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: 30,480,793 (July 1998 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years: 38% (male 5,923,087; female 5,709,614) 15-64 years: 58% (male 8,931,896; female 8,752,014) 65 years and over: 4% (male 542,012; female 622,170) (July 1998 est.)
Population growth rate: 2.14% (1998 est.)
Birth rate: 27.51 births/1,000 population (1998 est.)
Death rate: 5.63 deaths/1,000 population (1998 est.)
Net migration rate: -0.49 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1998 est.)