| NAME: |
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| LOCATION: |
Africa & The Middle East |
| GOVERNMENT: |
Republic |
| OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: |
Arabic (official), French, Berber dialects. |
| MAJOR RELIGION(S): |
Sunni Muslim (state religion) 99%, Christian and Jewish 1% |
| MAJOR ETHNIC GROUPS: |
Arab-Berber 99%, European less than 1%
note: almost all Algerians are Berber in origin, not Arab; the minority who identify themselves as Berber live mostly in the mountainous region of Kabylie east of Algiers; the Berbers are also Muslim but identify with their Berber rather than Arab cultural heritage; Berbers have long agitated, sometimes violently, for autonomy; the government is unlikely to grant autonomy but has offered to begin sponsoring teaching Berber language in schools.
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