Demographics of Algeria, Data of FAO, year 2005 ; Number of inhabitants in thousands.

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. Currently, 14,182,736 Algerians live in urban areas while 14,990,959 live in rural areas. About 1.5 million nomads and semi-settled Bedouin still live in the Saharan area. According to the CIA World Factbook, an estimated 29.9% of the population is under age 15.

97% of the population is classified ethnically as Berber/Arab and religiously as Sunni Muslim 98.5% , the few non-Sunni Muslims are mainly Ibadis 1.3% from the M'Zab valley. (See also Islam in Algeria.) A mostly foreign Roman Catholic community also about christians especially Protestant evangelic and almost 50 to 100 Jewish. The Jewish community of Algeria, which once constituted 2% of the total population, has substantially decreased due to emigration, mostly to France and Israel.

Algeria's educational system has grown rapidly since 1962; 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, as have terrorist attacks against the educational infrastructure during the 1990s. 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.

Housing and medicine continue to be pressing problems in Algeria. Failing infrastructure and the continued influx of people from rural to urban areas has overtaxed both systems. According to the UNDP, Algeria has one of the world's highest per housing unit occupancy rates for housing, and government officials have publicly stated that the country has an immediate shortfall of 1.5 million housing units.

[edit] Demographic statistics from the CIA World Factbook

Population pyramid for Algeria

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook.

[edit] Population

32,930,091 (July 2006 est.)

[edit] Age structure

0–14 years: 28.1% (male 4,722,076/female 4,539,713)

15–64 years: 67.1% (male 11,133,802/female 10,964,502)

65 years and over: 4.8% (male 735,444/female 834,554) (2006 est.)

[edit] Population growth rate

1.22% (2006 est.)

[edit] Birth rate

17.14 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)

[edit] Death rate

4.61 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)

[edit] Net migration rate

-0.35 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)

[edit] Sex ratio

At birth: 1.05 male(s)/female

Under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female

15–64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.88 male(s)/female

Total population: 1.02 male(s)/female (2006 est.).....

[edit] Infant mortality rate

Total: 29.87 deaths/1,000 live births

Male: 33.62 deaths/1,000 live births

Female: 25.94 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)

[edit] Life expectancy at birth

Total population: 73.26 years

Male: 71.68 years

Female: 74.92 years (2006 est.)

[edit] Total fertility rate

1.89 children born/woman (2006 est.)

[edit] Nationality

Noun: Algerian(s)

Adjective: Algerian

[edit] HIV/AIDS

Adult prevalence rate: 0.1% ; note - no country specific models provided (2001 est.)

People living with HIV/AIDS: 9,100 (2003 est.)

Deaths: less than 500 (2003 est.)

[edit] Major infectious diseases

Degree of risk: intermediate

Food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever

Vectorborne disease: cutaneous leishmaniasis is a high risk in some locations (2005)

[edit] Ethnic groups

Map of tribes of Algeria (source: U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (1971))

Berber-Arab 99%, European less than 1%

[edit] Genetic

In a very recent study (2008) done in northwestern Algeria (Oran area)^[1], the most common haplogroups observed in the Algerian population (n=102) were :

• E1b1b (50.9 %)
  • E1b1b1b (M81) (45.1%) very common in northwest Africa and also found, with much lower frequencies compared to those observed in northwest Africa, in Turkey, the near East, the Balkans, southern Europe and in Iberia
  • E1b1b1a (M78) (5.8%).

• J (27.4 %)
  • J1 (M267) (22.5%) frequent in Egypt and the Middle East
  • J2 (M67) (4.9%)

• R (12.8 %)
  • R1b (M269) (10.8%) typically found in European
  • R1a (M17) (1%)
  • R1 (M173) (1%)

• E1b1a (M2) (7.8%) which is subsaharan African.

• Others
  • Q (M242) (1%)

In a recent genetic study by Semino et al. (2004), Arabs and Berbers were found to have more genetic similarities than was once believed^[2]. The genes that are found highly in both Arabs and Berbers are E-M35, Hg J, and J-M267 (found in 70% of Middle Eastern people and 90% in North Africa). This led scientists to conclude that North Africa has more Arab genes than was previously hypothesized. Southern Algerians are most genetically closely linked with Arabs from Gulf countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the UAE. Northern Algerians are most genetically linked with Arabs from Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Jordan and some Gulf countries.

A thorough study by Arredi et al. (2004) which analyzed populations from Algeria concludes that the North African pattern of Y-chromosomal variation (including both E1b1b and J haplogroups) is largely of Neolithic origin, which suggests that the Neolithic transition in this part of the world was accompanied by demic diffusion of Afro-Asiatic–speaking pastoralists from the Middle East. This Neolithic origin was later confirmed by Myles et al. (2005) which suggest that "contemporary Berber populations possess the genetic signature of a past migration of pastoralists from the Middle East". ^[3]

[edit] Religions

• Sunni Islam 97% (state religion), Christian and Jewish 3%^[4]

[edit] Languages

Main article: Languages of Algeria

Arabic (official), French, Berber language (Kabyle, Chaouia, Tamahaq, Chenoua, Tumzabt..).

[edit] Literacy

Definition: Age 15 and over can read and write

Total population: 70%

Male: 78.8%

Female: 61% (As of 2003^[update] est.)

[edit] References

1. ^ Analysis of Y-chromosomal SNP haplogroups and STR haplotypes in an Algerian population sample
2. ^ Origin, Diffusion, and Differentiation of Y-Chromosome Haplogroups E and J
3. ^ SpringerLink - Journal Article
4. ^ CIA - The World Factbook -- Algeria

This article contains material from the CIA World Factbook (2006 edition) which, as a US government publication, is in the public domain. and the As of 2003^[update] U.S. Department of State website.