{ "Introduction": { "Background": { "text": "
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.
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.
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.
" } }, "Geography": { "Location": { "text": "Northern Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Morocco and Tunisia" }, "Geographic coordinates": { "text": "28 00 N, 3 00 E" }, "Map references": { "text": "Africa" }, "Area": { "total": { "text": "2,381,740 sq km" }, "land": { "text": "2,381,740 sq km" }, "water": { "text": "0 sq km" } }, "Area - comparative": { "text": "slightly less than 3.5 times the size of Texas" }, "Land boundaries": { "total": { "text": "6,734 km" }, "border countries": { "text": "Libya 989 km; Mali 1,359 km; Mauritania 460 km; Morocco 1,941 km; Niger 951 km; Tunisia 1,034 km" } }, "Coastline": { "text": "998 km" }, "Maritime claims": { "territorial sea": { "text": "12 nm" }, "contiguous zone": { "text": "24 nm" }, "exclusive fishing zone": { "text": "32-52 nm" } }, "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" }, "Terrain": { "text": "mostly high plateau and desert; Atlas Mountains in the far north and Hoggar Mountains in the south; narrow, discontinuous coastal plain" }, "Elevation": { "highest point": { "text": "Tahat 2,908 m" }, "lowest point": { "text": "Chott Melrhir -40 m" }, "mean elevation": { "text": "800 m" } }, "Natural resources": { "text": "petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, phosphates, uranium, lead, zinc" }, "Land use": { "agricultural land": { "text": "17.4% (2018 est.)" }, "agricultural land: arable land": { "text": "arable land: 3.2% (2018 est.)" }, "agricultural land: permanent crops": { "text": "permanent crops: 0.4% (2018 est.)" }, "agricultural land: permanent pasture": { "text": "permanent pasture: 13.8% (2018 est.)" }, "forest": { "text": "0.8% (2018 est.)" }, "other": { "text": "81.8% (2018 est.)" } }, "Irrigated land": { "text": "12,605 sq km (2016)" }, "Major watersheds (area sq km)": { "text": "Atlantic Ocean drainage: Niger (2,261,741 sq km)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.
" }, "Age structure": { "0-14 years": { "text": "28.78% (male 6,594,512/female 6,286,191)" }, "15-64 years": { "text": "64.29% (male 14,607,255/female 14,166,990)" }, "65 years and over": { "text": "6.93% (2023 est.) (male 1,475,635/female 1,627,815)" } }, "Dependency ratios": { "total dependency ratio": { "text": "58.5" }, "youth dependency ratio": { "text": "48.7" }, "elderly dependency ratio": { "text": "9.8" }, "potential support ratio": { "text": "10.2 (2021 est.)" } }, "Median age": { "total": { "text": "28.9 years" }, "male": { "text": "28.6 years" }, "female": { "text": "29.3 years (2020 est.)" } }, "Population growth rate": { "text": "1.27% (2023 est.)" }, "Birth rate": { "text": "17.84 births/1,000 population (2023 est.)" }, "Death rate": { "text": "4.33 deaths/1,000 population (2023 est.)" }, "Net migration rate": { "text": "-0.81 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2023 est.)" }, "Population distribution": { "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" }, "Urbanization": { "urban population": { "text": "75.3% of total population (2023)" }, "rate of urbanization": { "text": "1.99% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)" } }, "Major urban areas - population": { "text": "2.902 million ALGIERS (capital), 936,000 Oran (2022)" }, "Sex ratio": { "at birth": { "text": "1.05 male(s)/female" }, "0-14 years": { "text": "1.05 male(s)/female" }, "15-64 years": { "text": "1.03 male(s)/female" }, "65 years and over": { "text": "0.91 male(s)/female" }, "total population": { "text": "1.03 male(s)/female (2023 est.)" } }, "Maternal mortality ratio": { "text": "78 deaths/100,000 live births (2020 est.)" }, "Infant mortality rate": { "total": { "text": "19.22 deaths/1,000 live births" }, "male": { "text": "21.2 deaths/1,000 live births" }, "female": { "text": "17.14 deaths/1,000 live births (2023 est.)" } }, "Life expectancy at birth": { "total population": { "text": "78.27 years" }, "male": { "text": "76.81 years" }, "female": { "text": "79.8 years (2023 est.)" } }, "Total fertility rate": { "text": "2.47 children born/woman (2023 est.)" }, "Gross reproduction rate": { "text": "1.2 (2023 est.)" }, "Contraceptive prevalence rate": { "text": "53.6% (2018/19)" }, "Drinking water source": { "improved: urban": { "text": "urban: 99.6% of population" }, "improved: rural": { "text": "rural: 98.8% of population" }, "improved: total": { "text": "total: 99.4% of population" }, "unimproved: urban": { "text": "urban: 0.4% of population" }, "unimproved: rural": { "text": "rural: 1.2% of population" }, "unimproved: total": { "text": "total: 0.6% of population (2020 est.)" } }, "Current health expenditure": { "text": "6.3% of GDP (2020)" }, "Physicians density": { "text": "1.72 physicians/1,000 population (2018)" }, "Hospital bed density": { "text": "1.9 beds/1,000 population (2015)" }, "Sanitation facility access": { "improved: urban": { "text": "urban: 98.3% of population" }, "improved: rural": { "text": "rural: 91.3% of population" }, "improved: total": { "text": "total: 96.5% of population" }, "unimproved: urban": { "text": "urban: 1.7% of population" }, "unimproved: rural": { "text": "rural: 8.7% of population" }, "unimproved: total": { "text": "total: 3.5% of population (2020 est.)" } }, "Major infectious diseases": { "text": "note: 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" }, "Obesity - adult prevalence rate": { "text": "27.4% (2016)" }, "Alcohol consumption per capita": { "total": { "text": "0.59 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)" }, "beer": { "text": "0.31 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)" }, "wine": { "text": "0.2 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)" }, "spirits": { "text": "0.08 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)" }, "other alcohols": { "text": "0 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)" } }, "Tobacco use": { "total": { "text": "21% (2020 est.)" }, "male": { "text": "41.3% (2020 est.)" }, "female": { "text": "0.7% (2020 est.)" } }, "Children under the age of 5 years underweight": { "text": "2.7% (2018/19)" }, "Currently married women (ages 15-49)": { "text": "56% (2023 est.)" }, "Child marriage": { "women married by age 15": { "text": "0%" }, "women married by age 18": { "text": "3.8% (2019 est.)" } }, "Education expenditures": { "text": "7% of GDP (2020 est.)" }, "Literacy": { "definition": { "text": "age 15 and over can read and write" }, "total population": { "text": "81.4%" }, "male": { "text": "87.4%" }, "female": { "text": "75.3% (2018)" } }, "Youth unemployment rate (ages 15-24)": { "total": { "text": "31.9%" }, "male": { "text": "27.8%" }, "female": { "text": "54% (2021 est.)" } } }, "Environment": { "Environment - current issues": { "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" }, "Land use": { "agricultural land": { "text": "17.4% (2018 est.)" }, "agricultural land: arable land": { "text": "arable land: 3.2% (2018 est.)" }, "agricultural land: permanent crops": { "text": "permanent crops: 0.4% (2018 est.)" }, "agricultural land: permanent pasture": { "text": "permanent pasture: 13.8% (2018 est.)" }, "forest": { "text": "0.8% (2018 est.)" }, "other": { "text": "81.8% (2018 est.)" } }, "Urbanization": { "urban population": { "text": "75.3% of total population (2023)" }, "rate of urbanization": { "text": "1.99% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)" } }, "Revenue from forest resources": { "text": "0.1% of GDP (2018 est.)" }, "Revenue from coal": { "text": "0% of GDP (2018 est.)" }, "Air pollutants": { "particulate matter emissions": { "text": "35.17 micrograms per cubic meter (2016 est.)" }, "carbon dioxide emissions": { "text": "150.01 megatons (2016 est.)" }, "methane emissions": { "text": "49.94 megatons (2020 est.)" } }, "Waste and recycling": { "municipal solid waste generated annually": { "text": "12,378,740 tons (2016 est.)" }, "municipal solid waste recycled annually": { "text": "990,299 tons (2013 est.)" }, "percent of municipal solid waste recycled": { "text": "8% (2013 est.)" } }, "Major watersheds (area sq km)": { "text": "Atlantic Ocean drainage: Niger (2,261,741 sq km)Algeria-Morocco: 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
Algeria-Libya: dormant dispute includes Libyan claims of about 32,000 sq km still reflected on its maps of southeastern Algeria
Algeria-Mali: none identified
Algeria-Mauritania: none identified
Algeria-Niger: none identified
Algeria-Tunisia: none identified
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)
" } }, "Illicit drugs": { "text": "NA" } } }