Egypt is a developing country that desperately wants to
become more industrialized and wealthy. But the country is
finding it difficult to develop because of its growing popula-
tion, a shortage of natural resources, and management problems.
It is not among the world’s poorest countries, like many of those
to the south in Africa. Neither is it among the rather well-to-do
developing countries such as Malaysia and South Korea. It is in the
middle ranks of less-developed countries. A reliable measure of its
wealth—in 2006, $4,200 per capita on the gross national income
purchasing power parity scale—puts it on about the same scale
of living as Cuba, Syria, Serbia, and Angola. Statistics tell a grim
economic story. About 10 percent of the workforce is unemployed,
although a much higher percentage is underemployed (employed
less than full time or to their potential). Twenty-percent of the
population lives below the poverty line. On the positive side, an
Egypt’s
Economy