CAPMAS was established by a Presidential Decree 2915 in 1964 and is the official provider of data, statistics, and reports.

[1] CAPMAS functions support state planning, decision-making and policy assessment but it has been criticized for acting as an information regulator and for failing to provide access to researchers.

[4] The agency participated in World Statistics Day (in October 2015), with activities honoring senior statisticians, holding workshops, and with the launching of their new website.

Since 2014, Major General Abu Bakr al-Gendy, the head of CAPMAS, said that Egypt's population has been growing, for decades, at an unsustainable rate.

He said the population grows at an alarming 1 million Egyptians every six months and called this type of growth "a virus" that must be addressed.