This monograph reviews the general characteristics of poverty in Egypt, looking at the definition and measurement of poverty, its geographical distribution in Egypt, the social characteristics of the poor, and how poverty has been addressed by the governments, NGOs, and the poor themselves.

After a decade of slow economic growth Egypt's rate of growth recovered in the late 1990s, averaging more than five percent a year. But the effect of this growth on poverty patterns has not been systematically examined using consistent, comparable household datasets. In this paper, the authors use the rich set of unit-level data from the most recent Egyptian household surveys (1995-96 and 1999-2000) to assess changes in poverty and inequality between 1995 and 2000. Their analysis is based on household-specific poverty lines that account for the differences in regional prices, as well as differences in the consumption preferences and size and age composition of poor households. The results show that average household expenditures rose in the second half of the 1990s and the poverty rate fell from 20 percent to less than 17 percent. But, in addition to the ongoing divide in the urban-rural standard of living, a new geographical/regional divide emerged in the late 1990s. Poverty was found predominantly among less-educated individuals, particularly those working in agriculture and construction, and among seasonal and occasional workers. These groups could suffer the most from the slowing economic growth evident after 1999-2000.

Essay from the year 2008 in the subject Geography / Earth Science - Demographics, Urban Management, Planning, grade: B, University of Birmingham (International Development Department- School of Public Policy), course: Urban Development, language: English, abstract: This paper summarises the characteristics of urban poverty in Greater Cairo (GC) region as one of the most important regions not only in Egypt but also in MENA region. The targeted region is administratively extended across three governorates which are Cairo, Giza, and Qaliobeia. It includes the urban areas of the three governorates with exception to only some scattered areas that constitutes an area of about 2900 km2. Discussed within are the factors that contributed to urban poverty within GC and its associated problems. The paper also discusses the experienced difficulties by the Egyptian Government while alleviating the urban poverty prevalence, which resulted from the complex nature of poverty in urban areas of GC region. In order to understand the nature of urban poverty in GC it is important to recognise the definition of Urban Poverty which refers to poverty in urban areas. However, poverty has lots of definitions according to the approach that used for defining it; whether it is a monetary approach based on incomes and consumptions, or based on the capabilities of people or their social situation if they are included or excluded or based on a participatory approach that considers how poor people defined themselves as poor (Laderchi, Saith and Stewart, 2003). The World Bank refers to the Urban Poor as those who are deprived from access to employment opportunities and income, adequate and secure housing and services, living in peaceful and healthy environments with social protection mechanisms, and access to adequate health and education opportunities (World Bank, 2008) Urban Poverty has a different nature from a place to another as each region has its unique national, demographic, economic and governance contexts. Furthermore, the factors that formulated its nature in every country are different (Sims, 2003).