e: 32-52 nm

Climate:
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:
mostly high plateau and desert; some mountains; narrow,
discontinuous coastal plain

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Chott Melrhir -40 m
highest point: Tahat 3,003 m

Natural resources:
petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, phosphates, uranium, lead, zinc

Land use:
arable land: 3.22%
permanent crops: 0.25%
other: 96.53% (2001)

Irrigated land:
5,600 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards:
mountainous areas subject to severe earthquakes; mudslides and
floods in rainy season

Environment - current issues:
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: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto
Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental
Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer
Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note:
second-largest country in Africa (after Sudan)

People Algeria

Population:
32,531,853 (July 2005 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 29% (male 4,811,086/female 4,626,271)
15-64 years: 66.3% (male 10,861,862/female 10,701,459)
65 years and over: 4.7% (male 719,460/female 811,715) (2005 est.)

Median age:
total: 24.36 years
male: 24.18 years
female: 24.53 years (2005 est.)

Population growth rate:
1.22% (2005 est.)

Birth rate:
17.13 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Death rate:
4.6 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Net migration rate:
-0.37 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)

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: 0.89 male(s)/female
total population: 1.02 male(s)/female (2005 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
total: 31 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 34.83 deaths/1,000 live births
femal