Here, let us take a look at the Geography of Algeria. Largest country in Africa but 80% desert; canyons and caves in the southern Hoggar Mountains and in the barren Tassili n'Ajjer area in the southeast of the country contain numerous examples of prehistoric art -- rock paintings and carvings depicting human activities and wild and domestic animals (elephants, giraffes, cattle) -- that date to the African Humid Period, roughly 11,000 to 5,000 years ago, when the region was completely vegetated. Mother's mean age at first birth is (), whereas, the Maternal mortality ratio is 78 deaths/100,000 live births (2020 est.)
Location | Northern Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Morocco and Tunisia |
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Geographic coordinates | 28 00 N, 3 00 E |
Map references | Africa |
Tarrain | mostly high plateau and desert; Atlas Mountains in the far north and Hoggar Mountains in the south; narrow, discontinuous coastal plain |
Natural Resources | petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, phosphates, uranium, lead, zinc |
Natural Hazards | mountainous areas subject to severe earthquakes; mudslides and floods in rainy season; droughts |
Irrigated Land | 12,605 sq km (2016) |
Major rivers (by length in km) | |
Major aquifers | Lullemeden-Irhazer Aquifer System, Murzuk-Djado Basin, North Western Sahara Aquifer, Taoudeni-Tanezrouft Basin |
Land Boundaries | 6,734 km |
Border Countries | Libya 989 km; Mali 1,359 km; Mauritania 460 km; Morocco 1,941 km; Niger 951 km; Tunisia 1,034 km |
Coastline | 998 km |
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 |
Area | |
Total Area | |
Land Area | 2,381,740 sq km |
Water Area | 0 sq km |
comparative Area | slightly less than 3.5 times the size of Texas |
Maritime Claims | |
Territorial sea | 12 nm |
Contiguous zone | 24 nm |
Exclusive fishing zone | 32-52 nm |
Elevations | |
Highest point | Tahat 2,908 m |
Lowest point | Chott Melrhir -40 m |
Mean elevation | 800 m |
Land Use | |
Agricultural land | 17.4% (2018 est.) |
Agricultural land: arable land | arable land: 3.2% (2018 est.) |
Agricultural land: permanent crops | permanent crops: 0.4% (2018 est.) |
Agricultural land: permanent pasture | permanent pasture: 13.8% (2018 est.) |
Forest | 0.8% (2018 est.) |
Other | 81.8% (2018 est.) |
The vast majority of the populace is found in the extreme northern part of the country along the Mediterranean Coast as shown in this population distribution map
In Algeria, the different Ethnic groups are such that we have: Arab-Amazigh 99%, European less than 1%
Population | |
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Pop growth rate | 1.54% (2024 est.) |
Birth rate | 20.2 births/1,000 population (2024 est.) |
Death rate | 4.4 deaths/1,000 population (2024 est.) |
Health expenditure | 6.3% of GDP (2020) |
Physicians Density | |
Hospital bed Density | 1.9 beds/1,000 population (2015) |
Total fertility rate | 2.94 children born/woman (2024 est.) |
Gross reproduction rate | 1.43 (2024 est.) |
Contraceptive prevalence rate | 53.6% (2018/19) |
Est married women (ages 15-49) | 56% (2023 est.) |
Literacy | age 15 and over can read and write |
Education expenditures | 7% of GDP (2020 est.) |
Net Migration rate | -0.5 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2024 est.) |
Nationality | Algerian | Algerian(s) |
Languages | |
Religions | Muslim (official; predominantly Sunni) 99%, other (includes Christian, Jewish, Ahmadi Muslim, Shia Muslim, Ibadi Muslim) <1% (2012 est.) |
Age Structure | |
0-14 years | 30.8% (male 7,411,337/female 7,062,794) |
15-64 years | 62.3% (male 14,846,102/female 14,441,034) |
65 years and over | 6.9% (2024 est.) (male 1,597,382/female 1,663,824) |
Dependency Ratios | |
Total dependency ratio | 58.5 |
Youth dependency ratio | 48.7 |
Elderly dependency ratio | 9.8 |
Potential support ratio | 10.2 (2021 est.) |
Median Age | |
Total | 29.1 years (2024 est.) |
Male | 28.8 years |
Female | 29.4 years |
Urbanization | |
Urban population | 75.3% of total population (2023) |
Rate of urbanization | 1.99% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.) |
Major urban areas (Pop) | 2.902 million ALGIERS (capital), 936,000 Oran (2022). |
Sex Ratio | |
At birth | 1.05 male(s)/female |
0-14 years | 1.05 male(s)/female |
15-64 years | 1.03 male(s)/female |
65 years and over | 0.96 male(s)/female |
Total population | 1.03 male(s)/female (2024 est.) |
Infant Motality | |
Total | 18.7 deaths/1,000 live births (2024 est.) |
Male | 19.8 deaths/1,000 live births |
Female | 17.5 deaths/1,000 live births |
Life Expectancy at birth | |
Total population | 77.9 years (2024 est.) |
Male | 77.2 years |
Female | 78.7 years |
Drinking Water Sources | |
Improved: urban | urban: 99.6% of population |
Improved: rural | rural: 98.8% of population |
Improved: total | total: 99.4% of population |
Unimproved: urban | urban: 0.4% of population |
Unimproved: rural | rural: 1.2% of population |
Unimproved: total | total: 0.6% of population (2020 est.) |
Sanitation facility acess | |
Improved: urban | urban: 98.3% of population |
Improved: rural | rural: 91.3% of population |
Improved: total | total: 96.5% of population |
Unimproved: urban | urban: 1.7% of population |
Unimproved: rural | rural: 8.7% of population |
Unimproved: total | total: 3.5% of population (2020 est.) |
Major Infectious diseases | |
Alcohol consumption per capita | |
Total | 0.59 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.) |
Beer | 0.31 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.) |
Wine | 0.2 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.) |
Spirits | 0.08 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.) |
Other alcohols | 0 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.) |
Tobacco use | |
Total | 21% (2020 est.) |
Male | 41.3% (2020 est.) |
Female | 0.7% (2020 est.) |
Child marriage | |
Women married by age 18 | 3.8% (2019 est.) |
For the first two thirds of the 20th century, Algeria's high fertility rate caused its population to grow rapidly. However, about a decade after independence from France in 1962, the total fertility rate fell dramatically from 7 children per woman in the 1970s to about 2.4 in 2000, slowing Algeria's population growth rate by the late 1980s. The lower fertility rate was mainly the result of women's rising age at first marriage (virtually all Algerian children being born in wedlock) and to a lesser extent the wider use of contraceptives. Later marriages and a preference for smaller families are attributed to increases in women's education and participation in the labor market; higher unemployment; and a shortage of housing forcing multiple generations to live together. The average woman's age at first marriage increased from about 19 in the mid-1950s to 24 in the mid-1970s to 30.5 in the late 1990s.
Algeria's fertility rate experienced an unexpected upturn in the early 2000s, as the average woman's age at first marriage dropped slightly. The reversal in fertility could represent a temporary fluctuation in marriage age or, less likely, a decrease in the steady rate of contraceptive use.
Thousands of Algerian peasants - mainly Berber men from the Kabylia region - faced with land dispossession and economic hardship under French rule migrated temporarily to France to work in manufacturing and mining during the first half of the 20th century. This movement accelerated during World War I, when Algerians filled in for French factory workers or served as soldiers. In the years following independence, low-skilled Algerian workers and Algerians who had supported the French (known as Harkis) emigrated en masse to France. Tighter French immigration rules and Algiers' decision to cease managing labor migration to France in the 1970s limited legal emigration largely to family reunification.
Not until Algeria's civil war in the 1990s did the country again experience substantial outmigration. Many Algerians legally entered Tunisia without visas claiming to be tourists and then stayed as workers. Other Algerians headed to Europe seeking asylum, although France imposed restrictions. Sub-Saharan African migrants came to Algeria after its civil war to work in agriculture and mining. In the 2000s, a wave of educated Algerians went abroad seeking skilled jobs in a wider range of destinations, increasing their presence in North America and Spain. At the same time, legal foreign workers principally from China and Egypt came to work in Algeria's construction and oil sectors. Illegal migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly Malians, Nigeriens, and Gambians, continue to come to Algeria in search of work or to use it as a stepping stone to Libya and Europe.
Since 1975, Algeria also has been the main recipient of Sahrawi refugees from the ongoing conflict in Western Sahara (today part of Morocco). More than 100,000 Sahrawis are estimated to be living in five refugee camps in southwestern Algeria near Tindouf.
Want to know more about Algeria? Check all different factbooks for Algeria below.