 BASIC FACTS |
Official name: People's Democratic Republic of Algeria
President: Abdelaziz Bouteflika
Head of Government: Ali Benflis
Parliament: two chambers (National Popular Assembly and Nation Council).
Administrative Divisions: 48 wilayas, 1541 communes, 160 departments.
National Anniversary: 05 July
Area: 2,382 millions km²
Population: 30 millions (in 1999)
Capital and most important city: Algiers (3 millions inhabitants).
Other important cities: Oran (1 million inhabitants), Annaba (900.000 inhabitants), Constantine (800.000 inabitants).
Currency unit: Algerian Dinar (A.D).
Official languages: Arabic, Tamazight
Spoken languages: Arabic, French, Berber, Kabylian, Chaoui, Mozabite, Targui.
Ethnic population: Arabs, Berbers.
Religion: Islam (99%). Christian and Jewish minority (1%)
Education rate: 89,75% (in 1999)
GDP: 55 billion US$ (in 2000)
Income per capita: 1590 US$ (in 2000).
Labour force: 6, 117, 000 workers (in1999).
Life expectancy: 67, 5 years for men - and 68,2 for women (2000)
Human indicators: 106 on 178 countries, following the PNUD (2002)
International conflicts: no diplomatic relations with Israel, dispute with Morocco concerning Western Sahara.
Exterior Debts: 26,2 billion US$ (in 2000).
Inflation rate: 2 % (in 2000).
Growth: - 2,3%(1997), + 2% (1998), + 3.6% (1999), + 4,3% (2000).
Exchange reserve: 18 billion US$.
Exchange rate: 1 USD = around 76 dinars / 1 euro = 78 Dinars (2002).
Public budget deficit: 230 billion Dinars.
Unemployment rate: 30% (in 2000).
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Industries: steel industry, petrochemistry, building materials, electronic, wood, cork, mechanic, glass, food processing industry, pharmaceutics, cosmetics.
Natural Resources: hydrocarbons, iron, phosphate, marble, zinc, aluminium, slay Grey,
Exports: 22.03 billion US$ (in 2000) (petrol, natural gas, dates, vehicles).
Imports: 9.15 billion US$ (in 2000) (consumer goods, foodstuff, industrial equipment, spare parts, industrial economic inputs) .
Principal partners: France, Italy, Spain, Germany, United States, Russia, Belgium, Saudi Arabia, Iraq.
Radios (state monopoly): Channel I (Arabic), Channel II (Amazigh), Channel III (French), many other local radios such as El Bahdja (Algiers).
Television (state monopoly): ENTV (national television company nationalised in 1964), Canal Algérie (digital broadcast).
Internet providers: Cerist (public), Gecos, Epad, Solinet (privates).
Railways: The network is 4200 km long and has got 200 stations. It covers 9.4% of the whole traffic for goods and 32% for travellers.
Road infrastructures: The road network is divided into 4 categories, for a total of 100 000 km
Motorways and express roads: 1350 km
National roads: 29 000 km
Departmental roads: 24 000 km
Municipal roads: 45 650 km
Airports infrastructures: 53 platforms of which 31 airports are opened for civil air traffic. Among these, 13 are international and 18 national (Alger, Oran, Annaba, Constantine, Sétif, Batna, Tiaret, Tlemcen, Jijel, Illizi, Ouargla, Hassi Messaoud, Timimoune, Ghardaïa, In Salah, Tamanrasset....)
Ports infrastructures: Algeria has 13 commercial ports, 10 ports along 1200 km of coast. Among these, Alger, Oran, Annaba, Béjaïa, Mostaganem, Arzew, Skikda...
Health infrastructures: 175 hospital installations, 433 polyclinics, 1077 health centres, 276 medical care rooms.
Agriculture: market gardening, vine, dates
Building construction and public works (in 1998)
The sector recorded a 2,4% increase per volume and contributes to GDP with 13,3%.
Tourism: This sector employs 50 000 persons (20 economic public companies, the private sector is run by small-scale enterprises)
The Algerian financial system: In addition to the Bank of Algeria and the Treasury, this system comprises a (BAD) investment, six commercial banks, a national savings bank and postal current accounts. Six foreign financing institutions are operational.
Hydrocarbons: Hydrocarbons output is raising to 5%. Crude oil exceeded 40 million tons in 2000. With more than 3200 billion m3 of estimated reserves, Algeria's economy relies on energy resources like natural gas (61%) and crude oil (15%). The economic activity accounts for 24% of GDP and 98% of external revenues.
Telecom: fixed phones, 1,5 millions users (5% of the population). Mobile, 1 million users. |
