Data

I. Egyptian Nineteenth-Century Population Census Manuscripts

The Egyptian individual-level population census records from 1848 and 1868 are two of the earliest individual-level population censuses from any non-Western country, and the earliest in the Middle East and North Africa, to enumerate all segments of the population including females, children, and slaves. They include information on a wide range of demographic and socioeconomic variables. They are preserved in over 7,000 hand-written registers at the National Archives of Egypt (NAE).

The 1848 and 1868 Egyptian Population Census Samples:

1. "Population Census of Egypt, 1848." IPUMS International, Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota. 

   • Nationally representative sample of the 1848 census manuscripts (about 80,000 observations). 

   • Digitized by Mohamed Saleh with a team of data entry assistants at the National Archives of Egypt in 2009-2010.

   • Publicly released on IPUMS-International in March 2021.

   • Documentation and Required Citation: Users who wish to download and use the 1848 Egyptian census sample in their research are requested to cite: 

Saleh, Mohamed (2013). A Pre-Colonial Population Brought to Light: Digitization of the Nineteenth Century Egyptian Censuses. Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History 46 (1): 5-18. DOI: 10.1080/01615440.2012.678807.Documentation: Saleh (2013). "A Pre-Colonial Population."

1. • Coding occupational titles follows Historical International Classification of Occupations (HISCO). 

     • Documentation of Coding Occupational Titles: Saleh (2015). "The Reluctant Transformation." Data Appendix. 

2. "Population Census of Egypt, 1868." IPUMS International, Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota. 

   • Nationally representative sample of the 1868 census manuscripts (about 80,000 observations). 

   • Digitized by Mohamed Saleh with a team of data entry assistants at the National Archives of Egypt in 2009-2010.

   • Publicly released on IPUMS-International in March 2021.

   • Documentation and Required Citation: Users who wish to download and use the 1868 Egyptian census sample in their research are requested to cite: 

Saleh, Mohamed (2013). A Pre-Colonial Population Brought to Light: Digitization of the Nineteenth Century Egyptian Censuses. Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History 46 (1): 5-18. DOI: 10.1080/01615440.2012.678807.Documentation: Saleh (2013). "A Pre-Colonial Population."

2. • Coding occupational titles follows Historical International Classification of Occupations (HISCO). 

     • Documentation of Coding Occupational Titles: Saleh (2015). "The Reluctant Transformation." Data Appendix. 

3. "Over-samples of Non-Muslims of Cairo, 1848 and 1868." 

   • The oversampling rate of non-Muslim households in Cairo is 25%. Sample size is about 4,000 observations in each of 1848 and 1868.

   • Documentation: Saleh (2015)

   • These over-samples are also described in: 

     • Lévêque and Saleh (2018)

     • Saleh (2018)

     • Kumon and Saleh (2023)

     • Artunç and Saleh (2023)

4. "Geo-Referenced Egyptian Census Samples, 1848 and 1868" 

   • Geocoding is at the street level in Cairo and Alexandria and subdistrict level in rural provinces. 

   • Documentation: Lévêque and Saleh (2018) and Artunç and Saleh (2023).

II. Egyptian Members of Parliament 1824-2020

1. "Egyptian Members of Parliament,1824-2020."

   • This dataset is described in:

     • Artunç and Saleh (2025). "Connected National Capital"

     • Hartnett and Saleh (2025). "The Other First Wave"

     • Hartnett and Saleh (2025). "Precolonial Elites"

2. "Egyptian Parliamentary Speeches, 1866-1882" (with Allison Hartnett). ReShare Repository, UK Data Service, October 2025.

   • This dataset is described in:

     • Hartnett and Saleh (2025). "The Other First Wave"

3. "Egyptian Parliamentary Speeches, 1924-1952" (with John Zhang). ReShare Repository, UK Data Service, October 2025.