Egypt to give women financial incentive for birth control

CAIRO – 2 January 2023: The Egyptian government is considering launching a program that provides a financial incentive to families that control the increasing birth rate, as part of a national project for family development.

The new program aims at reducing the birth rate from 2.8 children to 1.6 children per family, said the Egyptian Cabinet in a statement on January 31. The program was discussed by Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly in a meeting with Minister of Planning Hala El-Saied.

The incentive is an insurance policy worth LE 60,000 ($1,986.47) that would be given to the woman at the age of 45 if she does not have more than two children; leaves a wide interval between births; and commits to periodic examination for breast cancer and non-communicable diseases, CNN reported.

The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) announced on January 4, 2023 that the Egyptian population grew by 1,583,000 in 2022 so its size hit 104,395,000, pointing out that a baby was born every 14 seconds.