**2. Population growth**

Population growth is increasing number of people over time for a particular place, depending on the balance of births and deaths. Population in Northern Africa has grown from 55.65 million to 205.11 million people, the North Africa's population is more than tripled in size between 1960 and 2021. Egypt is the highest population, with over 104 million people. In 2021, the total population of Libya was about 6,96 million inhabitants. It is the country in Northern Africa which has the lowest population (**Table 1**).

In Northern Africa's region, population growth increases because the fertility rate exceeds the death rate and thus water consumption is increasing inexorably through a combination of different water uses (drinking purposes, irrigation and other humans uses) and will further limit the freshwater availability per person. The most water scarce areas in Northern Africa are typically those, with limited source of freshwater and highest population density (the number of individuals per square mile or in square kilometers of land area), where people are currently unable to meet their basic water demand.
