Egypt is a country in North Africa that includes the Sinai Peninsula, a land bridge to Asia. Egypt borders Libya to the west, Sudan to the south, and Israel and the Gaza Strip to the northeast on the north and the east are the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Egypt is the fifteenth most populous country in the world. The vast majority of its 78.8 million people live near the banks of the Nile River where the only arable agricultural land is found. Large areas of land form part of the Sahara Desert and are sparsely inhabited. Around half of Egypt's residents live in urban areas, with the majority spread across the densely populated centres of greater Cairo, Alexandria and other major towns in the Nile Delta.