (about 780 mi). It has a total area of 997,739 sq km (385,229 sq mi).
Language: The official language is Arabic, but English is widely spoken in commerce and government.
Religion: Islam is the official religion, and about 90 percent of all Egyptians are Muslims, most of them members
of the Sunni sect. According to official Egyptian estimates, the Coptic Orthodox church, a Christian denomination,
has no more than 3 million adherents and constitutes the largest religious minority; Copts themselves claim
some 7 million members. An estimated 1 million people belong to the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic,
Armenian, and various Protestant churches. The country has a very small Jewish community.
Population: The population of Egypt (1997 estimate) is 64,824,466. Almost 99 percent of the population lives within the Nile
Valley and delta, which constitutes less than 4 percent of Egypt´s total area.
Membership: Egypt is a member of the UN, OAU, the
Arab League, OPEC and Organization of the Islamic Conference.
Currency: The unit of currency is the Egyptian pound. The Egyptian pound is written E£, and is divided into 100 piastres.
Egypt Time difference: GMT + 2 ( GMT + 3 in summer)
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