Giza Governorate

Giza Governorate (Arabic: محافظة الجيزة) sits on the west bank of the Nile opposite Cairo, in the centre of Egypt. Its capital is Giza, and CAPMAS put the population of 9,456,137 in January 2023 across 13,184 km². The governorate holds the Pyramids of Giza and the Great Sphinx, and since 2011 it has also included the Bahariya Oasis, deep in the Western Desert.

Towns and Villages in Giza Governorate

Giza is split into 24 municipal divisions. A markaz is a rural district that administers villages; a kism is a fully urban district. Several names appear twice, once as a markaz and once as a kism, because the town has outgrown its rural district. CAPMAS publishes population only to division level, so the village lists below are drawn from the GeoNames gazetteer.

El Badrashein Markaz

Population 601,810. The pyramid belt south of Giza city, running along the west bank from Memphis to Dahshur.

• Al Badrashayn
• Mīt Ruhaynah (Memphis)
• Şaqqārah
• Abū Şīr
• Dahshūr
• Zāwiyat Dahshūr
• Minshāt Dahshūr
• Shabrāmant

El Ayyat Markaz

Population 553,389. Farmland on the west bank about 45 km south of Giza, backing onto the desert escarpment.

• Al ‘Ayyāţ
• Al Lisht
• Al Mazghūnah
• Kafr ‘Ammār

Imbaba Markaz

Population 518,036. The rural north of the governorate, between the Rosetta branch and the desert road to Alexandria.

• Manshīyat al Qanāţir
• Abū Ghālib
• Wardān
• Jazīrat Wardān
• Al Qaţā
• Birqāsh
• Banī Salāmah
• Umm Dīnār
• Ar Rahāwī

Kerdasa Markaz

Population 498,225. Weaving villages at the desert edge north-west of the pyramids.

• Kirdāsah
• Nāhiyā
• Sāqiyat Makkī
• Abū Rawwāsh

El Saff Markaz

Population 469,172. One of two Giza districts on the east bank of the Nile, facing the Eastern Desert.

• Aṣ Şaff
• Al Kuraymāt
• Ar Riqqah
• Ar Riqqah al Baḥrīyah
• Ar Riqqah ash Sharqīyah

Atfeh Markaz

Population 414,488. The southern tip of the governorate, also on the east bank. Atfih is the ancient Aphroditopolis.

• Aţfīḥ
• Al Kuraymāt al Qiblīyah

Abu El Namras Markaz

Population 410,656. A dense farming district immediately south-west of Giza city.

• Abū an Numrus
• Al Manāwāt

Ossim Markaz

Population 384,527. Canal-side villages north of Giza, now largely absorbed into the built-up area.

• Awsīm
• Kafr Ḥakīm
• Al Barājīl

Giza Markaz

Population 369,351. The rural fringe still attached to the capital, west of the Mansouriya canal.

• Al Manṣūrīyah
• Kafr Ṭuhurmis

El Wahat El Bahariya Kism

Population 43,501. The Bahariya Oasis, about 365 km south-west of Giza city in the Western Desert. Bawiti is its main town; the others are date and olive villages strung along the depression.

• Al Bawīţī
• Al Qaṣr
• Mandīshah
• Az Zabū
• Al Ḥayz
• Al Ḥarrah

Main towns and cities

Populations below are the latest gazetteer figures for the built-up place itself, not the administrative division.

• Giza — 4,367,343
• 6th of October City — 368,650
• Al Ḥawāmidīyah — 155,055
• Kirdāsah — 137,588
• Ash-Shaykh Zāyid — 95,854
• Awsīm — 94,174
• Al Badrashayn — 90,833
• Abū an Numrus — 86,601
• Aṣ Şaff — 61,531
• Al ‘Ayyāţ — 45,793
• Aţfīḥ — 26,943
• Manshīyat al Qanāţir — 19,185
• Al Bawīţī — 15,653

Villages and quarters (A–Z)

The 199 settlements below are the named villages, hamlets and urban quarters mapped in Giza Governorate. A further 59 farm hamlets carrying the prefix Izbat or Ezbet are recorded but not listed individually.

• ‘Abd el-Gilîl
• Abd El-Naeem
• Abū al ‘Abbās
• Abū Fa’r
• Abū Ghālib
• Abū Rajwān al Baḩrī
• Abū Rajwān al Qiblī
• Abū Rawwāsh
• Abū Ruwaysh
• Abū Şīr
• Al Aqwāz
• ‘Arab Abū Sā‘id
• ‘Arab al Fawārisah wa al ‘Itwah
• ‘Arab al Ḩişār
• ‘Arab al ‘Itwah
• ‘Arab al Jabāyrah
• ‘Arab al Ma‘āzī
• ‘Arab an Namā’irah
• ‘Arab as Salmānīyah
• ‘Arab aţ Ţarabīn
• ‘Arab Ghammāzah al Kubrá
• Askur
• Al ‘Aţf
• Al ‘Aţīyāt
• Atrīs
• Al ‘Ayūn
• Al ‘Azīzīyah
• Baharmis
• Bahbīt
• Bamhā
• Banī Majdūl
• Banī Salāmah
• Al Barājīl
• Barnasht
• Bashtīl
• Bashtīl al Maḩaţţat
• Baydif
• Bayn as Sarāyāt
• Bidsah
• Birak al Khiyām
• Birqāsh
• Al Bulaydah
• Al Burghūthī
• Al Burghūthī al Baḩrī
• Al Burghūthī al Qiblī
• Burţus
• Al Burumbul
• Dahshūr
• Damanhūr Shubrā
• Dhāt al Kawm
• El-Dinnâwîya
• El-Pârûqîya
• Al Fahmīyīn
• Faisal
• Ghammāzah aş Şughrá
• Al Ḩājir
• Al Ḩammām
• Al Ḩarrah
• Al Ḩarrānīyah
• Al Ḩayy
• Al Ḩayz
• Al Ḩayz al Baḩrī
• Al Ḩilf al Gharbī
• Al Ḩisānīyīn
• Ḥusein Mûsa
• Al Ḩūtīyah
• Al Ikhşāş
• Al Jalātimah
• Al Jamalah
• Jazīrat adh Dhahab
• Jazīrat Muḩammad
• Jazīrat Wardān
• Jirzah
• Jizzāyah
• Kafr ‘Abd al Jalīl
• Kafr Abū al Ḩadīd
• Kafr Abū Ḩumaydah
• Kafr aḑ Ḑab‘ī
• Al Kafr al Baḩrī
• Kafr al Hanādwah
• Kafr al Ḩimá
• Kafr al ‘Ilw
• Al Kafr al Qiblī
• Kafr al Wāşilīn
• Kafr ‘Ammār
• Kafr ar Rifā‘ī
• Kafr as Salmānīyah
• Kafr Barakāt
• Kafr Ghaţāţī
• Kafr Ḩakīm
• Kafr Ḩalāwah
• Kafr Ḩijāzī
• Kafr Ḩumayyid
• Kafr Jābir
• Kafr Jirzah
• Kafr Qāsim
• Kafr Qindīl al Baḩrī
• Kafr Qindīl al Qiblī
• Kafr Shiḩātah
• Kafr Ţarkhān al Gharbī
• Kafr Ţuhurmis
• Kafr Turkī
• Kafr Zahrān
• Kafrat al Jabal
• Kafrat Naşşār
• Al Kawm al Aḩmar
• Al Kawm al Akhḑar
• Kawm Birah
• Al Khurmān
• Al Kīt Kāt
• Al Kuddāyah
• Al Kunayyisah
• Al Kuraymāt
• Al Kuraymāt al Baḩrīyah
• Al Kuraymāt al Qiblīyah
• Al Lisht
• Al Manāshī
• Al Manāwāt
• Mandīshah
• Al Manshī
• Manshīyat Fāḑil
• Manshīyat Raḑwān
• Al Manşūrīyah
• Manyal Shīḩah
• Al Marāzīq
• Masjid Mūsá
• Al Matāniyah
• Al Mazghūnah
• Minshāt Abū al ‘Abbās
• Minshāt Dahshūr
• Minyat Sulţān
• Al Misāndah
• Mīt al Qāyid
• Mīt Qādūs
• Mīt Ruhaynah
• Mīt Shammās
• Mīt ‘Uqbah
• El Moneeb
• Al Mu‘arqab
• Munā al Amīr
• Al Munīrah al Gharbīyah
• Munsha’at al Bakkārī
• Al Muqāţifīyah
• Al Mu‘tamadīyah
• Nag‘ ‘Arab Muḥammad Abu Kâmil
• Nag‘ ‘Arab Muḥammad Farhân
• Nāhiyā
• Nazlat al Ashţar
• Nazlat al Baţrān
• Nazlat al Jābirīyah
• Nazlat as Sammān
• Nazlat as Sīsī
• Nazlat Bahjat
• Nazlat ‘Ilyān
• Nazlat Khalīfah
• Nazlat Tarjam
• Niklah
• Qaryat Bashtīl al Balad
• Qaryat Ţanāsh wa Nazlat az Zumur
• Al Qaşr
• Al Qaţā
• Al Qubābāt
• Al Qurāţīyīn
• Al Quţūrī
• Ar Rahāwī
• Ar Riqqah
• Ar Riqqah al Baḩrīyah
• Ar Riqqah al Gharbīyah
• Ar Riqqah ash Sharqīyah
• Şafţ al Gharbīyah
• Şafţ al Laban
• Şafţ ash Sharqīyah
• Sāqiyat Makkī
• Şaqqārah
• Shabrāmant
• Ash Shawbak al Ghaffārah
• Ash Shawbak al Gharbī
• Ash Shinbāb
• Shinbārī
• Ash Shurafā
• Suqayl
• As Su‘ūdīyah
• Ţahmā wa Minshāt ‘Abd as Sayyid
• Tāj ad Duwal wa Kafr ash Shaykh Ismā‘īl
• Ţammūh
• Aţ Ţarfāyah
• Tirsā
• Umm Dīnār
• Umm Khunān
• Al ‘Uwaynah
• Wardān
• Al Widy wa Kafr ad Dismī
• Az Zabū
• Zāwiyat Abū Musallam
• Zāwiyat Dahshūr
• Zāwiyat Nābit
• Zāwiyat Umm Ḩusayn
• Az Zaydīyah
• Zunayn

Geography

Giza is long and thin along the Nile, then very wide in the desert. The cultivated strip is about 5 to 15 km across; everything west of it is Western Desert plateau, which is why the governorate covers 13,184 km² but concentrates almost all its people on a few hundred.

Two marakiz, El Saff and Atfeh, lie on the east bank. The Bahariya depression, 365 km to the south-west, sits about 100 m below the plateau and is fed by artesian springs.

Giza borders Cairo across the Nile to the east, Qalyubia and Monufia to the north, Beheira to the north-west, Faiyum and Beni Suef to the south, and Matrouh and the New Valley to the west.

Demographics

The 2017 census counted 8,632,021 residents. The January 2023 estimate of 9,456,137 works out at about 1.5 percent growth a year, faster than Cairo, because Giza absorbs households priced out of the capital.

Roughly six in ten residents live in the urban aqsam that face Cairo across the river. The rural marakiz hold the rest, at very high densities for farmland. Bulaq El Dakrour alone has over a million people.

Economy and Local Life

Tourism anchors the west bank: the Giza plateau, Saqqara, Dahshur and, since 2025, the Grand Egyptian Museum on the Cairo–Alexandria Desert Road. Kerdasa and Harraniya weave cotton and wool for that trade.

6th of October City is the industrial core, with pharmaceuticals, food processing, furniture and car assembly, plus several private universities. The marakiz grow maize, wheat, berseem clover and vegetables for the Cairo market, and Al Hawamdeya has run a sugar refinery since 1881. Bahariya ships iron ore north to Helwan by a dedicated railway.

History

The Fourth Dynasty pharaohs built at Giza between about 2600 and 2500 BC. Memphis, near Mit Rahina, was Egypt’s capital for most of the Old Kingdom, and the necropolis runs unbroken from Abu Rawash to Dahshur.

Giza town grew as a Nile crossing point and became a governorate capital under the khedives. The separate 6th of October Governorate was created in 2008 and folded back into Giza on 14 April 2011, which is how the Bahariya Oasis came under Giza’s administration.

Getting There

Giza city adjoins Cairo and is reached by the Nile bridges, by Metro Line 2 to Giza and El Mounib, and by Ramses Station’s suburban services. Giza Station handles Upper Egypt trains, and the Mounib bus terminal serves the south.

Sphinx International Airport opened in 2020 near 6th of October City. The Cairo–Alexandria Desert Road, the Ring Road and the Cairo–Assiut Western Desert Road all cross the governorate. Bahariya is about five hours by road from 6th of October City on the Cairo–Bahariya highway.

FAQ

What is the capital of Giza Governorate?

Giza. It sits directly across the Nile from Cairo and is part of the same continuous built-up area.

How many villages are in Giza Governorate?

Nine marakiz administer the rural villages. The gazetteer maps 199 named villages and quarters plus about 59 smaller farm hamlets; CAPMAS itself reports population only to markaz and kism level.

What is the population of Giza Governorate?

9,456,137 in January 2023, on the CAPMAS estimate. The 2017 census counted 8,632,021.

Are the Pyramids in Cairo or Giza?

Giza. The Giza plateau, the Sphinx, Saqqara and Dahshur are all inside Giza Governorate, on the west bank.

What is the postal code for Giza?

Giza city uses 12511. Codes across the governorate start with 12.

Is the Bahariya Oasis part of Giza?

Yes, since 2011. It forms the El Wahat El Bahariya kism, 365 km south-west of Giza city, with 43,501 residents.