Algeria, since December 18, 2019, is divided into 58 wilayas (provinces). Prior to December 18, 2019, there were 48 provinces. The 58 provinces are divided into 1,541 baladiyahs (municipalities). 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), 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.
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.[1] [2]
The province numbers are the first 31 provinces (see the second section) in Arabic 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.
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.
| Map | Code | Province | Arabic name | Number of districts | Number of municipalities | Area | Population (2008[3]) | Density (2008) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| km2 | sq mi | per km2 | per sq mi | |||||||
| 01 | Adrar | Arabic: أدرار | 6 | 16 | 254471km2 | 261,258 | 1.03/km2 | |||
| 02 | Chlef | Arabic: الشلف | 13 | 35 | 4795km2 | 1,002,088 | 209/km2 | |||
| 03 | Laghouat | Arabic: الأغواط | 10 | 24 | 25057km2 | 455,602 | 18/km2 | |||
| 04 | Oum El Bouaghi | Arabic: أم البواقي | 12 | 29 | 6783km2 | 621,612 | 81/km2 | |||
| 05 | Batna | Arabic: باتنة | 21 | 61 | 12192km2 | 1,119,791 | 92/km2 | |||
| 06 | Béjaïa | Arabic: بجاية | 19 | 52 | 3268km2 | 912,577 | 279/km2 | |||
| 07 | Biskra | Arabic: بسكرة | 10 | 27 | 9576km2 | 547,137 | 57/km2 | |||
| 08 | Béchar | Arabic: بشار | 6 | 11 | 60850km2 | 219,898 | 3.61/km2 | |||
| 09 | Blida | Arabic: البليدة | 10 | 25 | 1575km2 | 1,002,937 | 591/km2 | |||
| 10 | Bouïra | Arabic: البويرة | 12 | 45 | 4439km2 | 695,583 | 157/km2 | |||
| 11 | Tamanrasset | Arabic: تمنراست | 3 | 5 | 336839km2 | 115,043 | 0.34/km2 | |||
| 12 | Tébessa | Arabic: تبسة | 12 | 28 | 14227km2 | 648,703 | 46/km2 | |||
| 13 | Tlemcen | Arabic: تلمسان | 20 | 53 | 9061km2 | 949,135 | 105/km2 | |||
| 14 | Tiaret | Arabic: تيارت | 14 | 42 | 20673km2 | 846,823 | 41/km2 | |||
| 15 | Tizi Ouzou | Arabic: تيزي وزو | 21 | 67 | 2956km2 | 1,127,608 | 316/km2 | |||
| 16 | Algiers | Arabic: الجزائر | 13 | 57 | 1190km2 | 2,988,145 | 2511/km2 | |||
| 17 | Djelfa | Arabic: الجلفة | 12 | 36 | 66415km2 | 1,092,184 | 46/km2 | |||
| 18 | Jijel | Arabic: جيجل | 11 | 28 | 2577km2 | 636,948 | 247/km2 | |||
| 19 | Sétif | Arabic: سطيف | 20 | 60 | 6504km2 | 1,489,979 | 229/km2 | |||
| 20 | Saïda | Arabic: سعيدة | 6 | 16 | 6764km2 | 330,641 | 49/km2 | |||
| 21 | Skikda | Arabic: سكيكدة | 13 | 38 | 4026km2 | 898,680 | 223/km2 | |||
| 22 | Sidi Bel Abbès | Arabic: سيدي بلعباس | 15 | 52 | 9096km2 | 604,744 | 66/km2 | |||
| 23 | Annaba | Arabic: عنابة | 6 | 12 | 1439km2 | 609,499 | 424/km2 | |||
| 24 | Guelma | Arabic: قالمة | 10 | 34 | 4101km2 | 482,430 | 118/km2 | |||
| 25 | Constantine | Arabic: قسنطينة | 6 | 12 | 2187km2 | 938,475 | 427/km2 | |||
| 26 | Médéa | Arabic: المدية | 19 | 64 | 8866km2 | 819,932 | 92/km2 | |||
| 27 | Mostaganem | Arabic: مستغانم | 10 | 32 | 2175km2 | 737,118 | 325/km2 | |||
| 28 | M'Sila | Arabic: المسيلة | 15 | 47 | 18718km2 | 990,591 | 53/km2 | |||
| 29 | Mascara | Arabic: معسكر | 16 | 47 | 5941km2 | 784,073 | 132/km2 | |||
| 30 | Ouargla | Arabic: ورقلة | 6 | 10 | 194552km2 | 311,337 | 1.6/km2 | |||
| 31 | Oran | Arabic: وهران | 9 | 26 | 2121km2 | 1,584,607 | 688/km2 | |||
| 32 | El Bayadh | Arabic: البيض | 8 | 22 | 78870km2 | 228,624 | 3.2/km2 | |||
| 33 | Illizi | Arabic: اليزي | 2 | 4 | 198815km2 | 34,715 | 0.17/km2 | |||
| 34 | Bordj Bou Arréridj | Arabic: برج بوعريريج | 10 | 34 | 4115km2 | 628,475 | 160/km2 | |||
| 35 | Boumerdès | Arabic: بومرداس | 9 | 32 | 1356km2 | 802,083 | 504/km2 | |||
| 36 | El Tarf | Arabic: الطارف | 7 | 24 | 3339km2 | 408,414 | 122/km2 | |||
| 37 | Tindouf | Arabic: تندوف | 1 | 2 | 159000km2 | 49,149 | 0.31/km2 | |||
| 38 | Tissemsilt | Arabic: تسمسيلت | 8 | 22 | 3152km2 | 294,476 | 93/km2 | |||
| 39 | El Oued | Arabic: الوادي | 10 | 22 | 45738km2 | 647,548 | 10.61/km2 | |||
| 40 | Khenchela | Arabic: خنشلة | 8 | 21 | 9811km2 | 386,683 | 40/km2 | |||
| 41 | Souk Ahras | Arabic: سوق أهراس | 10 | 26 | 4541km2 | 438,127 | 95/km2 | |||
| 42 | Tipaza | Arabic: تيبازة | 10 | 28 | 1605km2 | 591,010 | 273/km2 | |||
| 43 | Mila | Arabic: ميلة | 13 | 32 | 3407km2 | 766,886 | 220/km2 | |||
| 44 | Aïn Defla | Arabic: عين الدفلى | 14 | 36 | 4891km2 | 766,013 | 156/km2 | |||
| 45 | Naâma | Arabic: النعامة | 7 | 12 | 29950km2 | 192,891 | 6.5/km2 | |||
| 46 | Aïn Témouchent | Arabic: عين تموشنت | 8 | 28 | 2379km2 | 371,239 | 156/km2 | |||
| 47 | Ghardaïa | Arabic: غرداية | 7 | 9 | 23890km2 | 306,322 | 12.82/km2 | |||
| 48 | Relizane | Arabic: غليزان | 13 | 38 | 4870km2 | 726,180 | 152/km2 | |||
| 49 | Timimoun | Arabic: تيميمون | 4 | 10 | 65203km2 | 122,019 | 1.9/km2 | |||
| 50 | Bordj Badji Mokhtar | Arabic: برج باجي مختار | 1 | 2 | 120026km2 | 16,437 | 0.14/km2 | |||
| 51 | Ouled Djellal | Arabic: أولاد جلال | 2 | 6 | 11410km2 | 174,219 | 15/km2 | |||
| 52 | Béni Abbès | Arabic: بني عباس | 6 | 10 | 101350km2 | 50,163 | 0.49/km2 | |||
| 53 | Ain Salah | Arabic: عين صالح | 2 | 3 | 131220km2 | 50,392 | 0.38/km2 | |||
| 54 | Ain Guezzam | Arabic: عين قزّام | 2 | 2 | 88126km2 | 11,202 | 0.13/km2 | |||
| 55 | Touggourt | Arabic: تقرت | 4 | 11 | 17428km2 | 247,221 | 14/km2 | |||
| 56 | Djanet | Arabic: جانت | 1 | 2 | 86185km2 | 17,618 | 0.2/km2 | |||
| 57 | El M'Ghair | Arabic: المغير | 2 | 8 | 8835km2 | 162,267 | 0.94/km2 | |||
| 58 | El Menia | Arabic: المنيعة | 2 | 4 | 62215km2 | 57,276 | 0.92/km2 | |||
| Total | 547 | 1541 | 2381741km2 | 34,080,030 | 14/km2 | |||||
On 26 November 2019, the Cabinet of Algeria passed a bill to add 10 more provinces, by splitting some of the larger provinces in the south of Algeria into smaller ones.[4] Thus, the following provinces have been added on December 18, 2019:
In 1984 17 new provinces were added. These provinces included:
The 15 departments were reorganized to form 31 provinces:
Immediately after independence, Algeria retained its 15 former French départements, which were renamed wilayas (provinces) in 1968, for the most part, with some name changes:
During the Algerian War of Independence, the FLN adopted an organizational system divided by 6 numbered wilayas: