Mouths and Rabbits!

Good news announced by Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Minister of Health which is a decrease in the rate of population increase in 2023 by 8% compared to 2022, with the number of births declining during the last 5 years from 3.5 to 2.85 per woman.

This percentage was confirmed by the statement of the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics when it revealed that the time period to reach the last million, 107 million people, had increased to 268 days, compared to 250 days last year.

I hoped that this event would be covered well by media outlets, to be an area for raising awareness as we all know that development is consumed by the population increase, so that the citizen does not feel it. This may be an important beginning for increasing the citizen’s awareness.

Egypt has been suffering for many years from a population explosion that is devouring the revenues of development, and no matter how hard we try, we do not feel any improvement in income or the economy. The increase was major in a dissatisfactory way that destroys everything green and dry at the family level and at the community level!

We tried a lot with various advertisements and campaigns, starting with Hassanein and Mohammadin, the recommendations of Mrs. Karima Mukhtar, films and series, and Afwah Wa Araneb (Mouths and Rabbits) movie starring late actress Faten Hamama... and birth control campaigns and providing free means in health units. So how were we able to reach this result?

I wish the Minister of Health had announced these reasons so that we could all know them and work on them.

I know that this decline was not the result of coincidence, but rather the result of major accumulations and changes in the structure of society and its demographic composition.

Is it the result of family planning campaigns, is it the result of awareness, or is it due to the increase in divorce cases and the delay in the age of marriage?!

I hoped that this news would be given its due attention, and that it would be an area for awareness, as we all know that development is consumed by the population increase, so that the citizen does not feel it. This may be an important beginning for increasing the citizen’s awareness.