Egypt is kind of screwed. 50 years ago, it had a population of 38 million people, today this has ballooned by 300% to 114 million with an average age of just 24y. The country is at risk of plunging into chaos, causing millions to flee across the Mediterranean. A short thread.
Water and agricultural land famously is scarce, meaning they're forced to import over half their food, a major source of their $33B balance of trade problem. Much of this food is grain, coming from Ukraine and Russia, which has had severe supply disruptions for years now.
Before this, it's tourism industry was decimated by the covid lockdowns. Once over 10 million people visited Egypt in a year, in 2020 this dropped to only 3.5 million. Numbers today are back up, but the industry is yet to financially recover.
Now, its other major industry, the Suez canal, is under threat. Traffic is at it's lowest level since the temporary blockage in 2021, but this time the problem does not look temporary. Pirate activity remains high, and western efforts to eliminate it do not look very successful.
@MavenPolitic I wouldn't visit Egypt because I am a woman and it is a muslim country. I like my head still attached to my body.
@MavenPolitic Its tourism industry has also been decimated by Egyptian men