Monographie of Algeria
COUNTRY PROFILE: ALGERIA
Formal Name: People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria
(Al Jumhuriyah al Jazairiyah ad Dimuqratiyah ash Shabiyah).
Short Form: Algeria (Al Jazair). Term for Citizen(s): Algerian(s).
Capital: Algiers, with a population of about 05 million, or 3 million including suburbs, in 2018.
Major Cities: After Algiers, the most populous cities are Oran, Constantine, and Annaba.
Independence: Algeria celebrates its independence on July 5, 1962.
Public Holidays: Official holidays include New Year’s (January 1st ); Ashoura; Birth of Muhammad; Labor Day ; Independence Day (July 5th ); Eid el Fitr (end of Ramadan ; Anniversary of the Revolution (November 1st ); Eid el Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice); and Islamic New Year.
(Dates of Islamic holidays vary from year to year according to the Islamic calendar).
Flag: Algeria’s flag features a “Red Crescent” and a “Red Five-pointed Star” against two equal vertical bands of green and white in the background. The crescent, the star, and the color green symbolize Islam, the state religion.
GEOGRAPHY
Location: Algeria is located in northwestern Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea between Morocco and Tunisia.
Size: Algeria has an area of almost 2.4 million square kilometers, more than four-fifths of which is desert. Algeria is the tenth largest country in the world and the second largest in Africa.
Land Boundaries: Algeria shares borders with Morocco (1,559 kilometers), Mali (1,376 kilometers), Libya (982 kilometers), Tunisia (965 kilometers), Niger (956 kilometers), Mauritania (463 kilometers), and Western Sahara (42 kilometers).
Length of Coastline: Algeria’s 998-kilometer northern border stretches along the southern edge of the Mediterranean Sea from Morocco in the west to Tunisia in the east.
Maritime Claims: Algeria claims a territorial sea of 12 nautical miles and an exclusive fishing zone of 32–52 nautical miles.
Topography: A sharp contrast exists between the relatively fertile, mountainous, topographically fragmented north, dominated by parallel ranges of the Atlas Mountains, and the vast expanse of the Sahara Desert in the south. The fertile “Tell region” in the north, extending eastward from the Moroccan border, is the country's heartland, containing most of its cities and population. The “Tell” is made up of the hills and plains of the narrow coastal region, several “Tell Atlas” mountain ranges, and intermediate valleys and basins. South of the “Tell”, the High Plateaus region stretches more than 600 kilometers eastward from the Moroccan border. This region consists of undulating, steppe-like plains lying between the “Tell Atlas” Mountains to the north and the “Saharan Atlas” mountains to the south. The High Plateaus region averages between 1,100 and 1,300 meters in elevation in the west, dropping to 400 meters in the east. Northeastern Algeria consists of a massif area extensively dissected into mountains, plains, and basins. It differs from the western portion of the country in that its prominent topographic features do not parallel the coast. The Algerian portion of the Sahara extends south of the Saharan Atlas for 1,500 kilometers to the borders with Niger and Mali. The desert is an otherworldly place, scarcely considered an integral part of the country. Far from being covered wholly by sweeps of sand, it is a region of great diversity. Immense areas of sand dunes occupy about one-quarter of the territory. Much of the remainder of the desert is covered by rocky platforms, and almost the entire southeastern quarter is taken up by highlands.
Principal Rivers: Algeria’s largest river, the Chelif, flows 725 kilometers from the Tell Atlas into the Mediterranean Sea.
Climate: The coastal lowlands and mountain valleys are characterized by a Mediterranean climate, mild winters, and moderate rainfall. In this densely populated region, temperatures average between 21° C and 24° C in the summer and drop to 10° C to 12° C in the winter. Average temperatures and precipitation are lower in the intermountain High Plateaus region. The desert is hot and arid. Most of the country experiences little seasonal change but considerable diurnal variation in temperature. Rainfall is fairly abundant along the coastal part of the Tell, ranging from 400 to 670 millimeters annually, with the amount of precipitation increasing from west to east. Precipitation is heaviest in the northern part of eastern Algeria, where it reaches as much as 1,000 millimeters in some years. Farther inland the rainfall is less plentiful.
Natural Resources: Algeria’s natural resources consist of petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, phosphates, uranium, lead, and zinc. Algeria has proven oil reserves of 12.3 billion barrels, a relatively modest amount. Proven natural gas reserves are estimated at 161.7 trillion cubic feet, the eighth (8th) largest in the world.
Land Use: In 2015 Algeria’s land use was as follows: 3.6 %, arable; 2%, permanent crops; 13 %, permanent pastures; and 84 %, other. More than four-fifths of Algeria’s territory is desert.
Environmental Factors: A disturbing environmental trend is the encroachment of the Sahara Desert on the fertile coastal and highland “Tell” and inland “Saharan Atlas regions”. overgrazing have led to soil erosion. Water is scarce, so a premium is placed on conservation and desalination, the use of underground water tunnels and palm fronds to draw moisture. From 2007 Algeria built Africa’s largest seawater desalination plant in Hamma, Algeria. The goal for the Hamma facility is to supply 20% of the water needed by the city of Algiers.
Time Zone: Algeria’s time zone is Central European Time (Greenwich Mean Time + 1 hour).
Population: As of July 2017, Algeria’s population was estimated to total 39.3 million. The population was growing at an annual rate of 1.2 %. More than 90 % of the country’s population is concentrated along the Mediterranean coast, which constitutes only 12 % of the country’s land area. Therefore, the overall population density of 14.2 inhabitants per square kilometer is deceptive. About 59 % of Algeria’s population is urban.
Demography: In 2018 population distribution by age was as follows: 0–14 years, 27.2 %; 15–64 years, 67.9 %; and 65 years and older, 4.8 %. As this distribution indicates, Algeria has a very young population. According to the World Health Organization, life expectancy in 2015 was 71 years (70 years for men and 72 years for women).
Languages: The official languages are Arabic and Berber (Tamazight).
Religion: Sunni Islam is the state religion, and Muslims constitute 99 % of the population. The remaining 1 % of the population is Christian, mostly Roman Catholic but also Methodist and Evangelical Christians.
Education and Literacy: Algeria’s literacy rate is estimated at 69–70 %. The breakdown by gender is 79 % for males and 61 % for females. Education consumes one-quarter(1/4) of the national budget. Education is free and officially compulsory for Algerians. Algeria has more than 40 universities, 800 000 students and several technical colleges. The primary language of school instruction is Arabic, but Berber-language instruction has been introduced since 2003.
Health: Algeria had adequate numbers of physicians, doctors and nurses and citizens receive health care free of charge.
ECONOMY:
Algeria has enormous possibilities to boost its economic growth, including foreign-exchange reserves derived from oil and gas.
Mining and Minerals: Algeria’s Ministry of Industry and Mines is responsible for overseeing the nation’s mineral production. State-owned steel and gold production companies were privatized in 2001–2. In 2005 the major products of Algeria’s non-energy mining sector were as follows: iron ore (151,775 gross weight metric tons); zinc concentrates (4,463 metric tons); mercury (276 kilograms); phosphate rock (878 metric tons); barite (53 metric tons); unrefined salt (197 metric tons); and crude gypsum (1,460 metric tons).
Industry and Manufacturing: In 2018 industry accounted for 61 % of Algeria’s (GDP), but about half (1/2) of that amount was attributable to the hydrocarbons sector.
Energy: A member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Algeria exports both crude oil and natural gas, and elevated energy prices in recent years have led to an improvement in the country’s budget, external debt, and foreign currency reserves. Algeria has proven oil reserves, of 12.3 billion barrels. Out of more than 2 million barrels of oil produced per day in 2018, more than 1.8 million barrels were exported. Proven natural gas reserves are estimated at 161.7 trillion cubic feet, the eighth largest in the world. Out of 2.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas produced in 2017, 2.1 trillion cubic feet were exported. Algeria’s top natural gas customers, in order, are France, Spain, Turkey, the United States, and Belgium.
Services: In 2018 Algeria’s services sector accounted for 31 % of gross domestic product (GDP) but employed the majority of the workforce. The services sector is undergoing deregulation and is being opened to private and foreign competition. Insurance, banking, air transportation, and air courier services already have been deregulated.
Banking and Finance: Algeria’s banking sector is dominated by public banks.
Tourism: Algeria receives only about 1 million tourists and visitors annually. The Algerian government has set the goal of boosting the number of foreign visitors, including tourists, to 1.2 million by 2010.
Labor: The largest employer is government, which claims 32 % of the workforce. Even though industry is a much larger part of the economy than agriculture, the latter employs slightly more people (14 % of the workforce) than industry (13.4 % of the workforce). while the construction and public works sector employs 10 %.
Foreign Economic Relations: In its foreign economic relations, Algeria is seeking more trade and foreign investment. Algeria achieved association status with the European Union (EU) in September 2005. Algeria has signed multilateral trade agreement in the framework of the Arab Free Trade Area in 2005, in addition to a bilateral Preferential Trade Agreement with Tunisia in 2014 and an Agreement on Economic and Commercial Cooperation between Algeria and Jordan in 1999.
Algeria seeks also accession to the World Trade Organization.
Imports: In 2019 (first 9 months)algerian imports totaled 32.4 billion US$.
Exports: In 2019 (first 9 months), Algeria exported 27.2 billionUS$.
Currency and Exchange Rate: Algeria’s currency is the Algerian Dinar (DZD) ;
1 DZD = 0.0084 US$
1 US$ = 119.42 DZD
(January 7th, 2020)
Fiscal Year: Calendar year.
TRANSPORTATION:
Roads: 112,039 km of roads and highways (40th network World, 3rd in Africa), 29,573 km of which are national roads.
Airports: 36 airports, of which 16 international.
Ports: 45 maritime infrastructures, 11 of which are commercial ports, two oil ports, 31 fishing ports, one (01) marina and 2,200 maritime traffic lights
Railways network: 4498 km of railway network, 3854 km of which are operational lines and 2,380 others under construction;
One (01) metro in Algiers with a length of 9.5 km with three extensions of a total length of 9.4 km underway of construction.
7 trams (Algiers, Oran, Constantine, Setif, Sidi Bel Abbes, Ouargla).
Wagons : 10 873
Electric rail cars : 64
Diesel rail cars : 17
Diesel Locomotives: 261
Electric Locomotives: 14
