Causes Of Poverty In Algeria

2.2.1. Algeria: Between Growth, Inequality and Poverty

Algeria, like other developing countries, has witnessed socio-economic growth and cultural changes (fig.15). The unreliable governmental assessment has proliferated defective urban environment with informal settlements where poverty is an important threat. However, poverty depends on variant dimensions on national levels that should be understood (IUSSP, 2009). For that reason, it is relevant to define what poverty is in Algeria: what its forms are, why poverty exists and who the poor are.

Defining poverty has been an important subject among researchers. Some scholars define poverty based on income, whereas others identify it with legal criteria such as formal occupancy, formal construction

He assumes that economic growths do not automatically dissolve poverty. While economic development is accomplished, it may not be distributed equally. In fact, poverty is a crucial factor measuring the success or the failure of urban interventions.

The international organizations define a pro-poor growth when the growth benefits the poor and contributes to their self-economic development (OECD, 2001). A high level of inequalities can lead to high level of poverty. The total population in Algeria was estimated to be 34,895,000 in 2009, with a total population of 1,191,300 are living in rural areas (Governing Council, 2001). The rural urban migration is explained by population movement seeking for working forces and life condition improvement. The poverty rate in the rural areas, which is up to 19%, is considerably higher compared to urban areas with only 9% poverty rate in 1995. Anyhow, with the economic growth, the poverty rate has dropped in the rural areas to 14.5% but is still elevated comparing to the urban areas, which is estimated to 10.3% in 2000 (IUSSP,

In this sense, factors and indicators of poverty have been analyzed. The results reported that the housing dimensions, the lack of services and insecurity are seen as the indicators, whereas unemployment, migration and social injustices are the factors of poverty (Berner, 2000). In addition, it has been argued that employment decreases from poverty rate and enhances the labor force, which imply economic growth. Statistics have shown that Algeria has witnessed a drop in job opportunities and important economic growth. It seems that the informal market is a systematic mechanism of the unsatisfactory formal economy and an indicator of these conflicting results (Berner,