National / Regional Profiles
Included Nations/Regions: Egypt [x], The World [x]
Religion and State (RAS) Indexes1
Religion Indexes (Egypt)
|
State Funding of Religion Summary categories: None (0/3), Low (1/3), Medium (2/3), High (3/3) Ranking: 13/253 |
Societal Discrimination of Minority Religions Summary categories: None (0/3), Low (1/3), Medium (2/3), High (3/3) Ranking: 1/253 |
State Regulation of Majority or All Religions Summary categories: None (0/3), Low (1/3), Medium (2/3), High (3/3) Ranking: 18/253 |
State Discrimination of Minority Religions Summary categories: None (0/3), Low (1/3), Medium (2/3), High (3/3) Ranking: 11/253 |
Egypt: Major World Religions (1900 - 2050) (World Religion Database, 2020)2
The following groups with less than 1% of the population were hidden from this graph: Baha'is, Buddhists, Chinese folk-religionists, Hindus, Jews, Nonreligious.
Egypt: Largest Religious Groups (1900 - 2050) (World Religion Database, 2020)2
The following groups with less than 1% of the population were hidden from this graph: Agnostics, Atheists, Catholics, doubly-affiliated, Independents, Islamic schismatics, Mahayanists, Protestants, Saktists, Shaivites, Shias, unaffiliated Christians, Vaishnavites.
Religious Adherents (World Religion Database 2020)2
| Religion | Egypt [x] |
The World [x] |
|---|---|---|
| Baha'is | 0.00% | 0.11% |
| Buddhists | 0.00% | 6.83% |
| --Mahayanists | 0.00% | 4.89% |
| --Theravadins | --- | 1.72% |
| --Lamaists | --- | 0.23% |
| Chinese folk-religionists | 0.00% | 5.98% |
| Christians | 9.26% | 32.16% |
| --unaffiliated Christians | 0.01% | 1.46% |
| --Orthodox | 8.60% | 3.75% |
| --Catholics | 0.27% | 15.90% |
| --Protestants | 0.49% | 7.51% |
| --Independents | 0.12% | 5.00% |
| Daoists | --- | 0.11% |
| Confucianists | --- | 0.11% |
| Ethnic religionists | --- | 3.65% |
| Hindus | 0.00% | 13.58% |
| --Vaishnavites | 0.00% | 5.15% |
| --Shaivites | 0.00% | 4.86% |
| --Saktists | 0.00% | 3.57% |
| Jains | --- | 0.08% |
| Jews | 0.00% | 0.19% |
| Muslims | 90.06% | 24.20% |
| --Sunnis | 89.91% | 21.56% |
| --Shias | 0.15% | 2.44% |
| --Islamic schismatics | 0.00% | 0.21% |
| New religionists | --- | 0.85% |
| Shintoists | --- | 0.04% |
| Sikhs | --- | 0.34% |
| Spiritists | --- | 0.19% |
| Zoroastrians | --- | 0.00% |
| Non-Religious | 0.67% | 11.57% |
| --Agnostics | 0.58% | 9.65% |
| --Atheists | 0.10% | 1.92% |
Religious demographics (Egypt)3
The country has an area of 370,308 square miles and a population of 79 million, of whom almost 90 percent are Sunni Muslims. Shi'a Muslims constitute less than 1 percent of the population. Estimates of the percentage of Christians ranged from 8 to 12 percent, (6 to 10 million), the majority of whom belonged to the Coptic Orthodox Church. The country's Jewish community numbers 200, mostly senior citizens.
Other Christian communities include the Armenian Apostolic, Catholic (Armenian, Chaldean, Greek, Melkite, Roman, and Syrian Catholic), Maronite, and Orthodox (Greek and Syrian) churches which range in size from several thousand to hundreds of thousands. An evangelical Protestant community, established in the middle of the 19th century, included 16 Protestant denominations (Presbyterian, Episcopal (Anglican), Baptist, Brethren, Open Brethren, Revival of Holiness (Nahdat al-Qadaasa), Faith (Al-Eyman), Church of God, Christian Model Church (Al-Mithaal Al-Masihi), Apostolic, Grace (An-Ni'ma), Pentecostal, Apostolic Grace, Church of Christ, Gospel Missionary (Al-Kiraaza bil Ingil), and the Message Church of Holland (Ar-Risaala)). There are also followers of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which was granted legal status in the 1960s. There are 800 to 1200 Jehovah's Witnesses and small numbers of Mormons but the Government does not recognize either group. The number of Baha'is is estimated at 2,000 persons.
Christians are dispersed throughout the country, although the percentage of Christians is higher in Upper Egypt (the southern part of the country) and some sections of Cairo and Alexandria.
There are many foreign religious groups, especially Roman Catholics and Protestants, who have had a presence in the country for almost a century. These groups engaged in education, social, and development work.
Summary Information |
Egypt [x] |
The World [x] |
|---|---|---|
| Region | Northern Africa | -- |
| Total Population4 | 84,731,705 | 7,335,774,068 |
| Area in square miles | 386,662 | 196,939,900 |
| Life Expectancy from birth, in years5 | 71.3 | 71.9 |
| Gross National Income per capita, in current international dollars5 | 11,110.0 | 16,101.0 |
| Description of Polity Score6 | (weakly autocratic) | -- |
| Judicial Independence Composite Score, as average of scores for higher and lower courts7 | 0.1 | 0.8 |
| Official Religion(s)8 | Sunni Islam | -- |
Egypt - Google Map
Religion and the State
Religion and State Collection (2014) |
Egypt [x] |
|---|---|
| Is proselytizing Legal?1 | Yes |
| Is religious registration someties denied?1 | Registration is required but sometimes denied |
| What are the consequences of registration?1 | Groups are officially required to register, and the government enforces this and discriminates against unregistered groups. |
| Official Support: The formal relationship between religion and state.1 | State Controlled Religion, Positive Attitude |
| The extent to which religious education is mandatory in public schools.1 | Mandatory for all; the course must be in religion. |
| The extent to which funding is exclusive to one or a few religions.1 | Government funding of religion goes primarily to one religion but at least some other religions receive some funds. |
| The extent to which there are religious requirements and oaths for holding office.1 | Some or all officials must take an oath of office which includes mention of God or religion in general. |
Constitutional Features [ View Excerpts]
Features of Constitution |
Egypt [x] |
|---|---|
| Is there a constitution?9 | Yes |
| Does the constitution state an official religion?10 | yes [ Article 2 ] |
| Does the constitution provide for freedom of religion?10 | partial [ Article 64 ] |
| Does the constitution protect religious equality/non-discrimination?10 | yes [ Article 53 ] |
Constitution |
Egypt [x] |
|---|---|
| Constitution Year10 | 2014 |
| Last Amended10 | (n/a) |
| Source10 | Constitute Project |
| Translation10 | Source is an English translation. |
| Current as of10 | September 9, 2018 |
Public Opinion (Egypt)(Calculated by the ARDA from the World Values Survey)11 |
2000 | 2005 | 2013 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Religious Affiliation/Identification | |||
| Percent belonging to a religious denomination. | 100 | --- | --- |
| Percent identifying as a religious person. | 98.7 | 92.5 | --- |
| Religious Behaviors | |||
| Percent attending religious services at least once a month. | 44.7 | 59.4 | 51.1 |
| Percent praying to God more than once per week. | --- | 94.1 | --- |
| Percent that meditate or pray. | --- | 0.9 | 0.4 |
| Religious Beliefs | |||
| Percent believing in God. | 100 | --- | --- |
| Percent believing in heaven. | 100 | --- | --- |
| Percent believing in hell. | 100 | --- | --- |
| Percent believing in life after death. | 100 | --- | --- |
| Percent believing that there are clear guidelines on good and evil. | 87.8 | --- | --- |
| Percent believing that politicians who do not believe in God are unfit for public office. | 56.8 | --- | --- |
| Percent believing that religious leaders should not influence people's vote. | 87.1 | --- | --- |
| Percent believing that things would be better if there are more people with strong religious beliefs. | --- | 89.8 | 83.4 |
| Percent that think that religious faith is an important quality in children | --- | 47.1 | 27.7 |
| Percent that agree: We depend too much on science and not enough on faith | 92.8 | 69.8 | --- |
| Percent believing church gives answers to people's spiritual needs. | --- | 60.8 | 59.9 |
| Percent that do not trust people of other religions | 87.3 | 64.4 | --- |
| Percent believing church gives answers on family life problems. | 92.2 | 69.5 | --- |
| Percent believing churches give answers to moral problems. | --- | 56 | 53.5 |
| Percent that often think about meaning and purpose of life | 82.6 | 60 | --- |
| Percent believing churches give answers to social problems. | 100 | --- | --- |
| Percent believing that religious leaders should influence the government. | --- | --- | 40.9 |
| Percent believing that people have a soul. | --- | --- | 37.6 |
| Percent believing in the concept of sin. | --- | --- | 95.2 |
| Percent believing religious services are important for deaths. | --- | --- | 78.9 |
| Percent believing religious services are important for births. | --- | --- | 68.4 |
| Percent believing religious services are important for marriages. | --- | --- | 38.8 |
| Religious Experiences | |||
| Percent finding comfort and strength from religion. | 99.9 | --- | --- |
| Attitudes | |||
| Percent considering religion important. | 99.9 | 99.6 | 99.9 |
| Percent considering that God is not at all important in their life. | 0.2 | 0.4 | --- |
| Percent confident in religious organizations. | 84 | --- | 74 |
| Percent agreeing that nurses can refuse to assist with an abortion on moral grounds. | 67.9 | --- | --- |
| Politics | |||
| Percent thinking that churches have an influence on national politics. | 84.8 | --- | --- |
| Percent agreeing that the government protects personal freedom. | 76.4 | --- | --- |
| Percent agreeing that the government protects religious freedom. | 80.2 | --- | --- |
| Percent agreeing that the only the laws of the Shari'a should be implemented. | --- | --- | 54.2 |
Socio-Economic Measures
Education |
Egypt [x] |
The World [x] |
|---|---|---|
| Adult Literacy Rate, in percentage of adult population13 | 73.8 | 86.2 |
| Net Primary School Enrollment Rate, in percentage of population of official school age5 | 98.0 | 89.6 |
| Net Secondary School Enrollment Rate, in percentage of population of official school age5 | 81.9 | 65.1 |
Economic Measures |
Egypt [x] |
The World [x] |
|---|---|---|
| Gross Domestic Product, in billions of current U.S. Dollars5 | 332.8 | 75,845.1 |
| Imports, in million current-year U.S. dollars14 | 66,677.3 | 20,150,355.0 |
| Exports, in million current-year U.S. dollars14 | 34,326.3 | 20,790,015.7 |
| Economic Freedom Index, scaled from 0 min to 100 max15 | 52.6 | 62.9 |
| Human Development Index16 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| 2013 Gender Inequality Index (GII)17 | 0.6 | 0.4 |
| Gross National Income per capita, in current international dollars5 | 11,110.0 | 16,101.0 |
Military Measures |
Egypt [x] |
The World [x] |
|---|---|---|
| Composite Index of National Capability, in fraction of 118 | 0.0098926 | 0.005162584 |
| 2012 Military expenditure (% of GDP)5 | 1.7 | -- |
Demographic and Health Measures |
Egypt [x] |
The World [x] |
|---|---|---|
| Total Population4 | 84,731,705 | 7,335,774,068 |
| Life Expectancy from birth, in years5 | 71.3 | 71.9 |
| 2012 Net Migration Rate (migrants per 1,000 population)5 | -215.7 | -- |
| Urban Percentage of Total Population14 | 43.2 | 54.3 |
| Urban Population Growth, by percentage14 | 2.2 | 2.0 |
| Fertility Rate, in total births per woman14 | 3.3 | 2.5 |
| Infant Mortality Rate, in deaths per 1000 live births14 | 19.4 | 30.5 |
| HIV Prevalence, in percentage of population ages 15-49 with HIV14 | 0.1 | 0.8 |
Other Measures on Religion, State, and Society
Constitution Clauses Related to Religion
Constitution Excerpts (clauses that reference religion) (Egypt)10
Preamble
In the Name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
…
… before earth knew the three revealed religions.
Egypt is the cradle of religions and the banner of glory of the revealed religions.
On its land, Moses grew up, the light of God appeared, and the message descended on Mount Sinai.
On its land, Egyptians welcomed Virgin Mary and her baby and offered up thousands of martyrs in defense of the Church of Jesus.
When the Seal of the Messengers Mohamed (Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him) was sent to all mankind to perfect the sublime morals, our hearts and minds were opened to the light of Islam. We were the best soldiers on Earth to fight for the cause of God, and we disseminated the message of truth and religious sciences across the world.
…
… Egypt affirmed its Arab allegiance, opened up to its African continent and Muslim world …
… blessings granted to [the people’s army] by … Al-Azhar and the patriotic church …
… Earth, which God created for us …
…
We are drafting a Constitution that affirms that the principles of Islamic Sharia are the principle source of legislation …
…
Article 1. Nature of the Republic.
…
Egypt … is part of the Muslim world …
Article 2. Islam, principles of Islamic sharia.
Islam is the religion of the state … The principles of Islamic Sharia are the principle source of legislation.
Article 3. Christian and Jewish religious affairs.
The principles of the laws of Egyptian Christians and Jews are the main source of laws regulating their personal status, religious affairs, and selection of spiritual leaders.
Article 7. Al-Azhar.
Al-Azhar is an independent scientific Islamic institution, with exclusive competence over its own affairs. It is the main authority for religious sciences, and Islamic affairs. It is responsible for preaching Islam and disseminating the religious sciences … in Egypt and the world.
The state shall provide enough financial allocations to achieve its purposes.
Al-Azhar’s Grand Sheikh is independent and cannot be dismissed. The method of appointing the Grand Sheikh from among the members of the Council of Senior Scholars is to be determined by law.
Article 10. Family as the basis of society.
Family is the basis of society and is based on religion [and other things] …
Article 24. Arabic language, religious education and national history.
… religious education [and other subjects] … are core subjects of pre- university public and private education …
Article 53. Equality in public rights and duties.
Citizens are equal before the law, possess equal rights and public duties, and may not be discriminated against on the basis of religion, belief …
…
Article 64. Freedom of belief.
Freedom of belief is absolute.
The freedom of practicing religious rituals and establishing places of worship for the followers of revealed religions is a right organized by law.
Article 74. Freedom to form political parties.
… No political activity may be exercised or political parties formed on the basis of religion …
…
Article 80. Rights of the child.
… Children have the right to … have access to … religious education …
…
Article 87. Citizen participation in public life.
…
The use of … places of worship … for political purposes and electioneering is forbidden.
Article 180. Election of local councils.
… The law regulates other conditions for candidacy and procedures of election, provided that … these percentages include a proper representation of Christians …
…
Article 235. Building and renovating churches.
In its first legislative term after this Constitution comes into effect, the House of Representatives shall issue a law to organize building and renovating churches, guaranteeing Christians the freedom to practice their religious rituals.
Article 244. Representation for youth, Christians, disabled persons, etc.
The state grants … Christians … appropriate representation in the first House of Representatives to be elected after this Constitution is adopted, in the manner specified by law.
Variable Details
Sources
1 The Religion and State (RAS) Project is a university-based project located at Bar Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel and is directed by Jonathan Fox. Round 3 of the RAS includes all countries with populations of 250,000 or more as well as a sampling of smaller states and offers annual measures from 1990 to 2014. The methods used for conducting the RAS3 collection and the complete codebook can be reviewed online. Or, the codebook and data file can be downloaded free of charge here. For details on how the RAS indexes reported on the ARDA’s National Profiles were coded, constructed, and placed into categories, click here.2 Todd M. Johnson and Brian J. Grim, eds. World Religion Database (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2022).
3 The U.S. State Department's International Religious Freedom Report is submitted to Congress annually by the Department of State in compliance with Section 102(b) of the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998. This report supplements the most recent Human Rights Reports by providing additional detailed information with respect to matters involving international religious freedom. It includes individual country chapters on the status of religious freedom worldwide. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. These State Department reports are open source.
4 The Religious Characteristics of States Dataset Project: Demographics reports the estimates of religious demographics, both country by country and region by region. The RCS was created to fulfill the unmet need for a dataset on the religious dimensions of countries of the world, with the state-year as the unit of observation. It estimates populations and percentages of adherents of 100 religious denominations including second level subdivision within Christianity and Islam. The RCS Data Project would like to acknowledge, recognize, and express our deepest gratitude for the significant contributions of Todd M. Johnson the co-principal investigator of the World Religion Database.
5 Relying on agencies from each country, as well as a synthesis of data from United Nations divisions, Eurostate Demographic statistics, the U.S. Census international database, and its own data collection, the World Bank's Open Data site offers free and open access to data about development in countries around the globe.
6 The Center for Systemic Peace (CSP) is engaged in innovative research on the problem of political violence within the structural context of the dynamic global system. The Center supports scientific research and quantitative analysis in many issue areas related to the fundamental problems of violence in both human relations and societal-systemic development processes. The Center continually monitors political behavior in each of the world's major states and reports on emerging issues and persisting conditions related to the problems of political violence and "state failure." A dataset with these and other international measures can be downloaded from here. Used with permission. *Note: Polity Scores range from -10 to 10 and include the following categories: -10 to -9: strongly autocratic, -8 to -7 autocratic, -6 to -4 weakly autocratic, -3 to +3 anocratic, +4 to +6 weakly democratic, +7 to +8 democratic, +9 to +10 strongly democratic.
7 Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) is a new approach to conceptualizing and measuring democracy. V-Dem provides a multidimensional and disaggregated dataset that reflects the complexity of the concept of democracy as a system of rule that goes beyond simple presence of elections. The V-Dem project distinguishes between seven high-level principles of democracy: electoral, liberal, participatory, deliberative, egalitarian, majoritarian, and consensual, and collects data to measure these principles. A dataset with these and other international measures can be downloaded from here. Used with permission.
8 The Religious Characteristics of States Dataset Project: Government Religious Preference (GRP) measures government-level favoritism toward, and disfavor against, 30 religious denominations. A series of ordered categorical variables index the state's institutional favoritism in 28 different ways. The variables are combined to form five composite indices for five broad components of state-religion: official status, religious education, financial support, regulatory burdens, and freedom of practice. The five components' composites in turn are further combined into a single composite score, the GRP score. The RCS Data Project would like to acknowledge, recognize, and express our deepest gratitude for the significant contributions of Todd M. Johnson, the principal investigator of the World Christian Database, the co-principal investigator of the World Religion Database, and co-author of the World Christian Encyclopedia series.
9 Data under the "Features of Constitution" heading are drawn from coding of the U.S. State Department's 2008 International Religious Freedom Reports conducted by researchers at the Association of Religion Data Archives. The article by Brian Grim and Roger Finke describes the coding of the International Religious Freedom reports. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. Used with permission.
10 Text from country constitutions was copied from primary documents obtained online using a variety of sources, including the Constitute Project, World Constitutions Illustrated, and government sources. When the text was in a language other than English, it was translated to English by ARDA staff or with web-based translation utilities such as Google Translate. Emphases were added to the text by ARDA staff to differentiate religious content from non-religious content. Text is current to the date listed in the "Current as of" field shown above. Please contact us at
11 The World Values Survey is a worldwide investigation of socio-cultural and political change. It is conducted by a network of social scientists at leading universities around the world. Interviews have been carried out with nationally representative samples of the publics of more than 80 societies. A total of four waves have been carried out since 1981. The ARDA has averaged the weighted responses across the waves for each country surveyed. The average responses for all countries have been placed in a single file and can be previewed and downloaded here. See the World Values Survey website for further information and to download the original survey data: http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/.
12 Freedom House is an independent non-governmental organization that offers measures of the extent to which governments are accountable to their own people; the rule of law prevails; and freedoms of expression, association, belief and respect for the rights of minorities and women are guaranteed. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. Used with permission.
13 The CIA's World Factbook was created as an annual summary and update to the now defunct National Intelligence Survey (NIS) studies. The first classified Factbook was published in August 1962, and the first unclassified version was published in June 1971. The NIS program was terminated in 1973 except for the Factbook, map, and gazetteer components. The 1975 Factbook was the first to be made available to the public with sales through the US Government Printing Office (GPO). The year 2010 marks the 67th year of the World Factbook and its predecessor programs. The maps and flags are also from the World Factbook, which is an open source.
14 Relying on agencies from each country, as well as a synthesis of data from United Nations divisions, Eurostate Demographic statistics, the U.S. Census international database, and its own data collection, the World Bank's Open Data site offers free and open access to data about development in countries around the globe.
15 The Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal Index of Economic Freedom is a systematic, empirical measurement of economic freedom in countries throughout the world. A set of objective economic criteria are used to study and grade various countries for the annual publication of the Index of Economic Freedom. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. Used with permission.
16 The United Nations Human Development Reports provide data and statistical analysis in various areas of human development. The Human Development Report (HDR) presents two types of statistics: the human development indicator tables, which provide a global assessment of country achievements in different areas of human development, and thematic statistical analysis. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. Used with permission.
17 The 2013 Gender Inequality Index is a composite measure reflecting inequality in achievements between women and men in three dimensions: reproductive health, empowerment and the labor market. It varies between zero (when women and men fare equally) and one (when men or women fare poorly compared to the other in all dimensions). The health dimension is measured by two indicators: maternal mortality ratio and the adolescent fertility rate. The empowerment dimension is also measured by two indicators: the share of parliamentary seats held by each sex and by secondary and higher education attainment levels. The labor dimension is measured by women’s participation in the work force. Source: The United Nations Human Development Reports provide data and statistical analysis in various areas of human development. The Human Development Report (HDR) presents two types of statistics: the human development indicator tables, which provide a global assessment of country achievements in different areas of human development, and thematic statistical analysis. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. Used with permission.
18 Military data is drawn from the National Material Capabilities (v4.0) dataset, which is a component of and hosted by the Correlates of War Project. The Correlates of War Project seeks to facilitate the collection, dissemination, and use of accurate and reliable quantitative data in international relations. Correlates of War data may be accessed through the above link. Used with permission.
19 The article by Brian Grim and Roger Finke describes the coding of the U.S. State Department's International Religious Freedom reports. The 2003, 2005, and 2008 reports were coded by researchers at the Association of Religion Data Archives. The GRI, GFI and SRI values reported on the National Profiles are averages from the 2003, 2005, and 2008 International Religious Freedom reports, while the Religious Persecution measure is an average from the 2005 and 2008 reports. All other measures derived from the International Religious Freedom reports were coded from the reports 2008. A data file with all of the 2008 coding, as well as data files with other cross national collections are available for preview and download from the data archive on this site. Used with permission.
20 The Cingranelli-Richards (CIRI) Human Rights Dataset contains standards-based quantitative information on government respect for 15 internationally recognized human rights for 202 countries, annually from 1981-2011. It is designed for use by scholars and students who seek to test theories about the causes and consequences of human rights violations, as well as policy makers and analysts who seek to estimate the human rights effects of a wide variety of institutional changes and public policies including democratization, economic aid, military aid, structural adjustment, and humanitarian intervention. The full CIRI Human Rights Dataset can be accessed through the above link. Used with permission.
