Guelma Province is a province (wilaya) in eastern Algeria. Its namesake is its seat and most populous municipality: Guelma.
History
Its civilians suffered heavy casualties during the 1945 Sétif massacre by the French Army. The province itself was established in 1974. Before that, it was part of Annaba Province.
In 1984 El Taref Province and Souk Ahras Province were carved out of its territory.
Demographics
It has 429,998 inhabitants as of the 1998 census, one of the lower populations in the country, which gives it 39 seats in the APW, the province's assembly. The population density is . Of these, 54.4% live in urban areas and 87% have access to safe drinking water, lower than the national average of 89%. . Of the active population of the province, 23.3% work in agriculture, 17.9% in constructions, 9.9% in industry, and 48.9% in the services sector. 21.1% of the population is unemployed.]
