Egypt’s government announced plans on 8 January to start documenting the country’s refugees and immigrants, which currently stands at approximately nine million. The decision came in light of a cabinet meeting between Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and the ministers of supply, health, social solidarity, local development, education, and labour, according to a social media statement released shortly after the meeting. Madbouly, who referred to the nine million as “guests”, emphasised the importance of auditing these numbers to better identify and consolidate what the state gains in return for the services provided to its immigrants and refugees. Madbouly also stressed the need to document to showcase the various efforts of the state in caring for refugees and immigrants. Egypt’s Minister of Health and Population Khaled Abdel Ghaffar pointed out that the immigrants and refugees living in Egypt come from around 133 countries, with a male-female ratio of 50.4 percent to 49.6 percent. According to data from International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the Sudanese rank the highest at four million, followed by Syrians at 1.5 million, Yemenis and Libyans both at one million – amounting to 80 percent of the total immigrant…
