Population Planning in Egypt: An Attempt at Conceptualization

Population in developing countries is generally considered a problem because of the adverse effect population growth has on the welfare of the masses. If a developing country is to improve its standard of living, the sudden decrease in death rate resulting from socioeconomic development has to be offset by a proportional decrease in fertility rate. This can be realized only if the population plan is inscribed in and implemented through a total economic plan. Therefore, family planning crash programs, which are started in some countries as a health oriented activity and are supported by advertising campaigns, meet ultimately with limited success. Presently the Egyptian population can be divided into three categories: (a) a rural community inclined to high fertility; (b) an urban community conditioned to low fertility norms; and (c) a transitional society which is ready to but has not yet adopted a small family norm. The economic plan should gear itself toward increasing the size of the last two categories by creating new social and economic situations which conflict with traditional behavior favoring high fertility. The role of population planning in this case will be limited to speeding up this transition.