Egypt

The most populous Arab country, Egypt was the second domino to fall. After 18 days of intense and sometimes violent protests centred around Cairo’s Tahrir Square, President Hosni Mubarak ended 30 years in charge of the country when the man he had just appointed vice-president Omar Suleiman, announced all of Mubarak’s powers were being transferred to a military council. Mubarak is thought to have retreated to Sharm el-Sheikh. Some reports say he is in poor health. The unrest took a heavy toll on Egypt’s economy and protests against low wages are ongoing, with many industrial sectors on strike and the Egyptian stock market still closed.

Political system: republic
President: Hosni Mubarak – 1981 / 2011

Capital: Cairo
Population: 79.8 million
Human Development Index¹:101st
Unemployment: 9.4%

¹ HDI is calculated according to factors such as schooling, life expectancy and gross national income and is used by the UN’s Development Programme for its Human development reports.

• back to our news file: Unrest in the Arab world

Copyright © 2012 euronews