Country Comments

Algeria is a large country by land mass, but 4/5 of that land is desert. Water scarcity and desertification are major challenges. Poor farming practices such as overgrazing have led to soil erosion, and with only 3% of its land arable, the country imports roughly half of all the food it needs for its growing population. Algeria's strong oil and gas industry is powered by its significant oil and gas reserves. The rivers, coastal waters and air of Algeria are considered very poor quality due to lack of pollution controls. The World Bank in a 2016 report declared Algeria one of the most polluted countries in the world. In 2021 after a 19 year campaign by the United Nations Algeria became the last country to finally stop leaded gasoline. The government has recently begun addressing climate change and desertification with various measures like the "green dam" project, a reforestation program. Algeria is greatly overpopulated based on its resource use per citizen. The trends for sustainability look even more bleak with the country's population expanding at a rapid 2% with an average birth rate of 3 children per woman.