So we were interested to see a Census report out today based on the supplemental poverty measure â a newer, unofficial method that figures in the value of many government benefits, the cost of living in different cities, and health-care costs.
Egyptian Arabic, also known as Egyptian Spoken Arabic, Masri, Massry, Normal Egyptian Arabic and Egyptian Colloquial Arabic, is a variety of Arabic which belongs to the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. It is spoken by 52,500,000 people in Egypt (Ethnologue). It also serves as a second language in many other countries of the Middle East, e.g., in Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen (Ethnologue). The total number of speakers of Egyptian Spoken Arabic is estimated to be upwards of 54 million (Ethnologue).
Linguistic Affiliation. Egypt is part of the Arabic speech community of about 250 million people, spread from Morocco to Oman. Arabic is a branch of the Semitic languages, which in turn belongs to the Afro-Asiatic language family together with Berber, Ancient Egyptian, Chadic, and Cushitic.