Provinces of Algeria

Algeria, as of 2024, is divided into 58 wilayas (provinces).^[1] 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.

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.^[2][3]

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[4])	Density (2008)
						km2	sq mi		per km2	per sq mi
	01	Adrar	أدرار	6	16	254,471	98,252	261,258	1.03	2.7
	02	Chlef	الشلف	13	35	4,795	1,851	1,002,088	209	540
	03	Laghouat	الأغواط	10	24	25,057	9,675	455,602	18	47
	04	Oum El Bouaghi	أم البواقي	12	29	6,783	2,619	621,612	81	210
	05	Batna	باتنة	21	61	12,192	4,707	1,119,791	92	240
	06	Béjaïa	بجاية	19	52	3,268	1,262	912,577	279	720
	07	Biskra	بسكرة	10	27	9,576	3,697	547,137	57	150
	08	Béchar	بشار	6	11	60,850	23,490	219,898	3.61	9.3
	09	Blida	البليدة	10	25	1,575	608	1,002,937	591	1,530
	10	Bouïra	البويرة	12	45	4,439	1,714	695,583	157	410
	11	Tamanrasset	تمنراست	3	5	336,839	130,054	115,043	0.34	0.88
	12	Tébessa	تبسة	12	28	14,227	5,493	648,703	46	120
	13	Tlemcen	تلمسان	20	54	9,061	3,498	949,135	105	270
	14	Tiaret	تيارت	14	42	20,673	7,982	846,823	41	110
	15	Tizi Ouzou	تيزي وزو	21	67	2,956	1,141	1,127,608	316	820
	16	Algiers	الجزائر	13	57	1,190	460	2,988,145	2,511	6,500
	17	Djelfa	الجلفة	12	36	66,415	25,643	1,092,184	46	120
	18	Jijel	جيجل	11	28	2,577	995	636,948	247	640
	19	Sétif	سطيف	20	60	6,504	2,511	1,489,979	229	590
	20	Saïda	سعيدة	6	16	6,764	2,612	330,641	49	130
	21	Skikda	سكيكدة	13	38	4,026	1,554	898,680	223	580
	22	Sidi Bel Abbès	سيدي بلعباس	15	52	9,096	3,512	604,744	66	170
	23	Annaba	عنابة	6	12	1,439	556	609,499	424	1,100
	24	Guelma	قالمة	10	34	4,101	1,583	482,430	118	310
	25	Constantine	قسنطينة	6	12	2,187	844	938,475	427	1,110
	26	Médéa	المدية	19	64	8,866	3,423	819,932	92	240
	27	Mostaganem	مستغانم	10	32	2,175	840	737,118	325	840
	28	M'Sila	المسيلة	15	47	18,718	7,227	990,591	53	140
	29	Mascara	معسكر	16	47	5,941	2,294	784,073	132	340
	30	Ouargla	ورقلة	6	10	194,552	75,117	311,337	1.6	4.1
	31	Oran	وهران	9	26	2,121	819	1,584,607	688	1,780
	32	El Bayadh	البيض	8	22	78,870	30,450	228,624	3.2	8.3
	33	Illizi	اليزي	2	4	198,815	76,763	34,715	0.17	0.44
	34	Bordj Bou Arréridj	برج بوعريريج	10	34	4,115	1,589	628,475	160	410
	35	Boumerdès	بومرداس	9	32	1,356	524	802,083	504	1,310
	36	El Tarf	الطارف	7	24	3,339	1,289	408,414	122	320
	37	Tindouf	تندوف	1	2	159,000	61,000	49,149	0.31	0.80
	38	Tissemsilt	تسمسيلت	8	22	3,152	1,217	294,476	93	240
	39	El Oued	الوادي	10	22	45,738	17,660	647,548	10.61	27.5
	40	Khenchela	خنشلة	8	21	9,811	3,788	386,683	40	100
	41	Souk Ahras	سوق أهراس	10	26	4,541	1,753	438,127	95	250
	42	Tipaza	تيبازة	10	28	1,605	620	591,010	273	710
	43	Mila	ميلة	13	32	3,407	1,315	766,886	220	570
	44	Aïn Defla	عين الدفلى	14	36	4,891	1,888	766,013	156	400
	45	Naâma	النعامة	7	12	29,950	11,560	192,891	6.5	17
	46	Aïn Témouchent	عين تموشنت	8	28	2,379	919	371,239	156	400
	47	Ghardaïa	غرداية	7	9	23,890	9,220	306,322	12.82	33.2
	48	Relizane	غليزان	13	38	4,870	1,880	726,180	152	390
	49	Timimoun	تيميمون	4	10	65,203	25,175	122,019	1.9	4.9
	50	Bordj Badji Mokhtar	برج باجي مختار	1	2	120,026	46,342	16,437	0.14	0.36
	51	Ouled Djellal	أولاد جلال	2	6	11,410	4,410	174,219	15	39
	52	Béni Abbès	بني عباس	6	10	101,350	39,130	50,163	0.49	1.3
	53	Ain Salah	عين صالح	2	3	131,220	50,660	50,392	0.38	0.98
	54	Ain Guezzam	عين قزّام	2	2	88,126	34,026	11,202	0.13	0.34
	55	Touggourt	تقرت	4	11	17,428	6,729	247,221	14	36
	56	Djanet	جانت	1	2	86,185	33,276	17,618	0.2	0.52
	57	El M'Ghair	المغير	2	8	8,835	3,411	162,267	18.4	48
	58	El Menia	المنيعة	2	4	62,215	24,021	57,276	0.92	2.4
Total				547	1541	2,381,741	919,595	34,080,030	14	36

Since 2019

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.^[5] 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
• Ouled Djellal Province
• El Menia Province

1984–2019

Map of the provinces of Algeria numbered according to the official order.

In 1984 17 new provinces were added. These provinces included:

1. El Bayadh
2. Illizi
3. Bordj Bou Arréridj
4. Boumerdès
5. El Taref
6. Tindouf
7. Tissemsilt
8. El Oued
9. Khenchela
10. Souk Ahras
11. Tipaza
12. Mila
13. Aïn Defla
14. Naâma
15. Aïn Témouchent
16. Ghardaïa
17. Relizane

1974–1983

The 15 departments were reorganized to form 31 provinces:

1. Adrar
2. Chlef
3. Laghouat
4. Oum el-Bouaghi
5. Batna
6. Béjaïa
7. Biskra
8. Béchar
9. Blida
10. Bouira
11. Tamanghasset
12. Tébessa
13. Tlemcen
14. Tiaret
15. Tizi Ouzou
16. Algiers
17. Djelfa
18. Jijel
19. Sétif
20. Saïda
21. Skikda
22. Sidi Bel Abbes
23. Annaba
24. Guelma
25. Constantine
26. Médéa
27. Mostaganem
28. M'sila
29. Mascara
30. Ouargla
31. Oran

1957–1974

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:

• 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 FLN adopted an organizational system divided by 6 numbered wilayas:

1. Aurès
2. Constantine
3. Kabylie
4. Algiers
5. Oran
6. Sahara

See also

• Municipalities of Algeria
• List of Algerian Provinces by population
• List of Algerian Provinces by area
• List of Algerian regions by Human Development Index
• ISO 3166-2:DZ