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Updates: 

Update 15 to the GEC, the successor to the FIPS standard, is dated 2014-03-31. It changes the spelling of one province from Tamanghasset to Tamanrasset. On 2014-10-29, ISO 3166-2 made the same spelling change. It appears that the -r- spelling is now more prevalent in English (and French).

Country overview: 

Short name	ALGERIA
ISO code	DZ
FIPS code	AG
Language	Arabic (ar)
Time zone	+1
Capital	Algiers

 

At the beginning of the 20th century, Algeria was a French colony. The borders, except near the Mediterranean coast, were ill-defined. The administrative division into departments and territories was based on French practice. During much of the colonial period, Algerian departments had a legal status which was supposedly equal to that of the European departments of France. Algeria became independent in 1962. Since then, it has re-organized twice. After the most recent change, in 1984, the new subdivisions were called wilayas. The southern border has been clearly defined, but the southern parts of the Tunisian and Moroccan borders are still in dispute.

When Algeria was under French administration, the official division names were in French. With independence, Arabic was made the national language. Many place names were changed. However, the French language has continued to occupy an important position as a lingua franca, and place names have continued to be written in the Roman alphabet using French phonetics. In 2002-02, a constitutional amendment recognized Tamazigh (the written language of the largest Berber group) as a national language.

Other names of country: 

1. Arabic: al-Jumhuriya al-Jazairiya ad-Dimuqratiya ash-Shabiya (formal)
2. Danish: Algeriet
3. Dutch: Algerije, Democratische Volksrepubliek Algerije (formal)
4. English: Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria (formal)
5. Finnish: Algeria
6. French: Algérie f, République f algérienne démocratique et populaire (formal)
7. German: Algerien n, Algier n (obsolete)
8. Icelandic: Alsír
9. Italian: Algeria f
10. Norwegian: Den demokratiske folkerepublikk Algerie (formal) (Bokmål), Den demokratiske folkerepublikken Algerie (formal) (Nynorsk), Algerie
11. Portuguese: Argélia, República f Popular Democrática da Argélia f (formal)
12. Russian: Алжирия, Алжирская Народная Демократическая Республика (formal)
13. Spanish: Argelia f, República f Argelina Democrática y Popular (formal)
14. Swedish: Algeriet
15. Turkish: Cezayir Demokratik Halk Cumhuriyeti (formal)

Origin of name: 

Arabic al-Jazairiya from capital city Algiers, which comes from Arabic al-jaza`ir: the islands, for four islands in the harbor (now connected to the mainland by jetties)

Primary subdivisions: 

Algeria is divided into 48 wilayat (provinces; sing. wilaya).

Province	HASC	ISO	FIPS	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)
Adrar	DZ.AR	01	AG34	399,714	464,900	179,500
Aïn Defla	DZ.AD	44	AG35	766,013	4,260	1,645
Aïn Témouchent	DZ.AT	46	AG36	371,239	2,630	1,015
Alger	DZ.AL	16	AG01	2,988,145	273	105
Annaba	DZ.AN	23	AG37	609,499	1,412	545
Batna	DZ.BT	05	AG03	1,119,791	12,028	4,644
Béchar	DZ.BC	08	AG38	270,061	161,400	62,300
Béjaïa	DZ.BJ	06	AG18	912,577	3,329	1,285
Biskra	DZ.BS	07	AG19	721,356	21,671	8,367
Blida	DZ.BL	09	AG20	1,002,937	1,541	595
Bordj Bou Arréridj	DZ.BB	34	AG39	628,475	3,920	1,514
Bouira	DZ.BU	10	AG21	695,583	4,517	1,744
Boumerdès	DZ.BM	35	AG40	802,083	1,558	602
Chlef	DZ.CH	02	AG41	1,002,088	4,651	1,796
Constantine	DZ.CO	25	AG04	938,475	2,288	883
Djelfa	DZ.DJ	17	AG22	1,092,184	29,035	11,210
El Bayadh	DZ.EB	32	AG42	228,624	70,539	27,235
El Oued	DZ.EO	39	AG43	647,548	80,000	31,000
El Tarf	DZ.ET	36	AG44	408,414	2,998	1,158
Ghardaïa	DZ.GR	47	AG45	363,598	86,105	33,245
Guelma	DZ.GL	24	AG23	482,430	3,911	1,510
Illizi	DZ.IL	33	AG46	52,333	284,618	109,892
Jijel	DZ.JJ	18	AG24	636,948	2,399	926
Khenchela	DZ.KH	40	AG47	386,683	9,811	3,788
Laghouat	DZ.LG	03	AG25	455,602	25,052	9,673
Mascara	DZ.MC	29	AG26	784,073	5,962	2,302
Médéa	DZ.MD	26	AG06	819,932	8,700	3,360
Mila	DZ.ML	43	AG48	766,886	3,408	1,316
Mostaganem	DZ.MG	27	AG07	737,118	2,269	876
Msila	DZ.MS	28	AG27	990,591	18,447	7,122
Naama	DZ.NA	45	AG49	192,891	30,644	11,832
Oran	DZ.OR	31	AG09	1,454,078	2,114	816
Ouargla	DZ.OG	30	AG50	558,558	270,030	104,260
Oum el Bouaghi	DZ.OB	04	AG29	621,612	7,638	2,949
Relizane	DZ.RE	48	AG51	726,180	4,840	1,869
Saïda	DZ.SD	20	AG10	330,641	6,631	2,560
Sétif	DZ.SF	19	AG12	1,489,979	6,504	2,511
Sidi Bel Abbès	DZ.SB	22	AG30	604,744	9,151	3,533
Skikda	DZ.SK	21	AG31	898,680	4,137	1,597
Souk Ahras	DZ.SA	41	AG52	438,127	4,360	1,683
Tamanrasset	DZ.TM	11	AG53	176,637	556,000	214,700
Tébessa	DZ.TB	12	AG33	648,703	13,878	5,358
Tiaret	DZ.TR	14	AG13	846,823	20,087	7,756
Tindouf	DZ.TN	37	AG54	49,149	159,000	61,400
Tipaza	DZ.TP	42	AG55	591,010	2,219	857
Tissemsilt	DZ.TS	38	AG56	294,476	3,151	1,217
Tizi Ouzou	DZ.TO	15	AG14	1,127,607	2,993	1,156
Tlemcen	DZ.TL	13	AG15	949,135	9,018	3,482
48 provinces				34,080,030	2,381,741	919,595
Status: These divisions are wilayat (provinces). HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: Province codes from ISO 3166-2. For full identification in a global context, prefix "DZ-" to the code (ex: DZ-31 represents Oran). Codes also appear at the right side of vehicle plates. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. Population: 2008-04-16 census (source [7]). Area (km.²): Sources [1], [5] Capitals: all have the same name as their province.

Postal codes: 

Algeria uses five-digit postal codes. The first two digits are the same as the two-digit ISO province code.

Further subdivisions:

See the Municipalities of Algeria page.

The provinces are subdivided into 160 dayrat (sub-prefectures), and further into 1,541 municipalities. Under French administration, the country was divided into départements (departments), which were subdivided into arrondissements, which in turn were subdivided into communes. (I use "commune" to translate the French "commune," and "municipality" to translate the Arabic "baladiyah," but they're essentially the same thing.)

Territorial extent: 

The UN LOCODE page  for Algeria lists locations in the country, some of them with their latitudes and longitudes, some with their ISO 3166-2 codes for their subdivisions. This information can be put together to approximate the territorial extent of subdivisions.

Origins of names: 

1. Adrar: Tamashek adrar: mountain
2. Alger: Arabic al-jaza`ir: the islands, for four islands in the harbor
3. Annaba: corruption of Arabic madinat al-`unnab: city of the jujube tree
4. Béchar: after Wadi Bashshar, possibly from Arabic bashar: to bring good news (i.e., finding water)
5. Béjaïa: ethnic name, possibly from Arabic baqaya: survivors
6. Constantine: rebuilt in 311 by Roman emperor Constantine the Great
7. El Oued: = the Wadi (intermittent stream)
8. Oran: Arabic Wahran (name of a Berber chief)
9. Sétif: ancient Sitifi, possibly from Berber sedif: black
10. Sidi Bel Abbès: Arabic Saydi Bal-`Abbas (a person's honorific and name)
11. Skikda: Arabic corruption of Latin Rusicade, from Punic ruš: cape
12. Tizi-Ouzou: Berber tizi: mountain pass, uzzu: prickly furze
13. Tlemcen: Arabic tilimsan: place of the rushes

Change history: 

1. 1831-12-01: By ordinance, Algeria was divided into civil and military territory. Generally speaking, the civil territories were in the north along the coast, while the military territories were in the Sahara region.
2. 1845-04-24: By ordinance, Algeria was divided into three provinces. Their names were Alger (English: Algiers), Constantine, and Oran, after their capitals. Each province was further subdivided into three territories.
3. 1848-12-09: By French presidential decree, the civil territory in each province was elevated to a department of the same name, with a status nominally equal to the departments of European France. The departments were subdivided into arrondissements, communes, and districts (civilian commisariats). The military territory was divided into three provinces, with external capitals Alger, Constantine, and Oran. The provinces later became divisions. They were further divided into subdivisions, which in turn were divided into cercles (circles). The subdivisions were to the military territories as the arrondissements were to the civil territories, and the cercles were on a par with the districts.
4. 1870-10-24: By decree No. 134, the departments united the civil and military territories, strengthening the equivalence between arrondissements and subdivisions. There were five or six subdivisions. As time went by, the civil territories grew at the expense of the military territories. Certain parts of the military territory were organized as annexes. An annex was the area dominated by a fort, and was part of a cercle.
5. 1900: According to Jean-Jacques Sudre, in 1900, mentioning only "clearly definable entities", Algeria was divided into the entities shown in this table (dep = department, div = division, arr = arrondissement, sub = subdivision).

Primary	Secondary	Cercles
Alger dep	Alger arr
	Médéa arr
	Miliana arr
	Orléansville arr
	Tizi-Ouzou arr
Alger div	Laghouat sub	El Goléah *, Laghouat *
	Médéa sub	Boghar, Bou Saada, Djelfa *
Constantine dep	Batna arr
	Bône arr
	Bougie arr
	Constantine arr
	Guelma arr
	Philippeville arr
	Sétif arr
Constantine div	Batna sub	Biskra *, Khenchela, Tebessa, Touggourt *
	Sétif sub	(none)
Oran dep	Mascara arr
	Mostaganem arr
	Oran arr
	Sidi Bel Abbès arr
	Tlemcen arr
Oran div	Aïn Sefra sub	Aïn Sefra *, Geryville *, Mecheria *, Saïda
	Mascara sub	Tiaret
	Tlemcen sub	Maghnia

1. 1902-12-24: Parts of the military territories - the cercles marked with an asterisk (*) above, with minor alterations - were consolidated into a unit called Territoires du Sud. As a result, Algeria was divided into three departments and one territory. The departments were divided into arrondissements, as shown below.

Department	No.	Pop-1936	Pop-1948	Pop-1954	Area(km.²)	Arrondissements
Alger	91	2,240,911	2,765,898	3,103,205	54,861	Alger, Aumale, Blida, Médéa, Miliana, Orléansville, Tizi-Ouzou
Constantine	93	2,727,766	3,108,165	3,424,217	87,578	Batna, Bône, Bougie, Constantine, Guelma, Philippeville, Sétif
Oran	92	1,623,356	1,990,729	2,178,835	67,262	Mascara, Mostaganem, Oran, Sidi Bel Abbès, Tiaret, Tlemcen
Territoires du Sud	94	642,651	816,993	822,413	1,981,750
Total		7,234,684	8,681,785	9,528,670	2,191,451
No.: Department code, assigned in 1951. Pop-1936: Source [8]. Pop-1948: 1948-10-31 census (source [9]). Pop-1954: 1954-10-31 census (source [9]).

1. 1905-08-14: Territoires du Sud organized into four territories: Aïn Sefra, Ghardaia, Oasis (no capital), and Touggourt.
2. 1955-08-07: Bône department formed by taking the eastern arrondissements of Constantine department: Bône and Guelma. Twelve new arrondissements created, making a total of 32.
3. 1956-06-28: The three northern departments of 1955 were restored and given the status of igamies. (An igamie is the jurisdiction of an igame, which is an acronym for inspecteur général de l'administration en mission extraordinaire = administrative inspector general on special mission.) Each igamie was subdivided into four new departments. For details, see the table below. The departments were further subdivided into arrondissements.
4. 1957-01-10: The four territories joined a union called Organisation commune des régions sahariennes = Common Organization of Saharan Regions.
5. 1957-05-20: Thirty-four new arrondissements were created.
6. 1957-07-01: New department codes assigned to the thirteen departments.
7. 1957-08-07: Territoires du Sud (formerly department no. 9T) split into two departments. The western part, Aïn Sefra territory, became Saoura department; the eastern part, Ghardaïa, Oasis, and Touggourt territories, became Oasis department. (Details provided by Huang Qingqi.)
8. 1958-03-17: Saïda department created by taking parts of Oran, Saoura, and Tiaret departments. Aumale (department no. 9N) department created by taking Aumale, Bou-Saâdaa, Ouled-Djellal, and Tablata arrondissements from Médéa department. Bougie (9P) department created by taking Djidjelli arrondissement from Constantine department and Akbou, Bougie, Kerrata, Lafayette, and Sidi-Aïch arrondissements from Sétif department. Barika arrondissement transferred from Batna department to Sétif. Tébessa arrondissement transferred from Bône to Batna.
9. 1959-11-07: Aumale and Bougie departments abolished and restored to their original departments, except that Ouled-Djellal arrondissement from Aumale department merged with Barika arrondissement of Sétif department to become Barika arrondissement of Batna department. Tébessa arrondissement restored from Batna to Bône. Le Telagh arrondissement transferred from Saïda to Oran. This table shows the resulting subdivision of Algeria. Note: total area has changed since 1902, because of border adjustments in desert areas.

Department	No.	FIPS	Igamie	Population	Area 1	Area 2	Capital
Alger	9A	AG01	Alger	1,560,000	3,398	3,393	Algiers
Batna	9B	AG03	Constantine	567,455	37,179	38,494	Batna
Bône	9C	AG02	Constantine	761,233	24,760	25,367	Annaba
Constantine	9D	AG04	Constantine	1,410,522	19,580	19,899	Constantine
Médéa	9E	AG06	Alger	757,181	61,264	50,331	Médéa
Mostaganem	9F	AG07	Oran	696,015	11,111	11,432	Mostaganem
Oasis	8A	AG08		421,445	1,301,561	1,297,050	Ouargla
Oran	9G	AG09	Oran	1,020,339	16,799	16,438	Ouahran
Orléansville	9H	AG05	Alger	693,656	12,261	12,257	El Asnam
Saïda	9R	AG10	Oran	193,908	56,420	60,114	Saïda
Saoura	8B	AG11		166,124	779,797	789,660	Colomb-Béchar
Sétif	9J	AG12	Constantine	1,081,747	18,117	17,405	Sétif
Tiaret	9K	AG13	Oran	320,884	25,659	25,997	Tagdempt
Tizi-Ouzou	9L	AG14	Alger	751,178	5,719	5,806	Tizi-Ouzou
Tlemcen	9M	AG15	Oran	382,622	8,120	8,100	Tlemcen
15 departments				10,784,309	2,381,745	2,381,743
No.: Department code, assigned in 1957-1958. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-3, a U.S. government standard. Igamie: Igamie to which the department belonged. Population: 1960 census. Area 1: Area (km.²) as shown in the 1977-78 edition of the Statesman's Year-Book. Area 2: Area (km.²) as shown in the Encyclopædia Britannica World Atlas, 1964 edition. Capital: Department capital. Names of capitals are the same as their departments, except for the southern territories of Oasis and Saoura. Where differences between the department name and the capital name appear in the table, one of the names is older, newer, or in a different language.

1. 1960-12-03: Six new arrondissements created in Oasis department; two new arrondissements created in Saoura department.
2. 1962-07-01: Algeria became independent from France.
3. ~1962: Name of Bône department changed to Annaba.
4. 1964: Name of Orléansville department changed to El Asnam.
5. 1974-06: Fifteen departments reorganized to form thirty-one. The resulting division was as shown below. New FIPS codes were assigned to those departments whose names had changed.

Department	Population	Area(km.²)	FIPS	Formerly
Adrar	142,046	422,498	AG16	Oasis, Saoura
Alger	1,988,000	786	AG01	Alger
Annaba	507,806	3,489	AG02	Annaba
Batna	589,146	14,882	AG03	Batna
Béchar	148,101	306,000	AG17	Saoura
Béjaïa	554,876	3,444	AG18	Sétif
Biskra	544,798	109,728	AG19	Oasis, Batna
Blida	909,930	3,704	AG20	Alger, El Asnam
Bouira	385,452	4,517	AG21	Médéa, Tizi-Ouzou
Constantine	686,671	3,562	AG04	Constantine
Djelfa	330,406	22,905	AG22	Batna, Médéa, Oasis, Tiaret
El Asnam	885,200	8,677	AG05	El Asnam
Guelma	552,455	8,624	AG23	Annaba
Jijel	506,488	3,704	AG24	Constantine, Sétif
Laghouat	307,977	112,052	AG25	Oasis, Tiaret
Mascara	435,776	5,846	AG26	Mostaganem, Oran
Médéa	482,183	8,704	AG06	Médéa
Mostaganem	766,167	7,024	AG07	Mostaganem
M'Sila	438,317	19,825	AG27	Batna, Médéa, Sétif
Oran	761,507	1,820	AG09	Oran
Ouargla	199,691	559,234	AG28	Oasis
Oum el Bouaghi	400,182	8,123	AG29	Constantine
Saïda	373,366	106,777	AG10	Oran, Saïda, Saoura
Sétif	990,157	10,350	AG12	Sétif
Sidi Bel Abbès	531,684	11,648	AG30	Oran
Skikda	493,929	4,748	AG31	Constantine
Tamanrasset	45,622	556,000	AG32	Oasis
Tébessa	372,479	16,575	AG33	Annaba, Batna
Tiaret	619,826	23,456	AG13	El Asnam, Tiaret
Tizi-Ouzou	875,075	3,756	AG14	Tizi-Ouzou
Tlemcen	596,677	9,284	AG15	Oran, Tlemcen
31 departments	17,421,990	2,381,742
Population: 1978 estimates (source [6]). FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4, a U.S. government standard. Formerly: Former departments which contributed territory to the new department. Capitals: have the same name as their department.

1. 1980: Name of El Asnam department and its capital changed to Ech Chéliff, later spelled Chlef.
2. 1983-12-15: Thirty-one departments re-organized to form 48 provinces (as shown in the first table). The new provinces were predominantly formed by taking the old departments as they were, or by splitting them into two provinces. Aïn Defla split from Chlef; Aïn Témouchent split from Sidi Bel Abbès; Bordj Bou Arréridj split from Sétif; Boumerdès formed from parts of Alger and Tizi Ouzou; El Bayadh split from Saïda; El Oued split from Biskra; El Tarf formed from parts of Annaba and Guelma; Ghardaïa split from Laghouat; Illizi split from Ouargla; Khenchela formed from parts of Oum el Bouaghi and Tébessa; Mila formed from parts of Constantine, Jijel, Oum el Bouaghi, and Sétif; Naama split from Saïda; Relizane split from Mostaganem; Souk Ahras split from Guelma; Tindouf split from Béchar; Tipaza split from Blida; Tissemsilt formed from parts of Alger and Tiaret.

Other names of subdivisions: 

The boundaries of subdivisions have changed, although the names may have stayed the same. Since the subdivision name is usually the same as the name of its capital, the easiest way to track the changes is to consider them as city names. Also note that diacritical marks may be different, depending on the method of transliteration used.

1. Adrar: Duperré (obsolete)
2. Alger: Algeri (Italian); Algiers (English); Algier (Danish, German); al-Jazair, al-Djazair, El Djazaïr (Arabic); Argel (Portuguese, Spanish); Dzayer, Djezaïr (variant); Алжир (Russian)
3. Annaba: Anaba (Portuguese, Spanish); Bona (Portuguese-obsolete, Spanish-obsolete); Bône (obsolete)
4. Béchar: Colomb-Béchar (obsolete)
5. Béjaïa: Bougie, Bedjaya (French); Bidjaia (variant); Bugia (Italian); Bujia (Portuguese-obsolete)
6. Biskra: Beskra (variant)
7. Blida: El Boulaïda, al-Boulaida (variant)
8. Bordj Bou Arréridj: Bordj Bou Ariridj, Borj Bou Arreridj (variant)
9. Boumerdès: Boumerdas (variant)
10. Chlef: El Asnam, Orléansville (obsolete); Chelif, Ech Cheliff (variant)
11. Constantine: Constantina (Portuguese, Spanish); Costatina (Italian); Qoussantina, Qacentina (Arabic)
12. Djelfa: El Djelfa (variant)
13. El Bayadh: El Bayad, El Beyyadh (variant); Géryville (obsolete)
14. El Oued: El Ouadi, El Wad (variant)
15. El Tarf: Et Tarf (variant)
16. Ghardaïa: Ghardaya (variant)
17. Illizi: Polignac, Fort Polignac (obsolete); Ilizi (variant)
18. Jijel: Djidjel (variant); Djidjelli (obsolete)
19. Khenchela: Khenchla (variant)
20. Mascara: Mouaskar (variant)
21. Médéa: El Mediyya, Lemdiyya (variant)
22. Mostaganem: Mestghanem (variant)
23. Msila: M'Sila (variant)
24. Oasis: Oásis Saharianos (Portuguese); Oasis Sahariennes (variant); Saharan Oases (English)
25. Oran: Orán (Spanish); Orano (Italian); Orão (Portuguese); Ouahran, Ouahrane, Wahran (variant)
26. Ouargla: Wargla (variant)
27. Oum el Bouaghi: Oum el Bouagui (variant); Canrobert (obsolete)
28. Relizane: Ghelizane, Ghilizane (variant)
29. Saoura: La Saoura (variant)
30. Sétif: Stif (variant)
31. Skikda: Philippeville (obsolete); Skidda (variant)
32. Souk Ahras: Souq Ahras (variant)
33. Tamanrasset: Tamanghasset, Tamenghasset, Tamenghest (variant); Fort Laperrine (obsolete)
34. Tébessa: Tbessa (variant)
35. Tiaret: Tihert (variant)
36. Tissemsilt: Vialar (obsolete)
37. Tlemcen: Tilimsene, Tlemsane, Tilimsen (variant); Tremecém (Portuguese-obsolete)

Population history:

Province	1987-04-20	1998-06-25	2008-04-16
Adrar	216,931	311,615	399,714
Aïn Defla	536,205	660,342	766,013
Aïn Témouchent	271,454	327,331	371,239
Alger	1,687,579	2,562,428	2,988,145
Annaba	453,951	557,818	609,499
Batna	757,059	962,623	1,119,791
Béchar	183,896	225,546	270,061
Béjaïa	697,669	856,841	912,577
Biskra	429,217	575,858	721,356
Blida	704,462	784,283	1,002,937
Bordj Bou Arréridj	429,009	555,402	628,475
Bouira	525,460	629,561	695,583
Boumerdès	646,870	647,389	802,083
Chlef	679,717	858,695	1,002,088
Constantine	662,330	810,914	938,475
Djelfa	490,240	797,706	1,092,184
El Bayadh	155,494	168,789	228,624
El Oued	379,512	504,401	647,548
El Tarf	276,836	352,588	408,414
Ghardaïa	215,955	300,516	363,598
Guelma	353,329	429,998	482,430
Illizi	19,698	34,108	52,333
Jijel	471,319	573,208	636,948
Khenchela	243,733	327,917	386,683
Laghouat	215,183	317,125	455,602
Mascara	562,806	676,192	784,073
Médéa	650,623	802,078	819,932
Mila	511,047	674,482	766,886
Mostaganem	504,124	631,057	737,118
Msila	605,578	805,519	990,591
Naama	112,858	127,314	192,891
Oran	916,578	1,213,839	1,454,078
Ouargla	286,696	445,619	558,558
Oum el Bouaghi	402,683	519,170	621,612
Relizane	545,061	642,205	726,180
Saïda	235,240	279,526	330,641
Sétif	997,482	1,311,413	1,489,979
Sidi Bel Abbès	444,047	525,632	604,744
Skikda	619,094	786,154	898,680
Souk Ahras	298,236	367,455	438,127
Tamanrasset	94,219	137,175	176,637
Tébessa	409,317	549,066	648,703
Tiaret	574,786	725,853	846,823
Tindouf	16,339	27,060	49,149
Tipaza	615,140	506,053	591,010
Tissemsilt	227,542	264,240	294,476
Tizi Ouzou	931,501	1,108,708	1,127,607
Tlemcen	707,453	842,053	949,135
Total	22,971,558	29,100,867	34,080,030

 

Note: in the 1998 census data, the sum of the province populations is 2 less than the reported total for Algeria.

Sources: 

1. [1] Quid 1993, Éditions Robert Laffont, Paris, 1992.
2. [2] Masson, Jean-Louis. Provinces, Départements, Régions. Paris: Éditions Fernand Lanore, 1984.
3. [3] Fifth United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names, Vol. II, United Nations, New York, 1991.
4. [4] The American Oxford Atlas. Oxford University Press, New York, 1951.
5. [5] Journal Officiel de la République Algérienne , dated 2002-07-10 (retrieved 2004-11-20). In most cases, the areas given in Quid (source [1]) seemed more plausible than the ones given here, but I already knew that the area of Tindouf province according to Quid was much too small, so I used the figure from here. Curiously, this source seems to have a compensating error in the area of neighboring Béchar province.
6. [6] The Statesman's Year-Book 1981-82. John Paxton, ed. St. Martin's Press, New York, 1981. There was a census on 1977-01-12, returning a population of 17,273,000, according to this source.
7. [7] "Population résidente par age, par sexe et par wilaya", pdf file downloaded from Office National des Statistiques  by clicking on "Population" and then under "Population résidente par sexe et par commune" (retrieved 2013-04-16).
8. [8] Webster's Geographical Dictionary. G. & C. Merriam Co., Springfield, MA, 1957.
9. [9] Encyclopædia Britannica World Atlas, 1957 edition.