CAIRO, July 30 (Xinhua) -- About 65 percent of Egyptian families have nine children, which can hinder the nation's development, said Egyptian Minister of Social Solidarity Ghada Wali on Sunday.
"Population increase rate has reached 2.5 percent, which requires raising the economic growth rate three times in no less than ten years, which is not happening for the time being," Wali said at a ceremony to mark the 2017 World Population Day.
The minister added that about 62 percent of Egyptian mothers are illiterate.
Egypt's population has exceeded 100 million, including 93.4 million citizens in addition to at least 8 million expatriates, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi told a youth conference in Alexandria last week that terrorism and growing population are the largest challenges facing the most populous Arab country.
