Life in Algeria: Every Number That Shapes It (1800–2100)

The transition from the 1950s to the 2020s reveals a profound shift in the human experience across Algeria. Where once life expectancy stood at 43 years, it has climbed to 74 years. Improvements in health are further reflected in child mortality, which fell from 250 to 22 per 1,000 births. Economic markers show similar movement as extreme poverty dropped from 40 to 4 percent, while electricity at home rose from 20 to 96 percent. These metrics document a population moving toward greater security and access to modern infrastructure.

Looking across the three-century arc, the rhythm of daily life has been fundamentally rewritten. In the 1950s, 27 percent of the population lived in cities; today, that figure is 64 percent. Education and connectivity have expanded, with years of schooling increasing from 1.5 to 8.5 years and internet access rising from 0 to 66 percent. Simultaneously, the average number of children per woman declined from 6.8 to 2.8, as the average male height shifted from 167 to 172 cm, signaling broad changes in societal health and individual development.

A child born in Algeria in the 2020s can expect to live 74 years on an average income of 15,000 international dollars. The demands on their time have evolved as well, with annual working hours shifting from 2,200 to 1,950 hours/year. While the homicide rate has decreased from 4 to 2.5 per 100,000, the broader context of a 3,000 to 15,000 intl-$ increase in income per person defines a vastly different starting point for today’s generation. You can now compute your own parallel lives by exploring these data points.