Official name: Arab Republic of Egypt

Size: 386,660 square miles (1,001,450 square kilometers); about one and a half times the size of Texas

Population: 81,713,517 as of July 2008

Capital: Cairo

Official Language: Arabic

Climate: Desert; hot, dry summers with mild winters

Currency: Egyptian pound

Literacy rate: 71.4%

Products: Cotton, rice, corn, wheat, beans, fruit, crude oil and petroleum products, textiles, chemicals