Egypt

For most contemporary Egyptians, the family remains the central and most important institution in their everyday lives. Few individuals live independently from their immediate family or kin, and single-person households are almost unheard of. Individuals of all classes constantly articulate and defend the importance of family within the community and the nation. Issues relating to family relations, gender roles, and authority are pervasive throughout the society, as evidenced by conversations in homes, on the street, and in the media. Further, the proper functioning of families is part of a religious dialogue that is increasingly heard in all sectors of the society.

Egypt's estimated population in 1999 was 66,050,004, with 36.1 percent of the population under age fifteen, 60 percent between ages fifteen and sixty-five, and 3.7 over age sixty-five. Ninety-five percent of the country's population is Muslim, and approximately 5 percent is Coptic. Approximately 98 percent of the population between twenty-five and sixty-five is or has been married, indicating the continuing primacy of founding a family through marriage for Egyptians of all classes.