26.4% of Egypt’s Young Men Wish to Emigrate – CAMPAS

Because of Egypt’s endemic unemployment problem, 26.4 percent of Egypt’s young men wish to emigrate despite having never travelled abroad, ; the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) reported on Sunday.

Of those wishing to emigrate, over 61 percent cited lack of employment opportunities in Egypt as the reason.

Over 30 percent of Egyptian youth who have emigrated have done so illegally. Nearly 81 percent emigrated without having employment contracts, and over 99 percent headed to Arab countries, versus the 0.8 percent emigrating to Europe.

Male youth unemployment, defined as that affecting men between the ages of 15 and 29, reached 30.8 percent in most governorates in 2011, according to CAPMAS.

Egypt’s total unemployment rate climbed 0.2 percent in the first quarter of 2013, with 13.2 percent of Egyptians unemployed out of a total labour fource of 27.3 million.

There are 23.6 million employed Egyptians.

Egypt’s population reached 92 million in March 2013, with 84 million living within Egypt and 8 million abroad, according to CAPMAS.