The family planning program in Egypt has been successful in providing many couples with contraceptive services. As a result, Egypt has experienced a period of major demographic change. Despite the program's success, however, Egypt continues to face a number of important challenges, especially the need to serve women that are most in need of contraceptive services. Efforts to identify the group of women in need of family planning services have usually taken into account women's fertility preferences and contraceptive use status. The objectives of this paper is to consider the potential need for family planning from a somewhat different perspective, that of avoiding births for which there is an increased risk of mortality for the child. In this regard, women who are exposed to having a birth at too short an interval or too high parity are defined as in need for family planning in order to reduce the level of risk of mortality among their children. This paper estimates the overall of the need for family planning in Egypt from this child survival perspective and considers the extent to which this need is being met.