Numbers Don’t Lie

Egypt’s Mosque-Church Disparity Exposes Systemic Discrimination

In Egypt, the construction and renovation of mosques has reached staggering levels—over 13,900 since 2014, costing nearly 25 billion pounds—while churches remain drastically insufficient for Christians’ needs, and heavily restricted. The numbers alone reveal a striking imbalance in religious infrastructure, illustrating the lived reality of discrimination against Egypt’s Coptic Christians.

As of mid-January 2026, Egypt’s Ministry of Endowments continues its expansive campaign to build and maintain mosques across the country. On Friday, January 16, 2026, the ministry reported activity on 48 mosques: eight newly established, 35 replaced or renovated, and five maintained or further developed.

Looking at the broader picture, since July 1, 2025, a total of 482 mosques have been opened. Of these, 372 were newly built or replaced and renovated, while 110 underwent maintenance and development. This reflects a steady effort to modernize and expand Egypt’s religious infrastructure.

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Since Abdel Fateh al-Sisi assumed the presidency in 2014, the cumulative total of mosques that have been opened, replaced, renovated, maintained, or furnished has now reached 13,971, with expenditures estimated at approximately 24.886 billion Egyptian pounds. This marks a significant increase from February 2025, when 13,045 mosques had been reported since 2014 at a total cost exceeding 21 billion pounds. In just the past year, approximately 926 additional mosques were added or refurbished, with spending increasing by nearly 4 billion pounds.

The expansion is nationwide; the Ministry has emphasized wide geographical diversity, ensuring Egypt’s religious infrastructure grows in both urban centers and rural areas. Back in 2023, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) noted that Egypt’s total number of mosques had reached 151,194. The latest efforts only reinforce this trajectory, demonstrating the government’s sustained commitment to expanding and maintaining the nation’s houses of worship.

Nor do these gargantuan figures include the ubiquitous “prayer halls.” Virtually every government office, school, university, sports club, or factory contains a hall or room dedicated to Islamic prayer. Added to mosques and prayer halls, they raise the number of Muslim worship spaces to an astronomical level. They are also notorious for disturbing neighbors—especially Christians—with blaring loudspeakers that broadcast the call to prayer five times a day, including predawn, with no consideration for the sick or elderly.

Here one may justly inquire: what about the religious places of worship that, for centuries before Egypt’s conquest by Muslim Arabs, once dotted the nation’s landscape—namely, Christian churches? How do they fare?