Description & Facts: The vast majority of its estimated 78 million people (2007) live near the banks of the Nile River (about 40000 km² or 15450 sq miles) where the only arable agricultural land is found.[1] Large areas of land form part of the Sahara Desert and are sparsely inhabited. Around half of Egypt's residents live in urban areas, with the majority spread across the densely populated centres of greater Cairo, Alexandria and other major cities in the Nile Delta.