The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) said that the number of youth in Egypt between 18-29 reached 20 million, 51.8 percent of whom are poor.
The report, issued on Tuesday on the occasion of Youth Day, showed that 27.7 percent of the youth suffer from severe poverty, 24.1 percent of youth are near the poverty line, while the non-poor represent 48.2 percent, according to data on income and spending research from 2012-2013.
Youth Day is celebrated worldwide on 12 August every year after it was adopted by the United Nations in 1998.
Participation by youth within the workforce reached 53.1 percent (74.8 percent for males, 29 percent for females). Less than a quarter of youth employees had medical insurance.
The unemployment rate among youth, according to CAPMAS, was 29 percent. Unemployment among male youth with college degrees reached 36.4 percent, while the rate among the illiterate and those with lower qualifications was 14.7 percent.
Meanwhile, unemployment among female youth with college degrees stood at 57.2 percent, while the rate among female youth with lower qualifications was 25.4 percent and 13.7 percent for the illiterate.
