Compare · UN World Population Prospects 2024

Afghanistan and Algeria, side by side

In 2026, half of the people in Afghanistan are older than 18. In Algeria, half are older than 30.

UN estimates for mid-2023: Afghanistan 41,454,761 people · Algeria 46,164,219

Afghanistan 45.0 million people Half are older than 18 3 in 100 are 65 or older

Algeria 48.0 million people Half are older than 30 7 in 100 are 65 or older

How to read this: each pyramid stacks a place’s people by age — babies at the bottom, the oldest at the top, men on the left and women on the right. A wide bottom means many children; a wide top means many older people.

Compare shapes Compare sizes

Each bar is a share of its own place’s people, so a small country and a large one can be read side by side.

Year 2026 · UN projection

estimatesprojections

men women projected

Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries

AFG × DZA · 2026 · age groups

If each place were 100 people

Shrink each population to 100 people and count them. Dots are children under 15, filled squares are people aged 15 to 64, and open squares are people 65 and over. The picture follows the year slider above.

Afghanistan

Children, under 15: 42
Aged 15 to 64: 55
Aged 65 and over: 3

Algeria

Children, under 15: 29
Aged 15 to 64: 64
Aged 65 and over: 7

AFG × DZA · families and lifetimes

Children, and how long lives last

At today's rates, a woman in Afghanistan would have about 4.6 children in her lifetime. In Algeria, about 2.6. Babies born this year can expect about 67 years of life in Afghanistan and about 77 in Algeria.

Children per woman, 2026

Each figure is one child: how many children a woman would have in her lifetime at that year’s rates.

Afghanistan 4.6

Algeria 2.6

The dashed line at 2.1 is about what it takes for each generation to replace the one before it, leaving migration aside.

How long a newborn can expect to live, 2026

Each block is ten years of life, if the death rates of that year stayed the same all life long.

Afghanistan 67 years

Algeria 77 years

Hatched marks are UN projections (medium variant), not measurements.

AFG × DZA · 1950–2100 · how many

How big, and where they are heading

There are 48.0 million people in Algeria and 45.0 million in Afghanistan: about as many people as Afghanistan.

Since 1950 the two have moved differently: Afghanistan's population is 5.8 times what it was in 1950, while Algeria's population is 5.3 times what it was in 1950.

Afghanistan's population is still growing in 2100. Meanwhile Algeria's population is expected to peak in 2090. The UN expects Afghanistan to have more people than Algeria from 2031. In 2100: 130 million in Afghanistan, 64.5 million in Algeria (UN projection, medium).

Show the numbers

Year	Afghanistan: people	Algeria: people	Afghanistan: half older than	Algeria: half older than	Afghanistan: children per woman	Algeria: children per woman	Afghanistan: life expectancy	Algeria: life expectancy
1950	7.77618 million	9.01843 million	19.4	19.4	7.25	7.32	28.2	42.7
1960	9.03504 million	11.4249 million	18.9	17.3	7.28	7.50	32.8	40.8
1970	11.2901 million	13.7837 million	18.0	16.3	7.40	7.70	37.5	43.3
1980	13.1693 million	18.6072 million	16.8	16.5	7.64	6.99	39.3	54.5
1990	12.0457 million	25.3758 million	16.0	18.5	7.58	4.51	45.1	67.7
2000	20.1303 million	30.9039 million	15.0	21.8	7.57	2.59	55.0	70.6
2010	28.2841 million	36.1882 million	15.6	26.1	6.20	2.88	60.7	74.1
2023	41.4548 million	46.1642 million	17.9	29.2	4.84	2.77	66.0	76.3
2030*	50.0394 million	50.1542 million	19.2	30.5	4.22	2.45	67.6	77.7
2040*	63.3479 million	54.8735 million	21.5	32.4	3.56	2.16	69.5	79.6
2050*	76.8851 million	59.5656 million	24.0	35.5	3.09	2.00	70.9	81.3
2060*	90.3627 million	62.5900 million	26.6	39.3	2.76	1.91	72.3	83.0
2070*	103.417 million	63.8590 million	29.1	41.8	2.51	1.86	73.6	84.4
2080*	114.674 million	64.7507 million	31.4	43.0	2.31	1.82	74.8	85.8
2090*	123.305 million	65.1155 million	33.7	45.2	2.17	1.79	76.1	87.0
2100*	130.217 million	64.4875 million	35.8	47.8	2.06	1.78	77.3	88.1

* UN projection, medium variant. People at mid-year; ages and life expectancy in years.

AFG − DZA · 1950–2100 · every age

Which ages each place has more of

Each column is a year and each row an age, from babies at the bottom to 100 at the top. The shade of a cell shows which place has more of its people at that age — the key beside the picture tells you which shade is Afghanistan and which is Algeria, and the in-between shade means the same. Because it compares shares, a small place and a large one can be compared fairly.

236 countries · 1950–2100

Where they sit among all countries

Every country in the world, every year from 1950 to 2100. The grey cloud shows where most countries are; Afghanistan is drawn in solid blue squares and Algeria in open orange squares, so you can see whether each is ahead of the crowd, behind it or in the middle.

More comparisons

Keep exploring

Each place on its own: Afghanistan · Algeria. Or pick any two places with the boxes at the top of this page.

Other comparisons

Apparatus

Sources and method

Afghanistan and Algeria are drawn here from one source and one release: the UN Population Division's World Population Prospects 2024, counted through 2023 and projected on its medium variant after that. Two places read off the same tables can be set against each other; two read off different tables cannot.

How the median age and the “100 people” pictures are worked out, and why the pictures of every country leave the regions out: how the figures here are put together.

There are 250 ready-made comparisons on this site. For anything else, name two places in the boxes at the top of the page.

Sources: UN WPP 2024 · flag-icons. Every source, its licence and how to cite it →

Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries