Map of Algeria | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide198919901991199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024 | More stats

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Background: After a century of rule by France Algeria became independent in 1962. The surprising first round success of the fundamentalist FIS (Islamic Salvation Front) party in December 1991 balloting caused the army to intervene crack down on the FIS and postpone the subsequent elections. The FIS response has resulted in a continuous low-grade civil conflict with the secular state apparatus which nonetheless has allowed elections featuring pro-government and moderate religious-based parties. FIS's armed wing the Islamic Salvation Army dissolved itself in January 2000 and many armed insurgents surrendered under an amnesty program designed to promote national reconciliation. Nevertheless some residual fighting continues. Other concerns include large-scale unemployment and the need to diversify the petroleum-based economy.


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Location: Northern Africa bordering the Mediterranean Sea between Morocco and Tunisia

Geographic coordinates: 28 00 N 3 00 E

Map reference: Africa

Area
Comparative: slightly less than 3.5 times the size of Texas

Land boundaries

Coastline: 998 km

Maritime claims

Climate: arid to semiarid; mild wet winters with hot dry summers along coast; drier with cold winters and hot summers on high plateau; sirocco is a hot dust/sand-laden wind especially common in summer

Terrain: mostly high plateau and desert; some mountains; narrow discontinuous coastal plain

Elevation

Natural resources: petroleum natural gas iron ore phosphates uranium lead zinc

Land use

Irrigated land: 5,550 km² (1993 est.)

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards: mountainous areas subject to severe earthquakes; mud slides

Geography
Note: second-largest country in Africa (after Sudan)


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Population: 31,193,917 (July 2000 est.)
Growth rate: 1.74% (2000 est.)
Below poverty line: 23% (1999 est.)

Nationality

Ethnic groups: Arab-Berber 99% European less than 1%

Languages: Arabic (official) French Berber dialects

Religions: Sunni Muslim (state religion) 99% Christian and Jewish 1%

Demographic profile

Age structure

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate: 1.74% (2000 est.)

Birth rate: 23.14 births/1000 population (2000 est.)

Death rate: 5.3 deaths/1000 population (2000 est.)

Net migration rate: -0.47 migrant(s)/1000 population (2000 est.)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: soil erosion from overgrazing and other poor farming practices; desertification; dumping of raw sewage petroleum refining wastes and other industrial effluents is leading to the pollution of rivers and coastal waters; Mediterranean Sea in particular becoming polluted from oil wastes soil erosion and fertilizer runoff; inadequate supplies of potable water

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 41.97 deaths/1000 live births (2000 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

Total fertility rate: 2.8 children born/woman (2000 est.)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name

Government type: republic

Capital: Algiers

Administrative divisions: 48 provinces (wilayas singular - wilaya); Adrar Ain Defla Ain Temouchent Alger Annaba Batna Bechar Bejaia Biskra Blida Bordj Bou Arreridj Bouira Boumerdes Chlef Constantine Djelfa El Bayadh El Oued El Tarf Ghardaia Guelma Illizi Jijel Khenchela Laghouat Mascara Medea Mila Mostaganem M'Sila Naama Oran Ouargla Oum el Bouaghi Relizane Saida Setif Sidi Bel Abbes Skikda Souk Ahras Tamanghasset Tebessa Tiaret Tindouf Tipaza Tissemsilt Tizi Ouzou Tlemcen

Dependent areas

Independence: 5 July 1962 (from France)

National holiday: Anniversary of the Revolution 1 November (1954)

Constitution: 19 November 1976 effective 22 November 1976; revised 3 November 1988 23 February 1989 and 28 November 1996; note - referendum approving the revisions of 28 November 1996 was signed into law 7 December 1996

Legal system: socialist based on French and Islamic law; judicial review of legislative acts in ad hoc Constitutional Council composed of various public officials including several Supreme Court justices; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch

Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament consists of the National People's Assembly or Al-Majlis Ech-Chaabi Al-Watani (380 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms) and the Council of Nations (144 seats; one-third of the members appointed by the president two-thirds elected by indirect vote; members serve six-year terms; created as a result of the constitutional revision of November 1996)

Judicial branch: Supreme Court (Cour Supreme)

Political parties and leaders: Algerian Democratic Front or FAD [Sid-Ahmed GHOZALI]; Algerian National Front or ANF [Moussa TOUATI]; Algerian Renewal Party or PRA [Noureddine BOUKROUH chairman]; Democratic National Rally or RND [Ahmed OUYAHIA chairman]; Islamic Salvation Front or FIS (outlawed April 1992) [Ali BELHADJ Dr. Abassi MADANI Rabeh KEBIR (self-exile in Germany)]; Liberal Social Party [Ahmed KHELIL]; Movement for Democracy in Algeria or MDA [Ahmed Ben BELLA]; Movement for Loyalty and Justice [Ahmed Taleb IBRAHIMI president; Movement of a Peaceful Society or MSP [Mahfoud NAHNAH chairman]; Nahda Movement or Al Nahda [Abdallah DJABALLAH president]; National Liberation Front or FLN [Boualem BENHAMOUDA secretary general]; National Party for Solidarity and Development or PNSD [Rabah BENCHERIF]; National Republican Alliance or ANR [Redha MALEK]; Rally for Culture and Democracy or RCD [Said SAADI secretary general]; Republican Progressive Party [Khadir DRISS]; Social Democratic Movement or MDS [Hachemi CHERIF]; Socialist Forces Front or FFS [Hocine Ait AHMED secretary general (self-exile in Switzerland)]; Union for Democracy and Freedoms [Mouley BOUKHALAFA]; Workers Party or PT [Louisa HANOUN]

International organization participation: ABEDA AfDB AFESD AL AMF AMU CCC ECA FAO G-15 G-19 G-24 G-77 IAEA IBRD ICAO ICFTU ICRM IDA IDB IFAD IFC IFRCS IHO ILO IMF IMO Inmarsat Intelsat Interpol IOC IOM (observer) ISO ITU MONUC NAM OAPEC OAS (observer) OAU OIC OPCW OPEC OSCE (partner) UN UNCTAD UNESCO UNHCR UNIDO UPU WCL WHO WIPO WMO WToO WTrO (applicant)

Diplomatic representation

Flag description: two equal vertical bands of green (hoist side) and white with a red five-pointed star within a red crescent; the crescent star and color green are traditional symbols of Islam (the state religion)

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


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Economy overview: The hydrocarbons sector is the backbone of the economy accounting for roughly 52% of budget revenues 25% of GDP and over 95% of export earnings. Algeria has the fifth-largest reserves of natural gas in the world and is the second largest gas exporter; it ranks fourteenth for oil reserves. Algiers' efforts to reform one of the most centrally planned economies in the Arab world stalled in 1992 as the country became embroiled in political turmoil. Burdened with a heavy foreign debt Algiers concluded a one-year standby arrangement with the IMF in April 1994 and the following year signed onto a three-year extended fund facility which ended 30 April 1998. Some progress on economic reform Paris Club debt reschedulings in 1995 and 1996 and oil and gas sector expansion contributed to a recovery in growth since 1995. Still the economy remains heavily dependent on volatile oil and gas revenues. The government has continued efforts to diversify the economy by attracting foreign and domestic investment outside the energy sector but has had little success in reducing high unemployment and improving living standards.

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate: 3.9% (1999 est.)

Real gdp per capita: purchasing power parity - $4,700 (1999 est.)

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products: wheat barley oats grapes olives citrus fruits; sheep cattle

Industries: petroleum natural gas light industries mining electrical petrochemical food processing

Industrial production growth rate: 7% (1999 est.)

Labor force: 9.1 million (2000 est.)
By occupation government: 29.5%
By occupation agriculture: 22%
By occupation construction and public works: 16.2%
By occupation industry: 13.6%
By occupation commerce and services: 13.5%
By occupation transportation and communication: 5.2% (1989)

Unemployment rate: 30% (1999 est.)

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line: 23% (1999 est.)

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget

Taxes and other revenues

Public debt

Revenue

Fiscal year: calendar year

Inflation rate consumer prices: 4.2% (1999 est.)

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares

Current account balance

Exports: $13.7 billion (f.o.b. 1999 est.)
Commodities: petroleum natural gas and petroleum products 97%
Partners: Italy 21.2% US 15.0% France 12.9% Spain 10.3% Brazil 5.9% Netherlands 5.5% (1998)

Imports: $9.3 billion (f.o.b. 1999 est.)
Commodities: capital goods food and beverages consumer goods
Partners: France 29.5% Italy 9.8% US 7.2% Spain 6.8% Germany 6.2% Canada 4.1% (1998)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external: $30 billion (1999 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: Algerian dinars (DA) per US$1 - 69.046 (January 2000) 66.574 (1999) 58.739 (1998) 57.707 (1997) 54.749 (1996) 47.663 (1995)


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Electricity
Production: 21.38 billion kWh (1998)
Consumption: 19.882 billion kWh (1998)
Exports: 313 million kWh (1998)
Imports: 312 million kWh (1998)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones
Main lines in use: 1.176 million (1995)
Mobile cellular: 33,500 (1999)

Telephone system

Broadcast media

Internet
Service providers isps: 1 (1999)

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Dollar figure: $1.3 billion (FY94)
Percent of gdp: 2.7% (FY94)

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 137 (1999 est.)

Heliports: 1 (1999 est.)

Pipelines: crude oil 6,612 km; petroleum products 298 km; natural gas 2,948 km

Railways

Roadways

Waterways

Merchant marine

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international: part of southeastern region claimed by Libya

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs