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, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: Nuclear Test Ban
Geography - note: second-largest country in Africa (after Sudan)
@Algeria:People
Population: 29,830,370 (July 1997 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years : 39% (male 5,923,391; female 5,712,088) 15-64 years: 57% (male 8,619,009; female 8,450,774) 65 years and over: 4% (male 525,556; female 599,552) (July 1997 est.)
Population growth rate: 2.18% (1997 est.)
Birth rate: 28.01 births/1,000 population (1997 est.)
Death rate: 5.76 deaths/1,000 population (1997 est.)
Net migration rate: -0.49 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1997 est.)