Youth unemployment over 28 percent

More than half of Egypt’s youth suffers from poverty, according to figures released by the official statistics agency — and more than a quarter of the youth were unemployed in 2012.

Of the 19.4 million Egyptians aged between 18 and 29 in 2012 — representing 23.6 percent of the population — 51.3 percent live below the poverty line, according to a CAPMAS statement.

Youth unemployment reached 28.3 percent in 2012, with women hit the hardest at 49.7 percent and men at 21.3 percent. 

Egypt’s total unemployment rate topped 12 percent in the same year, but the youth unemployment rate is always significantly higher, a chronic problem in the Arab world where youth make up the bulk of the population and job opportunities are lacking.

Unemployment amongst males with university degrees reached 37.8 percent, while the rate for females in the same category was 56.5 percent.

The numbers also tracked marriage rates among this age group, of which 66.1 percent of males were married, as opposed to 86 percent of females. Twenty-seven percent of males in this age bracket were divorced, compared to 48.6 percent of females.