Algeria Demographics

What is the population of Algeria?

Population	47,022,473
Population: Male/Female	male: 23,854,821 female: 23,167,652
Population Growth Rate	1.54%
Population Distribution	the vast majority of the populace is found in the extreme northern part of the country along the Mediterranean Coast
Urban Population	urban population: 75.3% of total population rate of urbanization: 1.99% annual rate of change
Population in Major Urban Areas	2.902 million ALGIERS (capital), 936,000 Oran
Nationality Noun	noun: Algerian(s) adjective: Algerian
Ethnic Groups	Arab-Amazigh 99%, European less than 1%
Language Note	Arabic (official), French (lingua franca), Tamazight (official) (dialects include Kabyle (Taqbaylit), Shawiya (Tacawit), Mzab, Tuareg (Tamahaq))
Demographic profile	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.

Algeria Population Comparison

Algeria Health Information

What are the health conditions in Algeria?

Life Expectancy at Birth	total population: 77.9 years male: 77.2 years female: 78.7 years
Death Rate - deaths/1,000 population	4.4
Infant Mortality Rate - total deaths/1,000 live births	total: 18.7 deaths/1,000 live births male: 19.8 deaths/1,000 live births female: 17.5 deaths/1,000 live births
Health Expenditures - percent of GDP	6.3%
Physicians Density - physicians/1,000 population	1.72
Hospital Bed Density - beds/1,000 population	1.9
Major Infectious Diseases - degree of risk	on 23 August 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
Drinking Water Source - percent of urban population improved	improved: urban: 99.6% of population rural: 98.8% of population total: 99.4% of population unimproved: urban: 0.4% of population rural: 1.2% of population total: 0.6% of population
Tobacco Use	total: 21% male: 41.3% female: 0.7%
Maternal Mortality Rate - deaths/100,000 live births	78
Contraceptive Prevalence Rate - female 12-49	53.6%
Total Fertility Rate - children born/woman	2.94
Gross reproduction rate	1
Obesity - adult prevalence rate	27.4%
Sanitation Facility Access - percent of urban population improved	improved: urban: 98.3% of population rural: 91.3% of population total: 96.5% of population unimproved: urban: 1.7% of population rural: 8.7% of population total: 3.5% of population
Underweight - percent of children under five years	2.7%
Alcohol consumption per capita	total: 0.59 liters of pure alcohol beer: 0.31 liters of pure alcohol wine: 0.2 liters of pure alcohol spirits: 0.08 liters of pure alcohol other alcohols: 0 liters of pure alcohol
Child Marriage	women married by age 18: 3.8
Currently married women (ages 15-49)	56%

Algeria Life Expectancy

How long do people live in Algeria?

Life Expectancy at Birth	total population: 77.9 years male: 77.2 years female: 78.7 years
Median Age	total: 29.1 years male: 28.8 years female: 29.4 years
Gross reproduction rate	1
Contraceptive Prevalance Rate - female 12-49	53.6%
Infant Mortality Rate	total: 18.7 deaths/1,000 live births male: 19.8 deaths/1,000 live births female: 17.5 deaths/1,000 live births
Maternal Mortality Rate - deaths/100,000 live births	78
Total Fertility Rate - children born/woman	2.94

Algeria median age, birth rate and death rates

Birth Rate - births/1,000 population	20
Median Age	total: 29.1 years male: 28.8 years female: 29.4 years
Net Migration Rate - migrant(s)/1,000 population	-0.5
Population Growth Rate	1.54%
Sex Ratio at Birth - male/female	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
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% (male 1,597,382/female 1,663,824)
Contraceptive Prevalance Rate - female 12-49	53.6%
Gross reproduction rate	1
Infant Mortality Rate	total: 18.7 deaths/1,000 live births male: 19.8 deaths/1,000 live births female: 17.5 deaths/1,000 live births
Maternal Mortality Rate - deaths/100,000 live births	78
Total Fertility Rate - children born/woman	2.94

Algeria Medical Information

What are the health conditions in Algeria?

Medical Facilities and Health Information

Hospitals and clinics in Algeria are available and improving in the large urban centers but are still not up to Western standards. Doctors and hospitals often expect immediate cash payment for services. Most medical practitioners speak French; English is not widely used.

Prescription medicines are not always readily available. Some pharmacies may at times be out-of-stock. In addition, the medicine may be sold under a different brand name and may contain a different dosage from that sold in the United States. Please be aware that some newer medications may not yet be available in Algeria. It is usually easy to obtain over-the-counter products.

Emergency services are satisfactory, but response time is often unpredictable. In all cases, response time is not as fast as in the United States.

Cases of tuberculosis are regularly reported but do not reach endemic levels. For further information on tuberculosis, please consult the CDC’s information on TB. Every summer, public health authorities report limited occurrences of water-borne diseases, such as typhoid. In addition, HIV/AIDS is a concern in the remote southern part of the country, especially in border towns.

Health Expenditures - percent of GDP

6.3%

Hospital Bed Density - beds/1,000 population

1.9

Physicians Density - physicians/1,000 population

1.72

Algeria Education

What is school like in Algeria?

Education Expenditures - percent of GDP	7%
Literacy - female	75.3%
Literacy - male	87.4%
Literacy - total population	81.4%
Literacy Definition	age 15 and over can read and write

Algeria Literacy

Can people in Algeria read?

Literacy - female	75.3%
Literacy - male	87.4%
Literacy - total population	81.4%
Literacy Definition	age 15 and over can read and write

Algeria Crime

Is Algeria a safe place to visit?

Crime Information

The crime rate in Algeria is moderate. Serious crimes have been reported in which armed men posing as police officers have entered homes and robbed the occupants at gunpoint. Petty theft and home burglary occur frequently, and muggings are on the rise, especially after dark in the cities. Theft of contents and parts from parked cars, pick-pocketing, theft on trains and buses, theft of items left in hotel rooms, and purse snatching are common. Alarms, grills, and/or guards help to protect most foreigners' residences.

Kidnappings, orchestrated by both criminals and terrorists, are a common occurrence in Algeria. Kidnappings for ransom occur frequently in the Kabylie region, but also in other parts of southern Algeria. Kidnapping by terrorist organizations or armed criminal groups is an immediate threat in both the Kabylie region in northeastern Algeria and the trans-Sahara region in the south. An Italian tourist was kidnapped by AQIM in February 2011 and later released in April 2012. In January 2011, two Frenchmen were kidnapped by AQIM in Niamey, Niger, and were killed during a rescue attempt near the Malian border. In October 2011, two Spanish nationals and one Italian national were kidnapped from a refugee camp near the town of Tindouf, near the borders of Morocco, Western Sahara, and Mauritania by the newly formed Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO). In April 2012, seven Algerian diplomats were kidnapped in Kidal, northern Mali by MUJAO, and in September 2012, one diplomat was killed, and three were released. MUJAO still holds three Algerian diplomats.

Don’t buy counterfeit and pirated goods, even if they are widely available. Not only are the bootlegs illegal in the United States, but you may also be breaking local law too.

Social unrest has become commonplace in Algeria. The frequency and intensity of localized, sporadic, and usually spontaneous civil disturbances have risen dramatically since 2010. In 2012, there were similar spontaneous protests and demonstrations with some being well-organized in advance. These disturbances are overwhelmingly based on longstanding, deeply seated socio-economic grievances. Some people involved in these protests, demonstrations, and riots have ignited fireworks, thrown Molotov cocktails, brandished knives, looted businesses, damaged property, and robbed passersby. Most victims displayed obvious signs of wealth and were targets of opportunity. Travelers should avoid crowds, protests, demonstrations, and riots.

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