Egyptians
Egyptians (, ; , ; ) are an ethnic group native to the Nile Valley in Egypt. Egyptian identity is closely tied to geography. The population is concentrated in the Nile Valley, a small strip of cultivable land stretching from the First Cataract to the Mediterranean and enclosed by desert both to the east and to the west. This unique geography has been the basis of the development of Egyptian society since antiquity.
AI overview
Egyptians are an ethnic group native to the Nile Valley in Egypt, whose identity has been fundamentally shaped by their geographic location in a narrow strip of fertile land surrounded by desert. This distinctive geography has been central to how Egyptian society has developed from ancient times to the present day.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Key facts
- Ethnic group.group
- Egyptians
- Ethnic group.population
- 120 million (2017)
- Ethnic group.popplace
- ''''''118,366,000(2025 estimate)
- Ethnic group.pop2
- 1,500,000
- Ethnic group.pop3
- ~1,000,000–2,000,000 (pre-2011)
- Ethnic group.pop4
- 1,000,000–1,500,000
- Ethnic group.pop5
- 600,000
- Ethnic group.ref5
- –1,600,000
- Ethnic group.pop6
- 765,000
- Ethnic group.pop7
- 500,000
- Ethnic group.pop8
- 500,000
- Ethnic group.pop9
- 300,000
Article
34 sectionsContents
- Terminology
- Demographics
- History
- Ancient Egypt
- Graeco-Roman period
- Late antiquity and Middle Ages
- Ottoman period
- Modern history
- Nationalism
- Liberal age
- Republic
- Languages
- Identity
- Antiquity
- Medieval and Ottoman Egypt
- Early modern period
- Contemporary
- Egypt and Africa
- Culture
- Surnames
- Genetic studies
- Autosomal DNA
- Maternal lineages
- Paternal lineages
- Genetic and biological history
- Peopling of Ancient Egypt
- Skeletal biology
- Genetic Studies
- Multidisciplinary perspectives on population genetics
- Gallery
- See also
- References
- Bibliography
- Further reading
Egyptians (, ; , ; ) are an ethnic group native to the Nile Valley in Egypt. Egyptian identity is closely tied to geography. The population is concentrated in the Nile Valley, a small strip of cultivable land stretching from the First Cataract to the Mediterranean and enclosed by desert both to the east and to the west. This unique geography has been the basis of the development of Egyptian society since antiquity.
The daily language of the Egyptians is a continuum of the local varieties of Arabic; the most famous dialect is known as Egyptian Arabic or Masri. Additionally, a sizable minority of Egyptians living in Upper Egypt speak Sa'idi Arabic. Egyptians are predominantly adherents of Sunni Islam with a small Shia minority and a significant proportion who follow native Sufi orders. A considerable percentage of Egyptians are Coptic Christians who belong to the Coptic Orthodox Church, whose liturgical language, Coptic, is the most recent stage of the ancient Egyptian language and is still used in prayers along with Egyptian Arabic.