Presidential Decree 495/1977 divided Egypt into eight economic regions (later reduced to seven after Matrouh merged into Alexandria) for economic and physical planning purposes. These regions do not have any new administrative representation in the local government hierarchy.

Instead, each region is composed of a number of contiguous governorates, with one designated as the capital of the region (that governorate's capital city).

Art. 2 established a Higher Committee for Regional Planning in each region, headed by the governor of the region's capital governorate. The committee comprises the governors, the heads of the Local Executive Councils, and the head of the national-level General Organization for Physical Planning (GOPP) as secretary general.

Art. 3 set out a Planning Administration for each region, originally affiliated with the Ministry of (Economic) Planning. In 2008, this was changed to a Regional Center for Urban Planning and Development affiliated to the GOPP. However, it was later believed that planning based on these units was unrealistic, thus decentralization efforts were put in place.

There are seven regional units, containing the following governorates. In 2014, there were discussions to expand them to eleven regions, but those plans never happened.

The current structure is as follows:

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