Algeria / People

Over 52% of all Algerians live in cities and towns. Algeria's largest population centre is the capital of Algiers. The greater city, which is also the country's industrial centre, contains a population of over 3 million.

Algeria's overall population density of 11.7 people per square kilometre is misleading given the heavy population concentrations in the northern region of the country. In the north of the country there are not less than 30 people per square kilometre, rising to as many as 1,100 people per square metre.

The overriding racial characteristic of the Algerian population is Arab (83% of the population) or Berber (17% of the population) or Berber-Arab through intermarriage. Prior to independence in 1962 one million Europeans lived in Algeria, primarily French, as well as 150,000 Jews. After independence 90% of the Jewish and European communities emigrated. Of the present population over 50% live in what are classified as rural, agrarian areas.

The nomadic Touareg tribes living in the Sahara are believed to have emigrated to Africa from southwestern Asia in 3,000BC. The Arab historian Ibn Khaldoun records that the Touaregs were converted to Islam in the 9th century and apostatized 14 times before finally submitting.