Egypt's largest governorate covers half the nation but remains its most sparsely populated region.

Countries & Cities · Published 30 September 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Spanning the vast expanse of the Western Desert, New Valley Governorate is a geographical titan that defies the typical Egyptian landscape. While it occupies nearly fifty percent of the country's total land area, it remains a quiet, remote frontier defined by its ambitious irrigation projects and isolated desert oases.

Located in the southwestern corner of Egypt, New Valley Governorate sits between the Nile, northern Sudan, and southeastern Libya. It is a massive administrative subdivision, encompassing a significant portion of the Sahara Desert. The region takes its name from the New Valley Project, a long-term initiative designed to reclaim and irrigate sections of the arid Western Desert, exemplified by farming areas like Sharq El Owainat. Despite its immense size, the governorate is home to a relatively small population, estimated at 270,854 as of January 2024.

The administrative heart of the region is the city of Kharga. To manage its vast territory, the governorate is organized into four marakiz and one kism, with Kharga itself undergoing a administrative decentralization in June 2018. Life here is largely rural; as of 2015, the urbanization rate was 48.0 percent, a figure that dipped slightly to 46.7 percent by 2018. Major settlements are centered around oases, with Kharga and Dakhla being the only locations to boast populations exceeding 15,000 residents as of 2018.

The region has also been a site of significant political and security volatility. During the 2011 Egyptian revolution, Kharga Oasis saw violent clashes, including the burning of government buildings and reports of police using live ammunition against protesters. Later, in July 2014, the governorate faced a deadly security crisis when unidentified gunmen ambushed a checkpoint near the Farafra Oasis Road. The attack resulted in the deaths of 22 border guards, marking a major escalation in regional instability following the 2013 ousting of president Mohamed Morsi. These events underscore the complex challenges of governing such a vast, remote, and strategically sensitive desert territory.

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