The Arab Republic of Egypt ( El-Gumhorriya Masr al-Arabiya) covers an area of 1,002,000 square kilometres - roughly twice the size of France, or about equal to Texas - of which 96.4 percent is desert. Its population of over 60 million is twice that of the next most populous Arab country (Morocco) and makes a quarter of the total population of the Arab world. Sixty-five percent of Egyptians work on the land.