Egyptian diaspora

File:Egyptian fellah.jpg

Sixty percent of Egyptians are rural fellahin or farmers. The percentage was much higher at the turn of the last century, before rapid urbanization and large-scale in-migration shifted Egypt's demographics.

Egyptians immigrated from Egypt for many centuries, mainly to Sudan, Ethiopia, Palestine, Lebanon and Syria, this happened under different circumstances but mainly to escape prosecution and/ or high taxes. A sizable Egyptian diaspora did not begin to form until well into the 1980s, today numbering nearly 4 million (2006 est).

Trends

Generally, those who emigrate to the United States (93%) and western European countries (55.5%) tend to do so permanently, while Egyptians migrating to Arab countries (100%) only go there with the intention of returning to Egypt.

Prior to 1974, only few Egyptian professionals had left the country in search for employment. Political, demographic and economic pressures led to the first wave of emigration after 1952. Later more Egyptians left their homeland first after the 1973 boom in oil prices and again in 1979, but it was only in the second half of the 1980s that Egyptian migration became prominent.

Motivations

Egyptian emigration today is motivated by even higher rates of unemployment, population growth and increasing prices. Political repression and human rights violations by Egypt's ruling régime are other contributing factors (see Egypt - Human rights). Egyptians have also been impacted by the wars between Egypt and Israel, particularly after the Six-Day War in 1967, when migration rates began to rise. In August 2006, Egyptians made headlines when 11 students from Mansoura University failed to show up at their American host institutions for a cultural exchange program in the hope of finding employment. Many Coptic Christians also leave the country due to discrimination and harassment by the Egyptian government and Islamist groups.

Challenges

Egyptians in neighbouring countries face additional challenges. Over the years, abuse, exploitation and/or ill-treatment of Egyptian workers and professionals in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, Iraq and Libya have been reported by the Egyptian Human Rights Organization and different media outlets. Arab nationals have in the past expressed fear over an "'Egyptianization' of the local dialects and culture that were believed to have resulted from the predominance of Egyptians in the field of education" (see also Egyptian Arabic - Geographics).

The Egyptians for their part object to what they call the "Saudization" of their culture due to Saudi Arabian petrodollar-flush investment in the Egyptian entertainment industry. Twice Libya was on the brink of war with Egypt due to mistreatment of Egyptian workers and after the signing of the peace treaty with Israel. When the Gulf War ended, Egyptian workers in Iraq were subjected to harsh measures and expulsion by the Iraqi government and to violent attacks by Iraqis returning from the war to fill the workforce.