Income in Egypt
The median income in Egypt is about $5.73 a day per person (2021 PPP dollars) — richer than 38% of everyone alive. Half of Egypt lives on less than that.
The world's own median person — about $7.73 a day — would stand in the top 26% of Egypt.
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The curve
Daily income per person, log scale, PPP dollars — the same curve the machine walks you across.
What it takes to stand where
Take-home income per person, in today's EGP, at each point on the curve of Egypt (the machine's convention: household take-home divided by the people it supports).
| Richer than… | per year, per person | per day (PPP $) |
|---|---|---|
| 10% of Egypt | EGP 11,459 | $3.42 |
| 25% of Egypt | EGP 14,558 | $4.35 |
| 50% of Egypt | EGP 19,215 | $5.73 |
| 75% of Egypt | EGP 26,083 | $7.79 |
| 90% of Egypt | EGP 36,520 | $11 |
| 99% of Egypt | EGP 98,168 | $29 |
Rounded, never inflated: the machine floors "richer than" claims.
The four levels in Egypt
How much of Egypt and of the world lives on each of four income levels. The cuts are the World Bank's $3.00 (international poverty line) and $8.30 (upper-middle-income line), both 2021 PPP; the top cut, $33, is the machine's own, four times the $8.30 line. The objects are what an income on each level tends to buy across the world's surveys — not a description of any one country.
| Level | per day (PPP $) | What tends to come with it, worldwide | Egypt | World |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | under $3.00 | a fire to cook on, water carried home from the well, everywhere on foot | 6% | 13% |
| Level 2 | $3.00–$8.30 | a bicycle, a gas canister for the stove, a tap within walking distance | 73% | 39% |
| Level 3 | $8.30–$33 | a motorbike, a gas stove, a bank account | 20% | 32% |
| Level 4 | $33+ | a car, a fridge, hot water from the tap | 1% | 15% |
- Level 1 · under $3.00 a dayEgypt 6% · World 13%a fire to cook on, water carried home from the well, everywhere on foot
- Level 2 · $3.00–$8.30 a dayEgypt 73% · World 39%a bicycle, a gas canister for the stove, a tap within walking distance
- Level 3 · $8.30–$33 a dayEgypt 20% · World 32%a motorbike, a gas stove, a bank account
- Level 4 · $33+ a dayEgypt 1% · World 15%a car, a fridge, hot water from the tap
About 73% of Egypt lives on Level 2, between $3.00 and $8.30 a day per person; worldwide, about 39% of people do.
The line that moved
In Egypt, 7.1% lived under the $3.00 line at the 1990 survey; 1.4% at the 2021 one — a fall of 5 points in 31 years.
Share of Egypt under $3.00 a day (2021 prices) at each national survey, World Bank PIP via Our World in Data; the faint line is the world's.
Worldwide, the share under the World Bank's $3.00-a-day line fell from about 43% in 1990 to about 10% today (Our World in Data; the latest years are the Bank's nowcast). Where the lift came, it came the unglamorous way: wages, harvests, workshops.
Who earns what in Egypt
8 portraits, not payroll data: each stands roughly where that kind of work typically earns on the curve of Egypt.
| the lowest 10% | the earnings of a farm labourer in the Delta — clover in winter, rice in summer, no season off |
|---|---|
| 10–25% | the earnings of a street vendor in Cairo |
| 25–45% | the earnings of a microbus driver — Cairo traffic is a craft |
| 45–65% | the earnings of a government clerk |
| 65–82% | the earnings of a schoolteacher with evening tutoring |
| 82–93% | the earnings of an engineer — the title comes before the name here |
| 93–98% | the earnings of a private-clinic doctor |
| the highest 2% | the earnings of a developer of new-city real estate |
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Where this comes from
The World Bank's Poverty and Inequality Platform percentile distribution for Egypt (survey year 2021), in 2021 PPP dollars; incomes typed in today's money are deflated to 2021 prices with the national CPI and converted with the 2021 consumption-PPP factor. Snapshot fetched September 2026. Full methodology & honesty rules.
Neighbours on the curve
The countries whose median income sits nearest to Egypt's — and a few far from it, for scale.