Geography
Location: Northern Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between
Morocco and Tunisia.
Area: Total--2,381,740 sq. km. Land--2,381,740 sq. km.; water--0
sq. km. More than three times the size of Texas.
Cities: Capital--Algiers.
Terrain: Mostly high plateau and desert; some mountains; narrow,
discontinuous coastal plain. Mountainous areas subject to severe
earthquakes; mud slides.
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.
Land use: Arable land--3%; permanent crops--0%, permanent
pastures--13%; forests and woodland--2%.
People
Nationality: Noun--Algerian(s); adjective--Algerian.
Population (July 2003 est.): 32,818,500.
Annual growth rate (2003 est.): 1.65%. Birth rate--21.94
births/1,000, population; death rate--5.09 deaths/1,000
population.
Ethnic groups: Arab-Berber 99%, European less than 1%.
Christian singles note-Religions: Sunni Muslim (state religion) 99%,
Christian and Jewish 1%.
Languages: Arabic (official), French, Berber dialects.
Education: Literacy (definition--age 15 and over can read and
write)--total population, 70%; male 78.8%, female 61% (2003 est.)
Health (2003 est.): Infant mortality rate--37.74 deaths/1,000
live births. Life expectancy at birth--total population, 70.54
years; male 69.14 years, female 72.01 years.
Work force (2003): 9.5 million. Government--32%; agriculture--14%;
construction and public works--10%; industry--13.4%; trade--14.6%,
other--16%.
Unemployment rate (2004 est.): 30%.
Government
Type: Republic.
Independence: July 5, 1962 (from France).
Constitution: November 19, 1976; revised November 3, 1988, February
23, 1989, and November 28, 1996.
Branches: Legal system 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.
Administrative divisions: 48 provinces (wilayates; singular, wilaya).
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal.
National holiday: Revolution Day, November 1, 1954.
Economy
GDP (2004 est.): $64.3 billion.
GDP growth rate (2004 est.): 4.1%.
Per capita real GDP (2004 est.): $1,972.
Agriculture: Products--wheat, barley, oats, grapes, olives,
citrus, fruits; sheep, cattle.
Industry: Types--petroleum, natural gas, light industries,
mining, electrical, petrochemical, food processing, pharmaceuticals,
cement, seawater desalination.
Trade: Exports—(2004 est.) $25 billion: petroleum, natural
gas, and petroleum products 97%. Partners (2004
est.)--U.S.18.2%, Italy 16.1%, France 11.4%, Spain 4.7 Imports--$12.3
billion (f.o.b., 2003 est.): capital goods, food and beverages,
consumer goods. Partners (2003 est.)--France 22.5%, U.S. 9.6%,
Italy 9.5%, Germany 6.5%, Spain 5.2%, Turkey 4.1%, Canada 3.1%.
Budget (2004 est.): Revenues--$23.3 billion; expenditures--$22.2
billion, including capital expenditures of $7.8 billion.
Debt (external, 2004 est.): $19 billion.
U.S. economic assistance (2004 est.): $1.5 million (MEPI and
IMET).
Fiscal year: Calendar year.
GEOGRAPHY
Algeria, the second-largest state in Africa, has a Mediterranean
coastline of about 998 kilometers (620 mi.). The Tellian and Saharan
Atlas mountain ranges cross the country from east to west, dividing it
into three zones. Between the northern zone, Tellian Atlas, and the
Mediterranean is a narrow, fertile coastal plain--the Tell (Arabic for
hill)--with a moderate climate year round and rainfall adequate for
agriculture. A high plateau region, averaging 914 meters (3,000 ft.)
above sea level, with limited rainfall and great rocky plains and
desert, lies between the two mountain ranges. It is generally barren
except for scattered clumps of trees and intermittent bush and
pastureland. The third and largest zone, south of the Saharan Atlas
range of mountains, is mostly desert. About 80% of the country is
desert, steppes, wasteland, and mountains.
Algeria's weather is irregular from year to year. In the north, the
summers are usually hot with little rainfall. Winter rains begin in
the north in October. Frost and snow are rare, except on the highest
slopes of the Tellian Atlas Mountains. Dust and sandstorms occur most
frequently between February and May.
Soil erosion from overgrazing and other poor farming practices;
desertification; dumping of raw sewage, petroleum refining wastes, and
other industrial effluents are leading to the pollution of rivers and
coastal waters. The Mediterranean Sea, in particular, is becoming
polluted from oil wastes, soil erosion, and fertilizer runoff; there
are inadequate supplies of potable water.
PEOPLE
Ninety-one percent of the Algerian population lives along the
Mediterranean coast on 12% of the country's total land mass.
Forty-five percent of the population is urban, and urbanization
continues, despite government efforts to discourage migration to the
cities. About 1.5 million nomads and semi-settled Bedouin still live
in the Saharan area. According to the National Office of Statistics (ONS)
the data for the year 2002 indicate that 75% of the Algerian
population is below 30.
Christian singles note-Nearly all Algerians are Muslim, of Arab, Berber,
or mixed Arab-Berber stock. Official data on the number of non-Muslim
residents is not available, however practitioners report it to be less
than 5,000. Most of the non-Muslim community is comprised of
Methodist, Roman Catholic and Evangelical faiths; the Jewish community
is virtually non-existent. As of August 2004, there were about 1100
American citizens in the country, the majority of whom live and work
in the oil/gas fields of the south.
