Faiyum Governorate (Arabic: محافظة الفيوم) sits in a desert depression west of the Nile, about 100 km south-west of Cairo. Its capital is Faiyum, and CAPMAS put the population at 4,047,387 in January 2023 across 6,068 km². The name comes from the Coptic phiom, meaning the lake, a reference to Lake Qarun on the depression’s northern edge.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Capital | Faiyum |
| Population | 4,047,387 (CAPMAS estimate, January 2023) |
| Area | 6,068 km² |
| Density | about 670 per km² |
| Divisions | 6 marakiz, 2 aqsam and 1 new city |
| Postal code | Faiyum city postal code is 63511 |
| Phone code | 084 |
Towns and Villages in Faiyum Governorate
Faiyum is split into nine municipal divisions. A markaz is a rural district that administers villages; a kism is a fully urban district. Faiyum city itself is divided into two aqsam and is surrounded by its own markaz. Al Shawashna was split off from Yousef El Seddik and some sources still count the two together. CAPMAS publishes population only to division level, so the village list below is drawn from the GeoNames gazetteer rather than from an official village register.
| Division | Type | Population (Jan 2023) |
|---|---|---|
| Itsa | Markaz | 797,962 |
| Sinnuris | Markaz | 714,085 |
| Faiyum | Markaz | 625,249 |
| Tamiya | Markaz | 502,444 |
| Ibsheway | Markaz | 467,862 |
| Faiyum 1 | Kism | 281,676 |
| Al Shawashna | Markaz | 257,768 |
| Faiyum 2 | Kism | 248,210 |
| Yousef El Seddik | Markaz | 151,689 |
| New Faiyum | New city | 442 |
Main towns
Figures are for the built-up place itself, not the administrative division. Faiyum is the only place in the governorate that counts as a city.
- Madīnat al Fayyūm (Faiyum city) — 519,047
- Sinnūris — 133,532
- Ibshawāy — 86,186
- Iţsā — 74,357
- Ţāmiyah — 73,070
- Yūsuf aṣ-Ṣiddīq — 23,965
Villages and hamlets (A–Z)
The 215 settlements below are the named villages and hamlets mapped across the Faiyum depression. A further 369 farm hamlets carrying the prefix Izbat or Ezbet are recorded but not listed individually, which is a higher share than in any Delta governorate: Faiyum was reclaimed estate by estate in the 19th century, and each estate left its own named hamlet.
- Abhīt
- Abjīj
- Abū Diffīyah
- Abū Dinqāsh
- Abū Jandīr
- Abū Junshū
- Abu Kisāh
- Abû Sâliḥ
- Abū Şīr Difinnū
- Ad Dawālţah
- Al ‘Ajamīyīn
- Al A‘lām
- Al ‘Āmirīyah
- ‘Ank
- Aşlān
- ‘Atāminat al Ja‘āfirah
- ‘Aţf Ifwah
- Al ‘Awfī
- Al ‘Azab
- Al ‘Azīzīyah
- Bāhā
- Banī Ghunaym
- Banī Hānī
- Banī Şāliḩ
- Banī ‘Uthmān
- Al Barrānī
- Al Basyūnīyah
- Biyahmū
- Al Burj
- Dandīl
- Dānyāl
- Dār as Salām
- Dayr al ‘Azab
- Difinnū
- Dimishqīn
- Dimū
- Disyā
- El-‘Atâmna wa el-Mazâr‘a
- ‘Ezab Galâla
- ‘Ezab Ḥusein Muṣṭata
- Al Fahmīyah
- Fānūs
- Fidīmīn
- Fidīmīn al Baḩrī
- Fidīmīn al Qiblīyah
- Furquş
- Al Ghābah
- Al Gharaq
- Al Ḩādiqah
- Al Ḩāfir
- Al Ḩajar
- Al Ḩalfāyah
- Al Ḩamadīyah
- Al Ḩamīdīyah al Jadīdah
- Al Ḩammām
- Al Ḩāmūlī
- Al Ḩawārīyah
- Hawwārat ‘Adlān
- Hawwārat al Maqţa‘
- Hūjmin
- Al Ḩūmah
- Al Ḩusaynīyah
- Ibshannā’
- Ibwīţ
- Al ‘Idwah
- Ifwah
- Ihrīt
- Al Ikhşāş
- Al ‘Ilwīyah
- Infasţ Banī Ḩibbīn
- Iţwāb
- Al Ja‘āfirah
- Jabalah
- Jaradū
- Jarfis
- Al Jarrānīyah
- Jazīrat an Nūr
- Al Jirjāwīyah
- Al Ka‘ābī al Jadīdah
- Al Ka‘ābī al Qadīmah
- Kafr ‘Abbud
- Kafr Abū Shanab
- Kafr Abū Şīr
- Kafr al ‘Ābid
- Kafr al Ḩurayshī
- Kafr al Jīlānī
- Kafr al Jubb
- Kafr al Marj
- Kafr al Masallāt
- Kafr ‘Amīrah
- Kafr ‘Amrū
- Kafr az Za‘farānī
- Kafr Banī ‘Uthmān
- Kafr Fazārah
- Kafr Hindāwī aţ Ţaḩāwī
- Kafr Ḩishmat
- Kafr Ibjīj
- Kafr Maḩfūz̧
- Kafr Manşūr
- Kafr Sinarū
- Kaḩk al Baḩrīyah
- Kaḩk al Qiblīyah
- Kawm Abū Khallād
- Kawm Idrījah
- Kawm Ūshīm
- Al Khālidīyah
- Al Khawājāt
- Kufūr an Nīl
- Kufūr an Nīl al Wusţá
- Kufūr ash Shaykh Faḑl
- Al Lāhūn
- Ma‘jūn
- Manāshī al Khaţīb
- Al Mandarah
- Al Manshīyah
- Manshīyat al Barmakī
- Manshīyat Şabrī
- Al Manşūrah
- Manyal Ghīḑān
- Ma‘şarat ‘Arafah
- Ma‘şarat Na‘sān
- Ma‘şarat Şāwī
- Al Mashāriqah
- Al Maşlūb
- Maţir Ţāris
- Minsha’at ‘Abd Allah
- Minsha’at Abū Khalaf
- Minsha’at as Sādāt
- Minsha’at Banī ‘Uthmān
- Minsha’at Futayḩ
- Minsha’at Qārūn
- Minshāt ‘Abd aş Şamad
- Minshāt ad Dakm
- Minshāt al Biddīnī
- Minshāt al Jammāl
- Minshāt Fayşal
- Minshāt Ḩalfah
- Minshāt Kamāl
- Minshāt Khalbūş
- Minshât Muḥammad ‘Alî
- Minshāt Rabī‘
- Minshāt Raḩmī
- Minshāt Sayf an Naşr
- Minshāt Sirsinā
- Minshāt Ţāhir
- Minshāt ‘Uţayfah
- Al Misharrak Qiblī
- Al Mukhtalaţah
- Munsha’at ‘Abd al Majīd
- Munsha’at as Salām
- Munsha’at Huwaydī
- Al Muqātilah
- Muţūl
- Naj‘ Abū Sidayrah
- An Nakhārīn
- Naqālīfah
- An Nāşirīyah
- An Nawāmīs
- Nawwārah
- An Nazlah
- Nazlat al Mamālīk
- Nazlat as Sa‘ādinah
- Nazlat Bashīr
- An Nazlāwī
- Qalamshāh
- Qalhānah
- Qaryat al Ḩarajah
- Qaryat Ḩātim aţ Ţā’ī
- Qaşr Abū Luţī‘ah
- Qaşr al Bāsil
- Qaşr al Jibālī
- Qaşr Bayāḑ
- Qaşr Qārūn
- Qaşr Rashwān
- Qāy
- Quḥāfah
- Ar Rawāshidīyah
- Ar Rawḑah
- Ar Riyāḑ
- Ar Rub‘
- Ar Rūbīyāt
- Ruwāq
- As Sa‘dah
- As Sa‘īdīyah
- As Şāliḩīyah
- Sanhūr
- Sanhūr al Baḩrīyah
- Aş Şawāfinah
- Shaqlūf
- Ash Shawāshinah
- Ash Shaykhah Mansīyah
- Shidmūh
- Ash Shinnāwīyah
- Sīdī Mahdī
- Sīlah
- As Sīlīyīn
- Sīnarū
- Sirsinā
- As Sunbāţ
- Sunūfar
- Ţaḩā’ Būsh
- At Tall
- Tallāt
- At Tawfīqīyah
- Ţimā Fayyūm
- Tirsā
- Ţubhār
- Tuţūn
- Wanā al Qiss
- Az Zarābī
- Az Zāwiyah al Khaḑrā’
- Zāwiyat al Karādisah
- Zayd
- Az Zaytūn
- Az Zurbī
Several of these are known for their sites rather than their size. Kom Aushim is ancient Karanis, Qasr Qarun is ancient Dionysias at the western end of Lake Qarun, Al Lahun holds the pyramid of Senusret II, and Shakshuk is the main fishing landing on the lake shore.
Geography
Faiyum is a natural depression, not a Nile valley province. Its floor drops to about 45 m below sea level at Lake Qarun, and water reaches it through the Bahr Yussef canal, which branches off the Nile at Dairut and enters the depression at Al Lahun.
Lake Qarun covers about 200 km² and is saline; the Wadi El Rayan lakes to the south-west were created from agricultural drainage in the 1970s and are now a protected area. Everything beyond the irrigated floor is Western Desert.
Faiyum borders Giza to the north and north-east, Beni Suef to the east and south-east, Minya to the south, and the New Valley and Matrouh to the west.
Demographics
The 2017 census counted 3,596,954 residents. The January 2023 estimate of 4,047,387 implies growth of about 2 percent a year, one of the faster rates in Egypt.
Faiyum is overwhelmingly rural. About three-quarters of residents live outside the two urban aqsam, and Itsa and Sinnuris marakiz each hold more people than the capital. Average density is about 670 people per km² across the whole governorate, but the farmed floor of the depression carries several thousand per km².
Economy and Local Life
Farming dominates. The depression grows cotton, wheat, maize, sugar beet, citrus and olives, and its figs, grapes and prickly pear reach the Cairo market. Faiyum is also Egypt’s main inland fishery: Lake Qarun and Wadi El Rayan supply tilapia and mullet, landed at Shakshuk and Qarun.
Pottery at Tunis on the lake’s south shore and basketwork elsewhere serve a small but steady tourist trade. Otherwise industry is limited to food processing and building materials, and many households depend on remittances from work in Cairo.
History
The Twelfth Dynasty pharaohs drained and settled the depression in the 19th century BC. Amenemhat III built at Hawara, where Herodotus later described a labyrinth, and Senusret II built at Al Lahun.
Ptolemaic settlers founded Karanis, Dionysias and Philadelphia around the lake’s edge. The Faiyum mummy portraits, painted on wood in the first three centuries AD, come from these cemeteries and are the best surviving panel paintings of the Roman world. The Bahr Yussef canal, which still feeds the province, follows the same channel used then.
Getting There
Faiyum city is about 100 km south-west of Cairo by the Cairo–Faiyum Desert Road, roughly 90 minutes by car. Buses and shared minibuses run from Giza’s Mounib terminal through the day.
The governorate has no passenger rail service of its own; the nearest station is at Al Wasta in Beni Suef, on the Cairo–Upper Egypt main line, about 40 km east. Within the depression, roads radiate from Faiyum city to Sinnuris, Ibsheway, Itsa, Tamiya and the lake shore.
FAQ
What is the capital of Faiyum Governorate?
Faiyum, a city of about 519,000 people at the centre of the depression, on the Bahr Yussef canal.
How many villages are in Faiyum Governorate?
Six marakiz administer the rural villages. The gazetteer maps 215 named villages and hamlets, plus about 369 smaller Izbat and Ezbet farm hamlets; CAPMAS reports population only to markaz and kism level.
What is the population of Faiyum Governorate?
4,047,387 in January 2023, on the CAPMAS estimate. The 2017 census counted 3,596,954.
How far is Faiyum from Cairo?
About 100 km by the desert road, or roughly 90 minutes by car. There is no direct train.
What is the postal code for Faiyum?
Faiyum city uses 63511. Postal codes across the governorate start with 63.
Is Faiyum an oasis?
Not in the strict sense. It is a depression fed by Nile water through the Bahr Yussef canal, not by artesian springs, which is why it supports far more farmland than the true Western Desert oases.