Terrain: mostly high plateau and desert; some mountains; narrow,
discontinuous coastal plain
Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, phosphates,
uranium, lead, zinc
Land use: arable land: 3% permanent crops: 0% meadows and pastures: 13% forest and woodland: 2% other: 82%
Irrigated land: 3,360 sq km (1989 est.)
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
natural hazards: mountainous areas subject to severe earthquakes;
mudslides
international agreements: party to - Climate Change, Endangered
Species, Environmental Modification, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship
Pollution, Wetlands; signed, but not ratified - Biodiversity,
Desertification, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban
Note: second-largest country in Africa (after Sudan)
@Algeria:People
Population: 28,539,321 (July 1995 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 41% (female 5,678,879; male 5,885,246)
15-64 years: 56% (female 7,887,885; male 8,033,508)
65 years and over: 3% (female 557,636; male 496,167) (July 1995 est.)
Population growth rate: 2.25% (1995 est.)