This paper presents a profile of poverty in Egypt for 1997. It assesses themagnitude of poverty and its distribution across geographic and socioeconomic groups,provides information on the characteristics of the poor, illustrates the heterogeneity amongthe poor, and helps identify empirical correlates of poverty.The poverty profile is constructed using data from the recently completed EgyptIntegrated Household Survey, a nationwide, multiple-topic household survey, carried outby the International Food Policy Research Institute in coordination with the Ministry ofAgriculture and Land Reclamation and the Ministry of Trade and Supply.Reference poverty lines that take into account regional differences in food andnonfood prices, age and composition of poor households, and food and nonfoodconsumption preferences are used to determine incidence, depth, and severity of poverty.The characteristics of the poor are analyzed. These characteristics include householdcomposition, dwelling type, educational attainment and access, labor force participationand distribution, child immunization levels, payment transfers, agricultural landholdings,and access to community facilities