Algeria’s fertility rate fell to 2.7 births per woman in 2024.

Neither way is good in itself. A higher rate brings faster population growth and a younger age structure, while a lower rate brings slower growth and earlier ageing, and each carries its own pressures. In Algeria the rate eased from 2.8 births per woman in 2023 to 2.7 births per woman in 2024, a fall of 1.6%. The 2024 figure is the lowest since 2015. At the start of that span the rate stood at 3.1 births per woman.

Why it matters. At 2.7 births per woman, each year brings a sizeable group of new school entrants and, later, young job seekers. Households carry the cost of raising these children, and the state has to keep expanding classrooms, housing and jobs for them. Because the rate has fallen from its 2015 level of 3.1 births per woman, growth in those cohorts is easing, which gives planners in education and health more room to adjust.