Egypt's statistics authority said on Sept. 30 that the country's total population has reached 104.2 million. (Reuters Photo)

CAIRO, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's total population inside and outside the country reached 104.2 million, head of the country's official statistics authority said on Saturday.

The population in inside Egypt in April 2017 hit 94.8 million while the number of expatriates reached 9.4 million, totalling together 104.2 million, said Abu-Bakr al-Gendy, head of the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) in a conference attended by President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi.

The capital Cairo ranked first in terms of population with 9.7 million, followed by the provinces of Giza with 8 million, Sharqiya with 6.9 million and Alexandria with 5 million.

The total population is expected to vary from 128 million to 140 million by 2030 based on the rise of birth rate.

President Sisi said in a recent youth conference that terrorism and growing population are the largest challenges facing the most populous Arab country.