Citizens above the age of 60 accounted for 6.9 percent of Egypt’s population in 2014, according to a government report released on Wednesday marking the International Day of Older Persons(October 1).
The percentage represents six million citizens, three million men and three million women, according to a press statement by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).
Based on the 2014 population survey, the percentage is subject to increase to 11.5 percent by 2030, CAPMAS said.
Illiteracy among those senior citizens stood at 63.2 percent in 2014, down from 64.9 percent in 2013, the report highlighted, adding that 1.2 million seniors (20.4 percent) are are currently employed. Out of those, 60 percent work as farmers and fishermen, according to CAPMAS statistics.
The report set the percentage of seniors who can be categorized as “poor” at 19.2 percent.
Seniors mortality rates accounted for 60 percent of the total of deaths based on mortality and birth surveys in 2014, said CAPMAS.
Elderly mansions and care centers surged from 121 in 2011 to 171 in 2014, said the report.
