Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

, as of 2024, is divided into 58 wilayas (

provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...

). Prior to December 18, 2019, there were 48 provinces. The 58 provinces are divided into 1,541

baladiyah Baladiyah () is a type of Arabic administrative division that can be translated as "district", "sub-district" or "municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers ...

s (

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

). The name of a province is always that of its capital city. According to the Algerian constitution, a wilaya is a territorial collectivity enjoying economic and diplomatic freedom, the APW, or ''Popular Provincial Parliament/Provincial Popular Parliament'' (the ''Assemblée Populaire Wilayale'', in French) is the political entity governing a province, directed by the ''Wali'' (

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

), who is chosen by the Algerian President to handle the APW's decisions, the APW has also a president, who is elected by the members of the APW, which Algerians elect.

List

By 1984 the number of Algerian provinces was fixed at 48 and established the list of municipalities or "communes" attached to each province. In 2019, 10 new provinces were added. The province numbers are the first 31 provinces (see the second section) in

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

alphabetical order, after the adding of 17 more provinces in 1983 and 10 more in 2019, the old numbering was kept and the 27 provinces created since 1984 have been assigned codes from 32 to 58, in Arabic

alphabetical order Alphabetical order is a system whereby character strings are placed in order based on the position of the characters in the conventional ordering of an alphabet. It is one of the methods of collation. In mathematics, a lexicographical order is ...

. The following table presents the list of provinces, showing for each its numerical code, its name (which is at all times the same as the name of the capital city of the province), the number of districts ("dairas"), the number of municipalities, its area, and its population.

Since 2019

On 26 November 2019, the

Cabinet of Algeria The Council of Ministers is an Algerian government body established by the Algerian Constitution to discuss and adopt some of the main acts of executive power, such as the tabling of government bills or the appointment of senior officials. It i ...

passed a bill to add 10 more provinces, by splitting some of the larger provinces in the south of Algeria into smaller ones. Thus, the following provinces have been added on December 18, 2019: * Bordj Badji Mokhtar Province * Ain Salah Province * Djanet Province * Ain Guezzam Province * El M'Ghair Province * Touggourt Province * Béni Abbès Province *

Timimoun Province The Wilaya of Timimoun () is an Algerian province created in 2019, previously, a delegated wilaya created in 2015. It is in the Algerian Sahara. Geography The wilaya of Timimoun is in the Algerian Desert, Algerian Sahara; its area is 131,22 ...

* Ouled Djellal Province * El Menia Province

1984–2019

In 1984 17 new provinces were added. These provinces included: # El Bayadh #

Illizi Illizi (Amazigh language: Ilizi) is an Algerian town and Communes of Algeria, commune, coextensive with Illizi District, situated in the south-eastern part of Algeria, and capital of Illizi Province. According to the 2008 census it is the largest ...

# Bordj Bou Arréridj #

Boumerdès Boumerdès (; ; formerly ''Rocher Noir'') is the capital city of Boumerdès Province, Algeria. It is located on the Mediterranean Sea. It had a population of 15,000 in 1987 and 28,500 in 1998. Boumerdès is a seaside city located in the north o ...

# El Taref #

Tindouf Tindouf () is the main town, and a Communes of Algeria, commune in Tindouf Province, Algeria, close to the Algeria–Mauritania border, Mauritanian, Algeria–Western Sahara border, Western Saharan and Algeria–Morocco border, Moroccan borders. Th ...

# Tissemsilt #

El Oued El Oued (), Souf or Oued Souf is a city, and the capital of El Oued Province, in Algeria. The oasis town is watered by an underground river, hence its name is El Oued which enables date palm cultivation and the rare use (for the desert) of brick c ...

# Khenchela # Souk Ahras # Tipaza # Mila # Aïn Defla # Naâma # Aïn Témouchent #

Ghardaïa Ghardaïa (, ) is the capital city of Ghardaïa Province, Algeria. The commune of Ghardaïa has a population of 93,423 according to the 2008 census, up from 87,599 in 1998, with an annual growth rate of 0.7%. It is located in northern-central A ...

# Relizane

1974–1983

The 15 departments were reorganized to form 31 provinces:

1957–1974

Immediately after independence, Algeria retained its 15 former French départements, which were renamed

wilaya A wilayah ( or ''wilāya'', plural ; Urdu, Pashto and ; ) is an administrative division, usually translated as "state", "province" or occasionally as "governorate". The word comes from the Arabic root "''w-l-y''", "to govern": a ''wāli''—"g ...

s (provinces) in 1968, for the most part, with some name changes: *8A-El Wahat (Currently Ouargla, formerly Oasis) *8B-Saoura (Currently Béchar) *9A-Alger (Algiers) *9B-Batna *9C-Annaba (Formerly Bône, English: Bona) *9D-Constantine *9E-Médéa *9F-Mostaganem *9G-Oran *9H-Orléansville (Then El Asnam, now Chlef) *9J-Sétif *9K-Tiaret *9L-Tizi-Ouzou *9M-Tlemcen *9R-Saïda

1954–1962

During the

Algerian War of Independence The Algerian War (also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence) ''; '' (and sometimes in Algeria as the ''War of 1 November'') was an armed conflict between France and the Algerian National Liberation Front (Algeri ...

, the FLN adopted an organizational system divided by 6 numbered ''wilayas'': #Aurès #Constantine #Kabylie #Algiers #Oran #Sahara

References

External links

National Statistics Office
{{Articles on first-level administrative divisions of African countries Subdivisions of Algeria Algeria, Provinces Algeria 1 Provinces, Algeria

Provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...