[5] According to population estimates, in 2015 the majority of residents in the governorate lived in rural areas, with an urbanization rate of only 48.0%.

Protesters set fire to police stations and the National Democratic Party building.

Multiple deaths were reported in addition to hundreds of injuries amid claims that the police opened fire on protesters in Kharga Oasis with live ammunition.

[11][12] On 19 July 2014, unidentified gunmen ambushed a desert checkpoint by the Farafra Oasis Road in New Valley Governorate.

Twenty-two border guards were killed in the attack, which was one of the biggest since the July 2013 ousting of Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi and the second at the same checkpoint in less than three months.