Middle East–N. Africa
Algeria
Capital: Algiers
- 46MPopulation
- 46MMuslim
- 99%Muslim share
- $5,400GDP per person
- 12%Unemployment
- 6%In poverty
- 82%Literacy
- 76Life expectancy
- System
- presidential republic
- In power
- President Abdelmadjid Tebboune
- Currency
- dinar
- In the UN since
- 1,962
Life today
Raï music, Chaabi, desert cinema — and oil wealth beside restless unemployed youth.
Word on the street
Facebook and YouTube; raï is still the sound of the street, Darja the tongue.
Names the world knows
- Riyad Mahrez footballer
- Zinedine Zidane football legend
- Cheb Khaled raï singer
- Assia Djebar writer
Did you know?
Algeria is Africa's largest country by area — nine-tenths of it is Sahara.