Cairo is the largest city in Egypt and the headquarters of the Cairo Governorate, with a total population of 107,111,446. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world, and the Middle East: the Greater Cairo metropolitan region, with a population of 22,183,000, is the 14th-largest in the world by population. Cairo is associated with ancient Egypt since it is geographically close to the Giza pyramid complex, as well as the ancient cities of Memphis and Heliopolis. It is close to the Nile Delta.

Cairo has been a regional cultural and political hub for centuries, earning the nickname "the city of a thousand minarets" due to its abundance of Islamic buildings. In 1979, the city centre of Cairo was designated a World Heritage Site.

Today, Cairo is home to Al-Azhar University, the second-oldest university in the world, as well as the oldest and biggest film and music industries in the Arab world. The city serves as the regional headquarters for several foreign media outlets, corporations, and organisations; the Arab League has called Cairo home for the majority of its history.