Demographics of Algeria
This article is about the demographic features of the population of Algeria, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. Ninety-one percent of the Algerian population lives along the Mediterranean coast on 12% of the country's total land mass. Forty-five percent of the population is urban, and urbanization continues, despite government efforts to discourage migration to the cities. Currently, 24,182,736 Algerians live in urban areas, and about 1.5 millions nomads live in the Saharan area. 97% of the population follows Sunni Islam ; the few non-Sunni Muslims are mainly Ibadis from the Mozabite valley at 1.3% (see Islam in Algeria). Christianity in Algeria constitutes about 1% of the total population. While significantly greater during the French colonial years, a mostly foreign Roman Catholic community still exists, as do some Protestants. The Jewish community of Algeria, which once constituted 2% of the total population, has substantially decreased due to emigration, mostly to France and Israel. Algeria's educational system has grown rapidly since 1962; in the last 12 years, attendance has doubled to more than 5 million students. Education is free and compulsory  to age 16. Despite government allocation of substantial educational resources, population pressures and a serious shortage of teachers have severely strained the system, as have terrorist attacks against the educational infrastructure during the 1990s. Modest numbers of Algerian students study abroad, primarily in France and French-speaking Canada. In 2000, the government launched a major review of the country's educational system. Housing and medicine continue to be pressing problems in Algeria. Failing infrastructure and the continued influx of people from rural to urban areas has overtaxed both systems. According to the UNDP, Algeria has one of the world's  highest per housing unit occupancy rates for housing, and government officials have publicly stated that the country has an immediate shortfall of 1.5 million housing units. Population. Vital statistics. Figures from National Office of Statistics Algeria, United Nations Demographic Yearbook and the CIA World Factbook: Age distribution. Population Estimates by Sex and Age Group (1.VII.2017): Population Estimates by Sex and Age Group (Estimates 1.VII.2020): Cities. Below is a list of the most important Algerian cities: Ethnic groups. Algerians are descendants of the Berbers, who are the indigenous ethnic group of Algeria and are believed to be the ancestral stock. Phoenicians , Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Turks as well as other ethnic groups have contributed to the ethnic makeup and genetic structure of the Algerian population. Descendants of Andalusian refugees are also present in the population of Algiers and other cities. Moreover, Spanish was spoken by these Aragonese and Castillian Morisco descendants deep into the 18th century, and even Catalan was spoken at the same time by Catalan Morisco descendants in the small town of Grish El-Oued. The majority of Algerians identify with an Arab-based identity due to the 20th century Arab nationalism. The ethnic Berbers are divided into many groups  with varying languages. The largest of these are the Kabyles, who live in the Kabylia region east of Algiers, the Chaoui of North-East Algeria, the Tuaregs in the southern desert and the Shenwa people of North Algeria. During the colonial period, there was a large (10% in 1960) European population who became known as "Pied-Noirs". They were primarily of French, Spanish and Italian origin. Almost all of this population left during the war of independence or immediately after its end. Religion. Islam is the predominant religion with 99% of the population. There are about 150,000 Ibadis in the  M'zab Valley in the region of Ghardaia. There were an estimated 10,000 Christians in Algeria in 2008. In a 2009 study the UNO estimated there were 45,000 Catholics and 50,000–100,000 Protestants in Algeria. A 2015 study estimates 380,000 Muslims converted to Christianity in Algeria. Following the Revolution and Algerian independence, all but 6,500 of the country's 140,000 Jews left the country, of whom about 90% moved to France with the Pied-Noirs and 10% moved to Israel. Languages. Arabic and Tamazight serve as both official languages and national languages in Algeria. Algerian Arabic (Algerian Dziriya or Darja) is the  language used by the majority of the population. Colloquial Algerian Arabic is heavily infused with loanwords from Berber and French. Although French has no official status, Algeria is the second-largest Francophone country in the world in terms of speakers, and French is widely used in government, media (newspapers, radio, local television), and both the education system (from primary school onwards) and academia due to Algeria's colonial history. It can be regarded as the "de facto" co-official language of Algeria. In 2008, 11.2 million Algerians could read and write in French. An Abassa Institute study in April 2000  found that 60% of households could speak and understand French. In recent decades the government has reinforced the study of French and TV programs have reinforced use of the language. Algeria emerged as a bilingual state after 1962. Colloquial Algerian Arabic is spoken by about 72% of the population and Berber by 27–30%. Literacy. "Definition": Age 15 and over can read and write CIA World Factbook demographic statistics. The following demographic statistics are from the 2018 CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated. Genetics. Y-DNA frequencies in coastal Algeria. In a recent genetic study by Semino et al. (2004), Algerian  Arabs and Berbers were found to have more genetic similarities than was once believed. This led scientists to conclude that the North African population was mainly Berber in origin and that the population had been 'Arabised', by the migration of Near-Eastener people. The Haplogroup J, common marker in Middle-Eastern population is found at near 30% in Algeria, which is one of the most common haplogroup of the country along with E1b1b . Recent studies on the common J1 Y chromosome suggest it arrived over ten thousand years ago in North Africa, and M81/E3b2 is a Y chromosome specific  to North African ancestry, dating to the Neolithic. A thorough study by Arredi et al. (2004) which analyzed populations from Algeria concludes that the North African pattern of Y-chromosomal variation (including both E3b2 and J haplogroups is largely of Neolithic origin, which suggests that the Neolithic transition in this part of the world was accompanied by demic diffusion of Afro-Asiatic–speaking pastoralists from the Middle East. This Neolithic origin was later confirmed by Myles et al. (2005) which suggest that "contemporary Berber populations possess the genetic signature of a past migration of pastoralists from the Middle East", Demographics