Geography

Algeria Desert
Photo: Aïssa Moali

The People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria is the second largest country in Africa after Sudan with a land area of 2,381,740 km2 and an estimated population of about 32 million. The maximum north-south and east-west distances are both about 2,000 km. Algeria is located in northern Africa between Morocco and Tunisia and borders the Mediterranean Sea (with a coastline of about 1,350 km) as well as Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Western Sahara. The terrain is mostly high plateau and desert with some mountains and a narrow, discontinuous coastal plain. The highest point is Tahat at 3,003 m above sea level.

Geographically, the country can be divided into four distinct regions of topography and climate in parallel bands running roughly south-west to north-east. From the Mediterranean southwards, these are as follows: the Tell region, including the coastal strip and the Tell Atlas mountains; the ‘Hauts Plateaux’; the Saharan Atlas mountains; the Sahara desert, the latter covering more than 85% of the country.

The climate is arid to semi-arid with mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers along the coast. The high plateau is drier with cold winters and hot summers. The sirocco is a hot, dust and sand-laden wind especially common in summer. The official language is Arabic and French and Berber dialects are spoken. More details can be found at CIA Factbook.

Last page update 10th January 2012