Overview of the Poverty, Food Security and Nutrition Situation in Egypt

Abstract

Food security is a significant concern for Egypt’s government. This chapter examines the country’s food security situation, highlighting the major elements affecting both food demand and supply. The study found that the economic situation, as assessed by GDP per capita and urbanization are key predictors of food access and usage, using data from many sources (World Development Indicators and FAOSTAT). Food access and use in Egypt deteriorated during crisis years, such as the years after the uprising of 2011. Following a 7% higher in GDP growth in 2006, the Egyptian economy contracted to 5.1% in 2009/2010. In 2012/2013, the drop in poverty rates from 2010/2011 to 2012/2013 was 2.1 thousand pounds per capita per year. Nevertheless, the annual per capita income was 2.6 thousand dollars. It was 3.9 thousand in 2015, and Egypt saw the highest decrease in poverty rates in 2017/2018, with a per capita annual income of 5, 9 thousand. In 2017/2018, the per capita poverty line was £736 per month, or £8827 per year, while the absolute poverty line was £491 per month, or £5890 per year. Port Said, Western, and Damietta in Egypt's Northern provinces are the least poor, with 7.6%, 9.4%, and 14.6% poverty rates, respectively, while southern Egypt stays the worst of the sub-prefectures. The adoption of the economic reform programme during the same period is the critical driver for Egypt's high poverty rate of 4.7%. In 2004/2005, average household income was 13.46,000 pounds, which climbed considerably to 20,000 pounds in 2008/2009, and remained nearly constant in the following years, in 2 years (2010/2011) and (2012/2013), respectively. The growth was indicated to be 1000 pounds (30.49/25.35) in 2015, rising to 44.19 thousand pounds in 2016, and recovering to 5,885,000 pounds in 2017/2018. 941 of Egypt’s 1000 poorest communities are in Upper Egypt, with the rest 20 settlements dispersed across the North. The poverty gap index was 35.3%, likened to 5.9% for rural Egypt as a whole. From 16% in 1999/2000 to 21.6% in 2008/2009, 25.2% in 2010/2011, 26.2% in 2012/2013, 27.8% in 2015, and 32.5% in 2017/2018.