The government wants us to stop reproducing like rabbits. A two-year action plan aims to bring down Egypt’s fertility rate to 2.4 children per woman by 2030, down from a current 3.5 children per woman, Planning Minister Hala El Said said in a statement. The strategy will see the government push women’s participation in the labor force, widen access to contraception, drive media campaigns and use unspecified “digitization and legislation” to “influence behaviour.”

SMART POLICY- The government is looking to increase labor force participation among women aged 18-45, with a primary focus on women in villages classified as impoverished under President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s recent Decent Life initiative, according to El Said.

This strategy comes as part of the wider government plan to better-manage population growth. The EGP 100 mn Two is Enough initiative launched in 2018 falls under the same umbrella. We officially hit the 100 mn mark earlier this year — the head of state statistics agency Capmas said at the time that family planning could help us limit the population to 143 mn people by 2052 rather than 192 mn if growth is left unchecked.