Algeria is ranked 10^th in the global surface and the first African country. It has three major geographical areas: :

1. The Tell in the north ;
2. The Highlands and the Saharan Atlas in the center ;
3. The Sahara in the South.

The Tell is a long narrow coastal strip of 1280 km and a wide of 100 to 200 km. It is delimited, to the south, by a range of mountains, parallel to coast, extending from the region of Tlemcen in the west to the Tunisian border in the east. This set consists of fertile plains, such as Mitidja, valleys as well as a succession of mountains (the Tell Atlas) is 2000 m high in the east, especially in Kabylie where the massive Djurdjura summits are usually covered by snow in the winter. Within lands, along the coastal rivers, many fertile valleys extend, such as Chelif valley, irrigated by a river (Chélif) along 725 km or the plain of Mitija. To the east, the valley bottoms represent plains such as the Soummam’s and Annaba alluvial plain. The fertile lands represent less than 4% of the national territory surface and are located in the coastal regions in the north. These lands are the most populated and subject to intense competition between the sectors of agriculture, industry and urban sprawl. The soils are not very deep and slopes are sometimes important; erosion is large and constitutes both a cause of land degradation and threat to the dams of Tell. The Highlands and the Saharan Atlas extend diagonally from the Moroccan border to the North East of ‘Algeria. The majority of the High Plains area offers a landscape of steppes especially in the west and the center: in the west, they stretch over nearly 500 km, over a width of 100 to 200 km in the east, around 200 km, with high relief (800 to 1000 m). It is an area dedicated to a semi-nomadic pastoral economy; sheep farming and cereals are the main activities, especially in the East and in Tiaret in the western region. The ground is dug by numerous depressions, saline lakes, which turn into salt lakes after the rainy season. The vegetation is sparse and rather poor. It is limited to tufts of grass and alfa. These steppes are limited in the south by a mountain barrier (the Saharan Atlas) in the East .from the west succeed mountains of Ksour Ouled-Naïl, the Aures and Zibans rising to over 2 300 m. At the foot of these mountains, there are small oases, like El Kantara, Laghouat, Biskra or Ghardaia, and further in the south there is the M’Zab. In the south, the sahara covers over 2 million km² representing 85 % of the Algerian national territory surface (1500 km from the East to West, 2000 km from the north to the south). The Great Southern Algeria alternates between volcanic landscapes (Hoggar Mountains with the highest point in Algeria, Mount Tahats of 3 000 m) and lunar (TassiliN’Ajjer), Stone plains (the Regs) and plains sand (Ergs) scattered by beautiful oases.
 

Consistance territoriale : 

CODE	Province	Number of districts	Number de munucipalities
1	ADRAR	11	28
2	CHLEF	13	35
3	LAGHOUAT	10	24
4	OUM ELBOUAGHI	12	29
5	BATNA	22	61
6	BEJAIA	19	52
7	BISKRA	12	33
8	BECHAR	12	21
9	BLIDA	10	25
10	BOUIRA	12	45
11	TAMANGHASSET	07	10
12	TEBESSA	12	28
13	TLEMCEN	20	53
14	TIARET	14	42
15	TIZI.OUZOU	21	67
16	ALGER	13	57
17	DJELFA	12	36
18	JIJEL	11	28
19	SETIF	20	60
20	SAIDA	06	16
21	SKIKDA	13	38
22	SIDI BEL ABBES	15	52
23	ANNABA	06	12
24	GUELMA	10	34
25	CONSTANTINE	06	12
26	MEDEA	19	64
27	MOSTAGANEM	10	32
28	M'SILA	15	47
29	MASCARA	16	47
30	OUARGLA	10	21
31	ORAN	09	26
32	EL BAYADH	08	22
33	ILLIZI	03	06
34	B.B.ARRERIDJ	10	34
35	BOUMERDES	09	32
36	AL TARF	07	24
37	TINDOUF	01	02
38	TISSEMSILT	08	22
39	EL OUED	12	30
40	KHENCHELA	08	21
41	SOUKAHRAS	10	26
42	TIPAZA	10	28
43	MILA	13	32
44	AIN DEFLA	14	36
45	NAAMA	07	12
46	AIN TEMOUCHENT	08	28
47	GHARDAIA	09	13
48	RELIZANE	13	38
TOTAL	48	13 c /adm &    535 Dairas	1541