PEOPLE
Ninety-one percent of the Algerian population lives along the Mediterranean coast on 12% of the country's total land mass. Forty-five percent of the population is urban, and urbanization continues, despite government efforts to discourage migration to the cities. About 1.5 million nomads and semi-settled Bedouin still live in the Saharan area.
Nearly all Algerians are Muslim, of Arab, Berber, or mixed Arab-Berber stock. Official data on the number of non-Muslim residents is not available; however, practitioners report it to be less than 5,000. Most of the non-Muslim community is comprised of Methodist, Roman Catholic and Evangelical faiths; the Jewish community is virtually non-existent. There are about 1,100 American citizens in the country, the majority of whom live and work in the oil/gas fields in the south.
Algeria's educational system has grown dramatically since the country gained its independence. In the last 12 years, attendance has doubled to more than 5 million students. Education is free and compulsory to age 16. Despite government allocation of substantial educational resources, population pressures and a serious shortage of teachers have severely strained the system. Modest numbers of Algerian students study abroad, primarily in Europe and Canada. In 2000, the government launched a major review of the country's educational system and in 2004 efforts to reform the educational system began.
Housing and medicine continue to be pressing problems in Algeria. Failing infrastructure and the continued influx of people from rural to urban areas have overtaxed both systems. According to the United Nations Development Program, Algeria has one of the world's highest per housing unit occupancy rates, and government officials have publicly stated that the country has an immediate shortfall of 1.5 million housing units.
Nationality: Noun--Algerian(s); adjective--Algerian.
Population (2007 est.): 33,333,216.
Annual growth rate (2007 est.): 1.22%. Birth rate (2007 est.)--17.11 births/1,000 population; death rate (2007 est.)--4.62 deaths/1,000 population.
Ethnic groups: Arab-Berber 99%, European less than 1%.
Religions: Sunni Muslim (state religion) 99%, Christian and Jewish 1%.
Languages: Arabic (official), Berber (national language), French.
Education: Literacy (age 15 and over can read and write)--total population 70% (2004 est.); female 60% (2004 est.).
Health (2007 est.): Infant mortality rate--28.78 deaths/1,000 live births. Life expectancy at birth--total population, 73.52 years; male 71.91 years, female 75.21 years.
Work force (2006): 9.31 million.
Unemployment rate (2006 est.): 23%; Algerian Government estimates 13%.
