My wife and I just returned from a great two week tour of Egypt. I had visited that country for a couple of days in 1983 and for a tour including a Nile cruise in 1985.
I noticed significant changes in that country over that period of time.
The infrastructure has improved quite a lot. I don't remember there being any limited access highways (what we call interstates in the USA) in 1983 or 1985. The ride from the airport to Cairo center was a bit like being in a demo derby. Few intersections had street lights and whichever vehicle honked first had the right of way. I was an a taxi in 1983 and thought I was going to die a few times. Today, the highway from the airport to the city is limited access, a modern highway were traffic moves almost as normal as in Europe or the USA. Yes, there is still aggressive driving, but it is much better. Now, there is even a Ring Road around Cairo that despite the heavy traffic, does move safely.
The airport (I was told it was built in the late 90s) is wonderful, clean and well maintained. In the 80s the airport was old, dirty and nothing to brag about.
In the 80s, I was told that half of Egyptians lived on dirt floors. Not sure about that, but clearly, this doesn't appear to be the case today. Prosperity is more evident. Yes, poverty is apparent, but compared to the 80s, more Egyptians seem to be living much better.
The tourist industry is even more significant that it was in the 80s. I remember that there were just a few Nile cruise boats to choose from, now there appear to be hundreds. Clearly, the tourist industry is huge for Egypt.
On the down side, we were told that agriculture is not an important to the economy these days. I understand that Egypt imports food. In Ancient times, it fed Rome. Also, the current population is over 100,000,000. This is a lot of people for a country where only 3% of the land is arable.