"text":"<p>Algeria has known many empires and dynasties starting with the ancient Numidians (3rd century B.C.), Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, over a dozen different Arab and Berber dynasties, Spaniards, and Ottoman Turks. It was under the latter that the Barbary pirates operated from North Africa and preyed on shipping beginning in roughly 1500, peaking in the early to mid-17th century, until finally subdued by the French capture of Algiers in 1830. The French southward conquest of the entirety of Algeria proceeded throughout the 19th century and was marked by many atrocities. The country was heavily colonized by the French in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A bloody eight-year struggle culminated in Algerian independence in 1962. <br><br>Algeria's primary political party, the National Liberation Front (FLN), was established in 1954 as part of the struggle for independence and has since largely dominated politics, though it is falling out of favor with the youth. The Government of Algeria in 1988 instituted a multi-party system in response to public unrest, but the surprising first round success of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) in the December 1991 legislative election led the Algerian military to intervene and postpone the second round of elections to prevent what the secular elite feared would be an extremist-led government from assuming power. The army began a crackdown on the FIS that spurred FIS supporters to begin attacking government targets. Fighting escalated into an insurgency, which saw intense violence from 1992-98, resulting in over 100,000 deaths – many attributed to indiscriminate massacres of villagers by extremists. The government gained the upper hand by the late-1990s, and FIS’s armed wing, the Islamic Salvation Army, disbanded in January 2000. FIS membership is illegal.</p> <p>Former president Abdelaziz BOUTEFLIKA, with the backing of the military, won the presidency in 1999 in an election that was boycotted by several candidates protesting alleged fraud, and won subsequent elections in 2004, 2009, and 2014. Protests broke out across the country in late February 2019 against President BOUTEFLIKA’s decision to seek a fifth term. BOUTEFLIKA resigned in April 2019, and in December 2019, Algerians elected former Prime Minister Abdelmadjid TEBBOUNE as the country's new president. A longtime FLN member, TEBBOUNE ran for president as an independent. In 2020, Algeria held a constitutional referendum, which President TEBBOUNE enacted in January 2021. Subsequent reforms to the national electoral law introduced open list voting to curb corruption. The new law also eliminated gender quotas in Parliament, and the June 2021 legislative elections saw female representation plummet. Local elections took place in November 2021. The referendum, parliamentary elections, and local elections saw record low voter turnout. Since 2014, Algeria’s reliance on hydrocarbon export revenues to fund the government and finance the large subsidies for the population has fallen under stress because of volatile energy prices and increased domestic consumption of energy products.</p>"
"text":"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":{
"text":"mostly high plateau and desert; Atlas Mountains in the far north and Hoggar Mountains in the south; narrow, discontinuous coastal plain"
"text":"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"
"text":"mountainous areas subject to severe earthquakes; mudslides and floods in rainy season; droughts"
},
"Geography - note":{
"text":"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"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> although almost all Algerians are Berber in origin (not Arab), only a minority identify themselves as primarily Berber, about 15% of the total population; these people live mostly in the mountainous region of Kabylie east of Algiers and several other communities; the Berbers are also Muslim but identify with their Berber rather than Arab cultural heritage; Berbers have long agitated, sometimes violently, for autonomy; the government is unlikely to grant autonomy but has officially recognized Berber languages and introduced them into public schools"
"text":"<br>كتاب حقائق العالم، المصدر الذي لا يمكن الاستغناء عنه للمعلومات الأساسية (Arabic)<br><br>The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information."
"text":"<p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p>"
"text":"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"
"text":"<strong>note:</strong> on 22 March 2023, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Travel Alert for polio in Africa; Algeria is currently considered a high risk to travelers for circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPV); vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV) is a strain of the weakened poliovirus that was initially included in oral polio vaccine (OPV) and that has changed over time and behaves more like the wild or naturally occurring virus; this means it can be spread more easily to people who are unvaccinated against polio and who come in contact with the stool or respiratory secretions, such as from a sneeze, of an “infected” person who received oral polio vaccine; the CDC recommends that before any international travel, anyone unvaccinated, incompletely vaccinated, or with an unknown polio vaccination status should complete the routine polio vaccine series; before travel to any high-risk destination, the CDC recommends that adults who previously completed the full, routine polio vaccine series receive a single, lifetime booster dose of polio vaccine"
"text":"air pollution in major cities; 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"
},
"Environment - international agreements":{
"party to":{
"text":"Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands"
},
"signed, but not ratified":{
"text":"Nuclear Test Ban"
}
},
"Climate":{
"text":"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"
"text":"name derives from the Arabic \"al-Jazair\" meaning \"the islands\" and refers to the four islands formerly off the coast of the capital but joined to the mainland since 1525"
"text":"proposed by the president of the republic or through the president with the support of three fourths of the members of both houses of Parliament in joint session; passage requires approval by both houses, approval by referendum, and promulgation by the president; the president can forego a referendum if the Constitutional Council determines the proposed amendment does not conflict with basic constitutional principles; articles including the republican form of government, the integrity and unity of the country, and fundamental citizens’ liberties and rights cannot be amended; amended 2002, 2008, 2016; last in 2020"
"text":"mixed legal system of French civil law and Islamic law; judicial review of legislative acts in ad hoc Constitutional Council composed of various public officials including several Supreme Court justices"
},
"International law organization participation":{
"text":"has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; non-party state to the ICCt"
},
"Citizenship":{
"citizenship by birth":{
"text":"no"
},
"citizenship by descent only":{
"text":"the mother must be a citizen of Algeria"
},
"dual citizenship recognized":{
"text":"no"
},
"residency requirement for naturalization":{
"text":"7 years"
}
},
"Suffrage":{
"text":"18 years of age; universal"
},
"Executive branch":{
"chief of state":{
"text":"President Abdelmadjid TEBBOUNE (since 12 December 2019)"
"text":"Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the president"
},
"elections/appointments":{
"text":"president directly elected by absolute majority popular vote in two rounds if needed for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 12 December 2019 (next to be held in 2024); prime minister nominated by the president after consultation with the majority party in Parliament"
"text":"bicameral Parliament consists of:<br>Council of the Nation or Majlis al-Umma (174 seats, statutory; 170 currently); two-thirds of members indirectly elected by simple majority vote by an electoral college composed of local assemblies within each wilaya, and one-third of members appointed by the president; members serve 6-year terms with one-half of the membership renewed every 3 years)<br>National People's Assembly or <small></small>al-Majlis al-Sha'abi al-Watani (407 seats, including 8 seats for Algerian diaspora); members directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by open-list proportional representation vote to serve 5-year terms); note - in March 2021, President TEBBOUNE ordered the number of Assembly seats be reduced to 407 from 462"
"text":"<br>Council of the Nation - last held on 5 February 2022 (next election expected in 2025)<br>National People's Assembly - snap election held on 12 June 2021 (next to be held on 12 June 2026)"
"text":"<br>Council of the Nation - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - FLN 54, RND 22, Future Front 7, National Construction Movement 5, FFS 4, other 6, independent 18, appointed 58; composition as of February 2023 - men 163, women 7, percent of women 4.1%<br><br>National People's Assembly - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - FLN 98, MSP 65, RND 58, (Future Front) 48, Movement of National Construction 39, other 15, independent 84; composition - men 375, women 32, percent of women 7.9%; note - total Parliament percent of women 6.8%"
"text":"Supreme Court or Le Cour Suprême, (consists of 150 judges organized into 8 chambers: Civil, Commercial and Maritime, Criminal, House of Offenses and Contraventions, House of Petitions, Land, Personal Status, and Social; Constitutional Council (consists of 12 members including the court chairman and deputy chairman); note - Algeria's judicial system does not include sharia courts"
"text":"Supreme Court judges appointed by the High Council of Magistracy, an administrative body presided over by the president of the republic, and includes the republic vice-president and several members; judges appointed for life; Constitutional Council members - 4 appointed by the president of the republic, 2 each by the 2 houses of Parliament, 2 by the Supreme Court, and 2 by the Council of State; Council president and members appointed for single 6-year terms with half the membership renewed every 3 years"
},
"subordinate courts":{
"text":"appellate or wilaya courts; first instance or daira tribunals"
"text":"Algerian National Front or FNA [Moussa TOUATI]<br>Algerian Popular Movement or MPA [Amara BENYOUNES]<br>Algeria's Hope Rally or TAJ [Fatma Zohra ZEROUATI]<br>Democratic and Social Movement or MDS [Fethi GHARES]<br>Dignity or El Karama [Mohamed DAOUI]<br>El-Infitah [Omar BOUACHA]<br>Ennour El Djazairi Party (Algerian Radiance Party) or PED [Badreddine BELBAZ]<br>Equity and Proclamation Party or PEP [Naima SALHI]<br>Future Front or El Mostakbel [Abdelaziz BELAID]<br>Islamic Renaissance Movement or Ennahda Movement [Yazid BENAICHA]<br>Justice and Development Front or FJD [Abdellah DJABALLAH]<br>Movement for National Reform or El Islah [Filali GHOUINI]<br>Movement of Society for Peace or MSP [Abderrazak MAKRI]<br>National Construction Movement or El-Bina (Harakat El-Binaa El-Watani) [Abdelkader BENGRINA]<br>National Democratic Rally (Rassemblement National Democratique) or RND [Tayeb ZITOUNI]<br>National Front for Social Justice or FNJS [Khaled BOUNEDJEMA]<br>National Liberation Front or FLN [Abou El Fadhel BAADJI]<br>National Militancy Front or FMN [Abdallah HADDAD]<br>National Party for Solidarity and Development or PNSD [Dalila YALAQUI]<br>National Republican Alliance or ANR [Belkacem SAHLI]<br>New Dawn Party (El-Fajr El-Jadid) [Tahar BENBAIBECHE]<br>New Generation (Jil Jadid) [Soufiane DJILALI]<br>Oath of 1954 or Ahd 54 [Ali Fawzi REBAINE]<br>Party of Justice and Liberty or PLJ [Mohamed SAID]<br>Rally for Culture and Democracy or RCD [Atmane MAZOUZ]<br>Socialist Forces Front or FFS [Youcef AOUCHICHE]<br>Union for Change and Progress or UCP [Zoubida ASSOUL]<br>Union of Democratic and Social Forces or UFDS [Noureddine BAHBOUH]<br>Vanguard of Liberties (Talaie El Hurriyet) [Abdelkader SAADI]<br>Workers Party or PT [Louisa HANOUNE]<br>Youth Party or PJ [Hamana BOUCHARMA]",
"text":"two equal vertical bands of green (hoist side) and white; a red, five-pointed star within a red crescent centered over the two-color boundary; the colors represent Islam (green), purity and peace (white), and liberty (red); the crescent and star are also Islamic symbols, but the crescent is more closed than those of other Muslim countries because Algerians believe the long crescent horns bring happiness"
},
"National symbol(s)":{
"text":"five-pointed star between the extended horns of a crescent moon, fennec fox; national colors: green, white, red"
"text":"suffering oil and gas economy; lack of sector and market diversification; political instability chilling domestic consumption; poor credit access and declines in business confidence; COVID-19 austerity policies; delayed promised socio-economic reforms"
"text":"Algeria has a steadily developing telecom infrastructure with growth encouraged by supportive regulatory measures and by government policies aimed at delivering serviceable internet connections across the country; mobile broadband is largely based on 3G and LTE, and the data rates are also low in global terms; LTE is available in all provinces, investment is required from the mobile network operators (MNOs) to improve the quality of service; the state has previously been hesitant to commit to 5G, instead encouraging the MNOs to undertake upgrades to LTE infrastructure before investing in commercial 5G services; in March 2022, the state is in the process of freeing up the requisite spectrum to enable the MNOs to launch 5G services sometime this year; fixed internet speeds remain slow (2022)"
"text":"a limited network of fixed-lines with a teledensity of slightly less than 12 telephones per 100 persons has been offset by the rapid increase in mobile-cellular subscribership; mobile-cellular teledensity was approximately 106 telephones per 100 persons in 2020 (2021)"
"text":"country code - 213; ALPAL-2 is a submarine telecommunications cable system in the Mediterranean Sea linking Algeria and the Spanish Balearic island of Majorca; ORVAL is a submarine cable to Spain; landing points for the TE North/TGN-Eurasia/SEACOM/SeaMeWe-4 fiber-optic submarine cable system that provides links to Europe, the Middle East, and Asia; MED cable connecting Algeria with France; microwave radio relay to Italy, France, Spain, Morocco, and Tunisia; Algeria part of the 4,500 Km terrestrial Trans Sahara Backbone network which connects to other fiber networks in the region; Alcomstat-1 satellite offering telemedicine network (2020)"
"text":"state-run Radio-Television Algerienne operates the broadcast media and carries programming in Arabic, Berber dialects, and French; use of satellite dishes is widespread, providing easy access to European and Arab satellite stations; state-run radio operates several national networks and roughly 40 regional radio stations"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> paved runways have a concrete or asphalt surface but not all have facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control; the length of a runway required for aircraft to safely operate depends on a number of factors including the type of aircraft, the takeoff weight (including passengers, cargo, and fuel), engine types, flap settings, landing speed, elevation of the airport, and average maximum daily air temperature; paved runways can reach a length of 5,000 m (16,000 ft.), but the “typical” length of a commercial airline runway is between 2,500-4,000 m (8,000-13,000 ft.)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> unpaved runways have a surface composition such as grass or packed earth and are most suited to the operation of light aircraft; unpaved runways are usually short, often less than 1,000 m (3,280 ft.) in length; airports with unpaved runways often lack facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control"
"text":"Algerian People's National Army (ANP): Land Forces, Naval Forces (includes Coast Guard), Air Forces, Territorial Air Defense Forces, Republican Guard (under ANP but responsible to the President), National Gendarmerie<br><br>Ministry of Interior: General Directorate of National Security (national police) (2023)"
"text":"approximately 140,000 ANP personnel (120,000 Army; 6,000 Navy; 14,000 Air Force); approximately 130,000 National Gendarmerie; approximately 200,000 General Directorate of National Security (2022)"
"text":"the ANP's inventory includes mostly Russian-sourced equipment; in recent years, Algeria has received arms from a variety of countries with Russia as the leading supplier (2023)"
"text":"18 is the legal minimum age for voluntary military service for men and women; 19-30 years of age for mandatory service for men (all Algerian men must register at age 17); service obligation reduced from 18 to 12 months in 2014 (2023)",
"text":"the ANP is responsible for external defense but also has some internal security responsibilities; key areas of concern include border and maritime security, terrorism, regional instability, and tensions with Morocco; Algeria supports the pro-independence Polisario Front in Western Sahara and accuses Morocco of supporting the Algerian separatist Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylie (MAK); border security and counterterrorism have received additional focus since the Arab Spring events of 2011 and the rise of terrorist threats emanating from Libya and the Sahel; the Army and Ministry of Defense (MND) paramilitary forces of the Gendarmerie and the border guards have beefed up their presence along the frontiers with Tunisia, Libya, Niger, and Mali to interdict and deter cross-border attacks by Islamic militant groups; the ANP and MND paramilitary forces have also increased counterterrorism cooperation with some neighboring countries, particularly Tunisia, including joint operations<br><br>the ANP has also played a large role in the country’s politics since independence in 1962, including coups in 1965 and 1991; it was a key backer of BOUTEFLIKA’s election in 1999 and remained a center of power during his 20-year rule; the military was instrumental in BOUTEFLIKA’s resignation in 2019, when it withdrew support and called for him to be removed from office<br><br>the ANP is well-funded and one of the better-equipped militaries in North Africa; over the past decade, it has made large investments in more modern equipment, including armored vehicles, air defense systems, fighter aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, and warships, largely from Russia but also China and Western European suppliers; it is a conscript-based force that exercises regularly, including jointly with foreign militaries such as those of Russia, Tunisia, and some Sahel countries; the ANP is part of the African Union’s Standby Force for North Africa; the core combat units of the Land Forces consists of multiple armored and mechanized divisions, as well as a combined airborne and special forces division, plus several separate brigades of mechanized or motorized infantry and tanks; the Naval Forces’ principal warships include nearly 20 frigates and corvettes and 6 attack submarines; in 2015, the Naval Forces acquired from Italy its first amphibious transport dock (LHD) ship, which is capable of carrying helicopters, small landing craft, and more than 300 troops; the Air Force has more than 100 Russian-made combat aircraft, as well as about 200 Russian-made combat helicopters (2023)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> details about the history, aims, leadership, organization, areas of operation, tactics, targets, weapons, size, and sources of support of the group(s) appear(s) in Appendix T"
"text":"<p><em>Algeria-Morocco:</em> the Algerian-Moroccan land border remains closed; Algeria's border with Morocco remains an irritant to bilateral relations, each nation accusing the other of harboring militants and arms smuggling; the National Liberation Front's (FLN) assertions of a claim to Chirac Pastures in southeastern Morocco remain a dormant dispute<br><br><em>Algeria-Libya:</em> dormant dispute includes Libyan claims of about 32,000 sq km still reflected on its maps of southeastern Algeria<br><br><em>Algeria-Mali:</em> none identified<br><br><em>Algeria-Mauritania:</em> none identified<br><br><em>Algeria-Niger:</em> none identified<br><br><em>Algeria-Tunisia:</em> none identified</p>"
"text":"more than 100,000 (Sahrawi, mostly living in Algerian-sponsored camps in the southwestern Algerian town of Tindouf); 7,345 (Syria) (mid-year 2022)"
"text":"Tier 2 Watch List — Algeria does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so; the government made key achievements during the reporting period, therefore Algeria was upgraded to Tier 2 Watch List; authorities identified more trafficking victims, increased investigations and prosecutions, while continuing to convict traffickers; Algeria partnered with international organizations to train officials and conduct public awareness campaigns; however, government identification of and services for victims remained insufficient; authorities continued to punish some potential victims for unlawful acts traffickers compelled them to commit (2022)"
},
"trafficking profile":{
"text":"<p>human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims; Algerian women and girls are vulnerable to sex trafficking due to financial problems or after running away from home; undocumented sub-Saharan migrants are vulnerable to labor and sex trafficking and are exploited in restaurants, houses, and informal worksites; sub-Saharan men and women needing more funds for their onward journey to Europe work illegally in construction and commercial sex and are vulnerable to sex trafficking and debt bondage; foreign women and girls, mainly from sub-Saharan Africa, are subject to sex trafficking in bars and informal brothels; criminal begging rings that exploit sub-Saharan African migrant children are common and reportedly increasing (2022)</p>"
