Algiers is the capital and largest city of Algeria and the second largest city in North Africa behind Casablanca, Morocco. According to the 2005 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570; for the urban area was 2,135,630; for the metropolitan area 3,518,083; and for Algiers Province as a whole 5,723,749 (2006). Thus the urban area of Greater Algiers is one of the largest in the Maghreb (behind Casablanca).