Egyptian diaspora

Egyptian diaspora
Total population
14 million[1]
Regions with significant populations
 Saudi Arabia1,471,382 (2022 census) [2][3]
 United States2,000,000–2,500,000[4][5]
 United Arab Emirates750,000[3]
 Jordan636,000[6]
 Kuwait500,000[3]
 Sudan500,000[7]
 Qatar230,000[3]
 Italy140,322[8]
 Canada99,140[9]
 Israel60,000
 Oman56,000[7]
 Lebanon40,000[7]
 South Africa40,000[7]
 United Kingdom39,000[10]
 Australia36,532-340,000[11]
 Austria33,000 [3]
 Germany29,600[12]
 Netherlands27,504[13]
 Turkey25,800[3]
 Greece25,000[3]
 France15,000[14]
Languages
Egyptian Arabic
Sa'idi Arabic
English and many others
Religion
Islam
Christianity
Judaism

The Egyptian diaspora consists of citizens of Egypt abroad sharing a common culture and Egyptian Arabic language. The phenomenon of Egyptians emigrating from Egypt was rare until Gamal Abdel Nasser came to power after overthrowing the monarchy in 1952. Before then, Cleland's 1936 declaration remained valid, that "Egyptians have the reputation of preferring their own soil. Few ever leave except to study or travel; and they always return... Egyptians do not emigrate".[15]

Under Nasser, thousands of Egyptian professionals were dispatched across Africa and North America under Egypt's secondment policy, aiming to support host countries' development but to also support the Egyptian regime's foreign policy aims.[16] At the same time, Egypt also experienced an outflow of Egyptian Jews,[17] and large numbers of Egyptian Copts.[18]

After Nasser's death, Egypt liberalised its emigration policy, which led to millions of Egyptians pursuing employment opportunities abroad,[19] both in Western countries,[20] as well as across the Arab world.[21] In the 1980s, many emigrated mainly to Iraq and Kuwait, this happened under different circumstances but mainly for economic reasons. A sizable Egyptian diaspora did not begin to form until well into the 1980s.[22] In 2011, Egyptian diaspora communities around the world mobilised extensively in the context of the Egyptian revolution.[23]

  1. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20230819035716/https://www.cairo24.com/1831131
  2. ^ "Saudi Arabia 2022 Census" (PDF). General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2024-04-28. Retrieved 2024-04-28.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Cite error: The named reference CAPMAS was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ ↑ Talani, Leila S. Out of Egypt. University of California, Los Angeles. 2005. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/84t8q4p1
  5. ^ 2015 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, archived from the original on 2020-02-14, retrieved 2018-10-13
  6. ^ "الاردن الثاني عالميا في استضافة المصريين". 1 October 2017. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  7. ^ a b c d CAPMAS. "تسع ملايين و 471 ألف مصري مقيم بالخارج في نهاية 2016" (PDF) (in Arabic). Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  8. ^ "Egiziani in Italia - statistiche e distribuzione per regione".
  9. ^ Statistics Canada (18 July 2018). "Data tables, 2016 Census". Retrieved 24 March 2022.
  10. ^ "Table 1.3: Overseas-born population in the United Kingdom, excluding some residents in communal establishments, by sex, by country of birth, January 2019 to December 2019". Office for National Statistics. 21 May 2020. Retrieved 28 June 2020. Figure given is the central estimate. See the source for 95% confidence intervals.
  11. ^ "2011 QuickStats Country of Birth (Egypt)". Censusdata.abs.gov.au. Archived from the original on 2017-08-29. Retrieved 2013-05-22.
  12. ^ "Ausländer in Deutschland bis 2019: Herkunftsland". Statista.
  13. ^ "CBS Statline". opendata.cbs.nl.
  14. ^ Présentation de l'Égypte - Ministère de l’Europe et des Affaires étrangères. Diplomatie.gouv.fr. Retrieved on 2020-06-02.
  15. ^ Cleland, Walter (1936). The Population Problem in Egypt; A Study of Population Trends and Conditions in Modern Egypt. Lancaster: Science Press. p. 36.
  16. ^ Tsourapas, Gerasimos (2016). "Nasser's Educators and Agitators across al-Watan al-'Arabi: Tracing the Foreign Policy Importance of Egyptian Regional Migration, 1952-1967" (PDF). British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. 43 (3): 324–341. doi:10.1080/13530194.2015.1102708. S2CID 159943632.
  17. ^ Beinin, Joel (1998-01-01). The dispersion of Egyptian Jewry : culture, politics, and the formation of a modern diaspora. University of California Press. OCLC 44963168.
  18. ^ Tadros, Mariz (2009-05-01). "Vicissitudes in the Entente Between the Coptic Orthodox Church and the State in Egypt (1952–2007)". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 41 (2): 269–287. doi:10.1017/S0020743809090667. ISSN 1471-6380. S2CID 154925473.
  19. ^ Tsourapas, Gerasimos (2015). "Why Do States Develop Multi-tier Emigrant Policies? Evidence from Egypt" (PDF). Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. 41 (13): 2192–2214. doi:10.1080/1369183X.2015.1049940. S2CID 73675854.
  20. ^ Simona., Talani, Leila (2010-01-01). From Egypt to Europe : globalisation and migration across the Mediterranean. Tauris Academic Studies. OCLC 650606660.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  21. ^ Choucri, Nazli (1977-01-01). "The New Migration in the Middle East: A Problem for Whom?" (PDF). The International Migration Review. 11 (4): 421–443. doi:10.2307/2545397. hdl:1721.1/81914. JSTOR 2545397. PMID 12278662.
  22. ^ Cite error: The named reference IOMEgypt was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  23. ^ Müller-Funk, Lea (2016-07-02). "Diaspora Mobilizations in the Egyptian (Post)Revolutionary Process: Comparing Transnational Political Participation in Paris and Vienna". Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies. 14 (3): 353–370. doi:10.1080/15562948.2016.1180471. S2CID 151831503.