cancer death rates are believed to be high. Egyp-
tians enjoy a medium quality of life when compared with the
other countries of the world. The average life expectancy is 72,
compared with 78 in the United States, and 44 in Afghani-
stan. The United Nations’ Human Development Index (2005)
rates Egypt’s overall quality of life as 119th out of the world’s
177 countries (with Norway and Iceland as number one and
number two, and Sierra Leone number 176 and Niger number
177). This index goes beyond simple per-capita gross national
product or income standards to evaluate aspects of the human
experience. It includes some two-dozen categories of well-being.
Neither at the top nor at the bottom when measured by these
standards, Egyptians know they could be better off, but they
continue to make do—often very creatively and with a great
sense of humor—with what they have. Visitors see immediately
that Egyptians laugh a lot and enjoy exchanging jokes, even in
the most trying circumstances—stuck in a traffic jam in Cairo,
for instance, which is likely to be a visitor’s first experience in
the country!