After more than a century of rule by France, Algerians fought through much of the 1950s to achieve independence in 1962. Algeria's primary political party, the National Liberation Front (FLN), has dominated politics ever since. Many Algerians in the subsequent generation were not satisfied, however, and moved to counter the FLN's centrality in Algerian politics.

The surprising first round success of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) in the December 1991 balloting spurred the Algerian army to intervene and postpone the second round of elections to prevent what the secular elite feared would be an extremist-led government from assuming power. The army began a crackdown on the FIS that spurred FIS supporters to begin attacking government targets.

The government later allowed elections featuring pro-government and moderate religious-based parties, but did not appease the activists who progressively widened their attacks. The fighting escalated into an insurgency, which saw intense fighting between 1992-98 and which resulted in over 100,000 deaths - many attributed to indiscriminate massacres of villagers by extremists.

The government gained the upper hand by the late-1990s and FIS's armed wing, the Islamic Salvation Army, disbanded in January 2000. However, small numbers of armed militants persist in confronting government forces and conducting ambushes and occasional attacks on villages.

The army placed Abdelaziz Bouteflika in the presidency in 1999 in a fraudulent election but claimed neutrality in his 2004 landslide reelection victory. Longstanding problems continue to face Bouteflika in his second term, including the ethnic minority Berbers' ongoing autonomy campaign, large-scale unemployment, a shortage of housing, unreliable electrical and water supplies, government inefficiencies and corruption, and the continuing - although significantly degraded - activities of extremist militants. Algeria must also diversify its petroleum-based economy, which has yielded a large cash reserve but which has not been used to redress Algeria's many social and infrastructure problems.

Source: CIA World Fact Book

Population: 33,333,216 (July 2007 est.)

---

Age structure: 0-14 years: 27.2% (male 4,627,479/female 4,447,468) 15-64 years: 67.9% (male 11,413,121/female 11,235,096) 65 years and over: 4.8% (male 752,058/female 857,994) (2007 est.)

---

Median age: total: 25.5 years male: 25.2 years female: 25.7 years (2007 est.)

---

Population growth rate: 1.216% (2007 est.)

---

Birth rate: 17.11 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)

---

Death rate: 4.62 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)

---

Net migration rate: -0.33 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)

---

Sex ratio: at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.016 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.877 male(s)/female total population: 1.015 male(s)/female (2007 est.)

---

Infant mortality rate: total: 28.78 deaths/1,000 live births male: 32.45 deaths/1,000 live births female: 24.93 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)

---

Life expectancy at birth: total population: 73.52 years male: 71.91 years female: 75.21 years (2007 est.)

---

Total fertility rate: 1.86 children born/woman (2007 est.)

---

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 0.1%; note - no country specific models provided (2001 est.)

---

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 9,100 (2003 est.)

---

HIV/AIDS - deaths: less than 500 (2003 est.)

---

Major infectious diseases: degree of risk: intermediate food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever vectorborne disease: cutaneous leishmaniasis is a high risk in some locations (2007)

---

Nationality: noun: Algerian(s) adjective: Algerian

---

Ethnic groups: Arab-Berber 99%, European less than 1% note: almost all Algerians are Berber in origin, not Arab; the minority who identify themselves as Berber live mostly in the mountainous region of Kabylie east of Algiers; the Berbers are also Muslim but identify with their Berber rather than Arab cultural heritage; Berbers have long agitated, sometimes violently, for autonomy; the government is unlikely to grant autonomy but has offered to begin sponsoring teaching Berber language in schools

---

Religions: Sunni Muslim (state religion) 99%, Christian and Jewish 1%

---

Languages: Arabic (official), French, Berber dialects

---

Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 69.9% male: 79.6% female: 60.1% (2002 est.)

The hydrocarbons sector is the backbone of the economy, accounting for roughly 60% of budget revenues, 30% of GDP, and over 95% of export earnings. Algeria has the eighth-largest reserves of natural gas in the world and is the fourth-largest gas exporter; it ranks 18th in oil reserves. Sustained high oil prices in recent years, along with macroeconomic policy reforms supported by the IMF, have helped improve Algeria's financial and macroeconomic indicators. Algeria is running substantial trade surpluses and building up record foreign exchange reserves. Algeria has decreased its external debt to less than 10% of GDP after repaying its Paris Club and London Club debt in 2006. Real GDP has risen due to higher oil output and increased government spending. The government's continued efforts to diversify the economy by attracting foreign and domestic investment outside the energy sector, however, has had little success in reducing high unemployment and improving living standards. Structural reform within the economy, such as development of the banking sector and the construction of infrastructure, moves ahead slowly hampered by corruption and bureaucratic resistance.

---

GDP (purchasing power parity): $249.8 billion (2006 est.)

---

GDP (official exchange rate): $89.91 billion (2006 est.)

---

GDP - real growth rate: 2.9% (2006 est.)

---

GDP - per capita (PPP): $7,600 (2006 est.)

---

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 9.4% industry: 58.1% services: 32.5% (2006 est.)

---

Labor force: 9.31 million (2006 est.)

---

Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 14%, industry 13.4%, construction and public works 10%, trade 14.6%, government 32%, other 16% (2003 est.)

---

Unemployment rate: 15.7% (2006 est.)

---

Population below poverty line: 25% (2005 est.)

---

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 2.8% highest 10%: 26.8% (1995)

---

Distribution of family income - Gini index: 35.3 (1995)

---

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 3% (2006 est.)

---

Investment (gross fixed): 23.4% of GDP (2006 est.)

---

Budget: revenues: $59.26 billion expenditures: $49.14 billion; including capital expenditures of $5.8 billion (2006 est.)

---

Public debt: 18.6% of GDP (2006 est.)

---

Agriculture - products: wheat, barley, oats, grapes, olives, citrus, fruits; sheep, cattle

---

Industries: petroleum, natural gas, light industries, mining, electrical, petrochemical, food processing

---

Industrial production growth rate: 10% (2006 est.)

---

Electricity - production: 29.39 billion kWh (2004 est.)

---

Electricity - consumption: 27.4 billion kWh (2004 est.)

---

Electricity - exports: 230 million kWh (2004 est.)

---

Electricity - imports: 300 million kWh (2004 est.)

---

Oil - production: 1.373 million bbl/day (2005 est.)

---

Oil - consumption: 233,000 bbl/day (2004 est.)

---

Oil - exports: 1.724 million bbl/day (2004 est.)

---

Oil - imports: 12,390 bbl/day (2004 est.)

---

Oil - proved reserves: 11.8 billion bbl (1 January 2005 est.)

---

Natural gas - production: 80.15 billion cu m (2004 est.)

---

Natural gas - consumption: 19.28 billion cu m (2004 est.)

---

Natural gas - exports: 60.87 billion cu m (2004 est.)

---

Natural gas - imports: 0 cu m (2004 est.)

---

Natural gas - proved reserves: 4.545 trillion cu m (1 January 2005 est.)

---

Current account balance: $25.8 billion (2006 est.)

---

Exports: $55.6 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

---

Exports - commodities: petroleum, natural gas, and petroleum products 97%

---

Exports - partners: US 26.6%, Italy 16.6%, Spain 9.1%, France 8.5%, Canada 7.9%, Brazil 6.5%, Belgium 4.4% (2006)

---

Imports: $27.6 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

---

Imports - commodities: capital goods, foodstuffs, consumer goods

---

Imports - partners: France 22.1%, Italy 8.6%, China 8.5%, Germany 5.9%, Spain 5.6%, US 4.8%, Turkey 4.5% (2006)

---

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $78 billion (2006 est.)

---

Debt - external: $5 billion (2006 est.)

---

Economic aid - recipient: $313 million (2004 est.)

---

Currency (code): Algerian dinar (DZD)

---

Exchange rates: Algerian dinars per US dollar - 72.647 (2006), 73.276 (2005), 72.061 (2004), 77.395 (2003), 79.682 (2002)

---

Fiscal year: calendar year