Provinces of Algeria


Algeria since December 18, 2019, is divided into 58 wilayas. Prior to December 18, 2019, there were 48 provinces. The 58 provinces are divided into 1541 baladiyahs. The capital city of a baladiyah, daïra, or province, always gives those entities their name, even Algiers, the capital of the country gave it its name.
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" is the political entity governing a province, directed by the "Wali", 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 is elected by Algerians.

List

Act Number 84-09 of 4 February 1984 relative to the organisation of the Algerian territory and as updated and complemented by Act Number JO of 7 February 1984 fixed the number of Algerian Provinces 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 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 32-58, in Arabic alphabetical order.
The following table presents the list of provinces, showing for each province, its numerical code, its name, the number of districts "daira"s in each province, the number of municipalities as well as the province area and its population.

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 provinces. Thus, the following provinces have been added on December 18, 2019:
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 départments were reorganized to form 31 provinces:

1957-1974

Immediately after independence, Algeria retained its 15 former French départements, which were renamed wilayas 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:
  1. Aurès
  2. Constantine
  3. Kabylie
  4. Algiers
  5. Oran
  6. Sahara