Life expectancy in Algeria from 1845 to 2020
Life expectancy in Algeria was approximately 29 years in 1845, and over the past 175 years it has increased to almost 77 years. It is assumed that a global influenza pandemic reduced life expectancy to 24 years in 1850, and the combination of famine and the fourth cholera pandemic caused Algerian life expectancy to fall below twenty years in 1870. The next decrease came after 1915, and while the First World War definitely contributed to the drop, the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918 (which was spread by the war) was the biggest contributor to lower life expectancy. During the Second World War, Algeria was controlled by the Axis powers until the Operation Torch that began late in 1942, when the allies started driving them away. During this time, Algeria's life expectancy fell from 36 to 34 years. Since 1950, Algeria's life expectancy has continuously increased, despite the Algerian War of Independence and Algerian Civil War. The largest increase in life expectancy came in the early 1980s, during a period of relative peace in Algeria, and in 2020, Algeria's life expectancy is more than double what it was before the Second World War.