Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is increasingly recognized as a public health problem, and is linked to the risk of development of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) with their attendant morbidity, mortality and increased healthcare costs. There is still paucity of data on the prevalence and risk factors for microalbuminuria (MA) and CKD in the Middle East. We report a cross-sectional study of the prevalence and risk factors for MA in the relatives of patients with CKD from a community-based screening programme in Egypt. The study was conducted among participants of the Egypt Information, Prevention, and Treatment of Chronic Kidney Diseases (EGIPT-CKD) Program, a population-based screening program for MA and CKD in Damanhour, Egypt. The screening tools included a questionnaire collating information on demographics, lifestyle, medical and family history of diabetes mellitus, hypertension and CKD. The prevalence of MA was 10.6% in the population screened. The prevalence was 6.2% in the non-diabetic and non-hypertensive subjects. The prevalence of albuminuria increases with age (P = 0.001 for trend). The prevalence was higher in the subjects with diabetes, hypertension, obesity or CVD. There was also a higher burden of MA subjects with low educational attainment (16% vs 5.6%; P = 0.001) and also those with a positive history of smoking (15.7% vs 8.1%; P = 0.01). The independent predictor variables associated with the presence of MA in a mutually adjusted logistic regression model were age (OR = 1.055, 95% CI: 1.01-1.10), mean arterial blood pressure (OR = 1.04, 95% CI: 1.102-1.07) and personal history of CVD (OR = 2.34, 95% CI: 2.31-18.1). In this study, we determined the prevalence and risk factors for those having MA among the first-degree relatives of ESRD patients of the EGIPT-CKD program in Damanhour, Lower Egypt.