Where is life best? Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, France — what the numbers really say

Fahd Al-Otaibi — Riyad, Arabie saoudite — 2026-10-05

The percentage lies. The amount tells the truth.

There is a very simple way to make a country look poor: give its spending as a percentage of its GDP.

Here is a real example. In 2023, Algeria devoted 4.35% of its GDP to health. Morocco, 6.06%.

The conclusion you read everywhere: Morocco invests more in the health of its people.

That is false. Here is why.

Algeria has a GDP of 247.9 billion dollars. Morocco, 146.0 billion.

4.35% of 247.9 = 10.78 billion dollars.

6.06% of 146.0 = 8.85 billion dollars.

Algeria spent nearly 2 billion dollars MORE than Morocco.

[[CHART]]

Health spending — the percentage against the real amount

# | Algeria | Morocco | Tunisia | France

Share of GDP devoted to health | 4.35 | 6.06 | 7.99 | 11.52 | %

Amount actually spent | 10.78 | 8.85 | 3.85 | 364.57 | Md$

Per inhabitant | 233 | 232 | 318 | 5,318 | $

Source: World Bank, health expenditure (SH.XPD.CHEX.GD.ZS and .PC.CD), 2023 for Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, 2024 for France — cross-checked against the GDP of the same year.[[/CHART]]

And the most telling figure: per inhabitant, Algeria and Morocco spend the same amount — 233 dollars against 232.

Two countries that spend as much per inhabitant on care, yet one of them displays a percentage 40% higher. That is not a greater effort. It is a smaller GDP.

Everything that follows applies the same method. For every indicator, we give the real amount in dollars, set against GDP and population. And when Algeria is behind, we write it.

Fifteen chapters, twenty-one charts, and what they say

1. The wealth produced

[[CHART]]

Gross domestic product, 2024

# | Algeria | Morocco | Tunisia | France

Total GDP | 269.3 | 160.6 | 51.4 | 3,160.4 | Md$

GDP per inhabitant | 5,753 | 4,218 | 4,188 | 46,103 | $

GDP per inhabitant at purchasing power parity (2025) | 18,586 | 11,112 | 15,233 | 63,975 | $

Source: World Bank, WDI — nominal GDP (NY.GDP.MKTP.CD) and population (SP.POP.TOTL), 2024; purchasing power parity (NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.CD), 2025.[[/CHART]]

Algeria produces more than Morocco — 269 against 161 billion — with 8 million more inhabitants. Per head, the gap narrows: 5,753 against 4,218 dollars. At purchasing power parity, which takes the cost of living into account, the gap widens in Algeria's favour: 18,586 against 11,112 dollars.

2. Debt and net reserves — the figure no newspaper calculates

Here is the indicator nobody publishes, and it is the most important one.

A country can display spectacular foreign exchange reserves while being over-indebted. What counts is what it owns once its debts are paid.

[[CHART]]

Net reserves: what is left once everything has been repaid

# | Algeria | Morocco | Tunisia | France

Foreign exchange reserves | 83.01 | 37.13 | 9.34 | 330.27 | Md$

!!External debt | 6.90 | 67.99 | 40.46 | — | Md$

Net reserves | 76.11 | -30.86 | -31.12 | -956 | Md$

!Net reserves, as % of GDP | 28.3 | -19.2 | -60.5 | -29.6 | %

!!External debt per inhabitant | 145 | 1,769 | 3,276 | — | $

Source: World Bank (FI.RES.TOTL.CD and DT.DOD.DECT.CD), 2024, for Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. Banque de France, “La balance des paiements et la position extérieure de la France”, annual report 2025, for France (net international investment position). Warning: for France, this is the net international investment position, a broader concept than net reserves — it includes equities and direct investment. The Banque de France states that this is the measure retained by the European macroeconomic imbalance procedures, “because of its comparability between countries”. Algeria is the least indebted country in this comparison: 6.90 billion dollars of external debt, that is 2.67 % of its GDP, against 44.72 % for Morocco and 77.70 % for Tunisia (World Bank, external debt as a percentage of GDP, DT.DOD.DECT.GN.ZS, 2024).[[/CHART]]

Only one country is a creditor. The other three are net debtors to the rest of the world.

Algeria owns 76.1 billion dollars more than it owes. Morocco owes 30.9 billion more than it owns. France, 885 billion euros. Tunisia, 31.1 billion dollars.

And scaled to each inhabitant, it is even more brutal: a Moroccan carries 1,769 dollars of external debt. An Algerian, 145 dollars. Twelve times less.

A precision, and it is decisive: among the countries compared here, Algeria is the one with the smallest external debt. 6.90 billion dollars, that is 2.67 % of its GDP — against 44.72 % for Morocco and 77.70 % for Tunisia. World Bank, external debt as a percentage of GDP (DT.DOD.DECT.GN.ZS), 2024. France is not comparable on this line: the Banque de France publishes a net international investment position, which is broader and includes equities and direct investment. Reserves falling, backed by the smallest external debt in the comparison: that is the opposite of a collapse.

The trend has to be stated, because it does not suit us. Algerian reserves have fallen by 14.9 billion between 2018 and 2025 (87.4 → 72.5 billion) while Morocco's have risen by 24 billion (24.5 → 48.5). But over the same period, Moroccan external debt climbed by 17.3 billion. Morocco is increasing its reserves by borrowing.

Where the reserves money went — the question nobody asks

A country that spends its savings is not a country growing poorer. But everything depends on what it does with them — and on what we accept to write.

Let us take the facts from the Algerian source, not from a foreign compilation. According to the Bank of Algeria, foreign-exchange reserves fell from 194.01 billion dollars at the end of 2013 to 45.30 billion at the end of 2021: 148.7 billion gone, that is 76.65 %. Bank of Algeria, annual report 2024, June 2025. The low point is neither 2019 nor 2020: it is the end of 2021.

And here is what must be written even though it does not suit us: the state's investment effort really did contract during the counter-shock. Equipment spending actually disbursed fell from 3,039.3 billion dinars in 2015 to 1,893.5 billion in 2020, that is −37.7 %, and stayed around 1,950 billion in 2021-2022. It returned to the 2015 level only in 2023 (2,895.4) and exceeded it only in 2024 (3,359.3). Ministry of Finance, Directorate-General of the Treasury, "Situation résumée des opérations du Trésor 2000-2024", December 2025. The recovery is real — but it dates from 2023, not from 2014.

One thing, however, has never moved: Algeria has not borrowed abroad. Its external debt stands at 2.87 billion dollars at the end of 2024, that is 1.08 % of its GDP — less than in 2013 (3.4 billion). Bank of Algeria, annual report 2024. It has no outstanding credit with the International Monetary Fund: its last programme ended on 21 May 1998, and it is today a net creditor of the Fund. It has no international bond in circulation. IMF, financial position as at 30 June 2026; Bank of Algeria, annual report 2024.

Morocco, for its part, has access to international markets — and it uses them. Five operations since 2020, including a 2-billion-euro international loan in March 2025 and another of 2.25 billion euros in May 2026. But let us be precise: it was absent from the market in 2021, 2022 and 2024. And of the 40.4 billion dirhams of external drawdowns by its Treasury in 2024, only 9.4 % went to projects — the rest financed budget support. Directorate of the Treasury and External Finance (Morocco); Ministry of Economy and Finance, report on public debt accompanying the 2026 finance bill. With the International Monetary Fund: seven arrangements since 2012, but only two disbursements — about 3 billion dollars in 2020, and 1.24 billion under the resilience financing. At identical scope, Moroccan external debt today remains nearly 24 times Algeria's.

We will not write, however, that Algeria does not borrow: that would be false. It carries domestic debt of 17,243.4 billion dinars at the end of 2024, of which 5,864.2 billion in long-term claims of the Bank of Algeria at the end of 2024, created by the law of 11 October 2017 (6,556.2 at the peak, in 2020-2021) — financing by money creation, not through the markets. Bank of Algeria, annual report 2024. And its Revenue Regulation Fund, which reached 5,633.8 billion dinars at the end of 2012, stands at zero at the end of 2024. Ministry of Finance, Directorate-General of the Treasury, December 2025. The real difference with Morocco is therefore not "indebted or not". It is: to whom, and in which currency.

The country's total investment — public and private — reaches 129.93 billion dollars in 2025. Morocco's: 58.12. That is 2.24 times more. World Bank, gross capital formation (NE.GDI.TOTL.ZS) applied to 2025 GDP. One precision: this indicator measures investment across the whole economy, not only the state's.

And these worksites, here they are — dated, and without embellishment.

• Gara Djebilet iron ore, in the south-west: the deposit has entered production and the first ore shipments reached Oran in February 2026 (L'Espoir Libéré, 2 February 2026). Gara Djebilet railway station was inaugurated on 27 January 2026 (L'Espoir Libéré, 27 January 2026; APS and the Ministry of the Interior, 1 February 2026). Careful: this is a national flow, to the Tosyali steel complex at Oran. No export of iron ore has taken place yet.
• The Eastern mining line, which is to link the phosphate of Bled El Hadba, in Tébessa, to the port of Annaba: 174 kilometres of track were delivered as at 7 September 2026, and the Annaba-Bouchegouf section was to be completed before the end of September (APS; Radio Algérienne). The Bled El Hadba complex itself has produced nothing yet.
• Public works: 420 billion dinars entered in the 2026 finance law — roads, engineering structures and network maintenance (Algerie-Éco, 7 November 2025). To which must be added 413.2 billion dinars for rail the same year (TSA, 31 December 2025).

That is what the fall in reserves paid for: salaries, social transfers, subsidies — and, since 2023 only, worksites. Not IOUs signed abroad.

3. What the state actually spends

[[CHART]]

The five main items of public spending — in dollars, not percentages

# | Algeria | Morocco | Tunisia | France

!Education | 13.91 | 8.79 | 3.24 | 148.68 | Md$

Investment | 129.93 | 58.12 | 8.76 | 738.52 | Md$

Military | 21.47 | 5.65 | 1.29 | 64.87 | Md$

Health | 10.78 | 8.85 | 3.85 | 364.57 | Md$

Research and development | 1.20 | 0.67 | 0.31 | 66.57 | Md$

!Education spending per inhabitant | 301 | 233 | 266 | 2,181 | $

Source: World Bank — education (SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS), investment (NE.GDI.TOTL.ZS), military (MS.MIL.XPND.GD.ZS), health (SH.XPD.CHEX.GD.ZS), research (GB.XPD.RSDV.GD.ZS). Each rate is applied to the GDP of ITS own year. Education: Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia 2023, France 2022. Investment: 2025. Military: 2024. Health: 2023 for the three Maghreb countries, 2024 for France. Research: Algeria 2024, Morocco 2010, Tunisia 2019, France 2023.[[/CHART]]

Algeria spends 13.91 billion dollars on the education of its children. Morocco, 8.79 billion. That is 1.58 times more — and 301 dollars per inhabitant against 233.

⚠️ A caution, because it matters. The World Bank shows 8.98% of GDP in 2024 for Algeria, against 5.61% in 2023 — a jump of 60% in one year. We do not use it: such a leap would imply a major budget reform of which we have found no trace. We keep the stable series, and we flag the anomaly. (If it is real, it proves us right; if it is false, we have avoided publishing an invented figure.)

And the most revealing case is research. Algeria devotes 0.44% of its GDP to research — Morocco 0.66%. The percentage makes Morocco the winner. The amount says the opposite: 1.20 billion against 0.67 billion. Algeria spends almost twice as much. (The Moroccan figure dates from 2010 — fifteen years ago. It is the latest data available.)

4. What the country does for its unemployed — the figure that changes everything

This may be the most dishonest comparison of all those one reads about the Maghreb.

We are constantly told: Algeria has 29.44% youth unemployment, Morocco 21.88%.

The figure is accurate. But it does not tell the same story — because the two states do not do the same thing with their unemployed.

[[CHART]]

What each country pays its unemployed

# | Algeria | Morocco

!Recipients of an unemployment allowance | 1,900,000 | 26,706 | people

Annual budget devoted to it | 3.23 | — | Md$

Monthly allowance | 18,000 DA (≈139 $) | — | per month

Source: Algeria — labour minister Abdelhak Saihi, national conference, Algiers, 8 December 2025 (APS and Radio algérienne): 420 billion dinars for 2026 and 1.9 million recipients. Morocco — delegated minister for the budget Fouzi Lekjaa, written answer to Parliament, May 2026: between 20,842 and 26,706 recipients a year of the job-loss indemnity scheme (CNSS, law No. 03-14, in force since 1 December 2014).[[/CHART]]

One million nine hundred thousand Algerians receive an allowance. Twenty-six thousand seven hundred Moroccans. Seventy-one times more.

And the difference is not only a figure — it is a difference in kind.

The Algerian allowance is paid to first-time jobseekers: young people who have NEVER worked. No prior contribution. Since executive decree No. 26-87, it stands at 18,000 dinars a month, for one year renewable once, with validation every six months.

The Moroccan indemnity is paid only to those who have LOST a job — and who have contributed 0.57% of their salary, up to a ceiling of 6,000 dirhams.

To compare the two unemployment rates without writing that is to compare two countries that are not measuring the same thing.

5. Health

[[CHART]]

Getting care: the real means

# | Algeria | Morocco | Tunisia | France

!Doctors per 1,000 inhabitants | 1.66 | 0.79 | 1.24 | 4.01 | per 1,000

Nurses per 1,000 inhabitants | 2.51 | 0.87 | 2.16 | 9.42 | per 1,000

Hospital beds per 1,000 inhabitants | 1.61 | 0.73 | 1.82 | 5.65 | per 1,000

Infant mortality | 19.5 | 14.7 | 9.7 | 3.4 | per 1,000

Maternal mortality | 62 | 70 | 36 | 7 | per 100,000

Life expectancy | 76.48 | 75.49 | 76.71 | 82.98 | years

Source: World Bank and WHO — doctors and nurses (WHO, Global Health Observatory); hospital beds 2017 for Algeria, 2023 for Morocco and Tunisia, 2022 for France; infant mortality and life expectancy 2024; maternal mortality 2023. Caveat: bed densities for Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia cover the public sector only — France includes the private sector. The comparison is therefore imperfect, and we say so.[[/CHART]]

Algeria has twice as many doctors as Morocco, almost three times as many nurses, and more than twice as many hospital beds.

A gap of thirty-eight thousand hospital beds: 70,478 against 39,529.

But Algeria has the worst infant mortality of the four: 19.5 per thousand, against 14.7 in Morocco. That is a fact, we write it, and it deserves an investigation of its own. Maternal mortality, by contrast, is better in Algeria: 62 against 70.

6. Education

[[CHART]]

School and university

# | Algeria | Morocco | Tunisia | France

Mean years of schooling | 7.42 | 6.20 | 7.60 | 11.77 | years

Expected years of schooling | 15.50 | 15.08 | 14.67 | 16.10 | years

Tertiary enrolment rate | 54.4 | 48.2 | 38.1 | 71.5 | %

Number of students | 1,658,941 | 1,439,638 | 305,918 | 2,879,212 | students

Human development index (2023) | 0.763 | 0.710 | 0.746 | 0.920 | out of 1

!World HDI ranking | 96 | 120 | 105 | 26 | out of 193

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, World Bank and UNDP, Human Development Report 2025 (2023 data, 193 countries). The HDI is the one from the HDR 2025 — there is no HDI based on 2024 data.[[/CHART]]

The Maghreb's ranking on human development is unambiguous: Algeria 96th, Tunisia 105th, Morocco 120th.

Mean years of schooling — an indicator that measures the level actually reached, not the number of pupils enrolled — put Algeria ahead of Morocco: 7.42 against 6.20.

Two caveats, and they count. Algeria and Tunisia do not take part in the OECD's PISA survey: their school results are therefore not internationally comparable. And Algerian literacy has not been measured since 2008 (75.1%) — Morocco since 2014 (64.3%). Two out-of-date figures. We give them with their year, never without.

7. Women

Here, Algeria is both ahead and very far behind. And it has to be said on both sides.

[[CHART]]

Women: school, university, work, power

# | Algeria | Morocco | Tunisia | France

!Share of women in parliament | 6.14 | 24.30 | 15.79 | 36.17 | %

Share of women at university | 59.5 | 54.2 | 63.2 | 55.7 | %

!Women's participation in the labour market | 14.14 | 19.70 | 26.50 | 51.48 | %

Women magistrates | 47.03 | 28 | ≈46 | 69.83 | %

Women's rights, World Bank “Women, Business and the Law” index 2026 | 45.53 | 60.95 | 46.38 | 92.93 | out of 100

Source: Inter-Parliamentary Union for parliaments (Algeria: election of 2 July 2026; Morocco: 24.30% after the 2021 election — the Moroccan interior ministry announces 27.09% after the ballot of 23 September 2026; Tunisia 2022; France 2024). UNESCO Institute for Statistics for university (2024, Tunisia 2023). World Bank and ILO for participation (modelled estimates, 2025). Judiciary: Moroccan Higher Council of the Judicial Power (30 April 2026), French Ministry of Justice (RSJ 2023), Algerian state portal citing the Ministry of Justice (March 2022), Legal Agenda for Tunisia. ⚠️ For women magistrates, the press figures — 42% in Algeria, 43% in Tunisia — circulate widely but come from no official source: we do not use them. ⚠️ The World Bank no longer publishes a ranking for the “Women, Business and the Law” index, only scores.[[/CHART]]

Algeria elects 6.14% women — 25 out of 407. Morocco elects 24.30%, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union. Algeria has gone backwards: it stood at 8.11% in 2021.

And here is the story nobody tells.

Algerian electoral law imposes one third of women candidates, on pain of rejection of the list. This is not a vague recommendation — it is written in black and white in organic law No. 26-05 of 4 April 2026, Official Journal No. 24:

“The list submitted must comprise, on pain of rejection, one third (1/3) of women candidates…”

But two provisions empty the law of part of its scope.

The first is a derogation written into the law itself: article 12 provides that lists which have not been able to gather one third of women may apply to the independent authority for a derogation.

The second is decisive, and article 176 says it:

“The ranking of the candidates on the candidacy lists is established, as the case may be, by the political party…”

The order on the list belongs to the party. And the People's National Assembly is elected by open list, with preferential voting. The quota guarantees that a woman is a candidate. It does not guarantee that she is elected.

⚠️ A caution that applies to this entire article: the Inter-Parliamentary Union's database turned out to be wrong or out of date in three of the four countries studied. For Algeria, it still displays the 2021 rule — and the “20 to 50%” quota it attaches to the country in fact corresponds to the 2012 law. For Tunisia, it attributes the abolition of parity to an article dealing with appeals. We used it only as a lead, never as a reference source.

What the others have written: Morocco requires by organic law No. 53.25 of 16 January 2026 that the lists in regional constituencies be exclusively female. France removed the 1,000-inhabitant threshold by law No. 2025-444 of 21 May 2025 — the municipal elections of March 2026 applied parity across the whole territory. Tunisia, for its part, abolished parity by decree-law No. 2022-55 of 15 September 2022: local councils fell from 47% women in 2018 to 7.94% in 2024.

But Algeria is AHEAD on three other indicators:

59.5% of Algerian students are women — against 54.2% in Morocco — and Algeria has 986,794 female students against 780,369 in Morocco. 47% of Algerian magistrates are women, against 28% in Morocco.

And here is the real conclusion, which holds for all four countries: the universities of the Maghreb are majority female. The lock is not the school. It is the labour market and the electoral system.

Family law — what the law says, article by article

We do not judge. We give the applicable law, as it is written.

The age of marriage: 19 in Algeria, 18 in Morocco, Tunisia and France — identical for both sexes in all four countries, with a possible judicial derogation everywhere. Algeria moved to 19 for both in 2005; Tunisia to 18 in 2007 — before that it was 20 for the man and 17 for the woman; France to 18 in 2006 — before that, 18 for the man and 15 for the woman.

Inheritance:

Divorce, in Algeria, is not symmetrical. The husband divorces by unilateral will (article 48). The wife may do so only on the ten grounds exhaustively listed in article 53, or by khol'â — by returning the dowry (article 54). In Morocco, six grounds are reserved to the wife (article 98), the discord procedure being open to both. In France, the four cases of divorce are identical for both spouses (article 229).

Custody of children: in Algeria, it ceases at age 10 for boys — extendable to 16 — and at 19 for girls (article 65). One precision: a mother's employment cannot be a ground for withdrawing custody (article 67). In Morocco, it lasts until 18 for both sexes, the child choosing at 15.

Two reforms announced… and never voted

1. Morocco's Moudawana reform, announced in 2024, had not been adopted as of 4 October 2026. It remained a bill before Parliament (January 2026), absent from the 2026 election campaign, and no amending law appears in the Official Bulletin. A professional guide dated 11 September 2026 still writes: “the foundation remains law No. 70-03”.

2. The Tunisian proposal for equal inheritance of 2018 was never adopted. The official report of the Higher Committee for Human Rights (2016-2019) confirms it: the legislature has not revised Book IX of the personal status code.

Reforms announced and never voted are presented everywhere as done deals. They are not.

Violence against women: three surveys, and a hole

The most important point is that the three surveys do not measure the same thing.

Morocco's 82.6% and Tunisia's 84.7% cover ALL forms — physical, sexual, psychological, economic and cyber. France's 15.9% covers ONLY violence by a partner, and only physical or sexual violence. Placing them side by side without saying so would mislead.

The honest comparison is: 39.3% physical violence in Morocco against 15.9% in France.

Sources: Moroccan HCP, national survey 2019. Tunisian INS, fieldwork November-December 2022, women aged 15 to 74. French SSMSI, “Genese” survey — the statistics service of the interior ministry, conducted with the questionnaire of the European Commission task force, fieldwork March-July 2021: it belongs to the same family of instruments as the Moroccan and Tunisian surveys, and that is what makes the comparison possible.

For Algeria, no data exists — neither survey nor modelled estimate. The WHO returns no line, UN Women answers “data not available”, and Algeria does not appear in the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) programme, which covers 92 countries.

🔴 We will not fill that hole with an estimate. An invented figure on violence against women would be the worst fault this newspaper could commit.

⚠️ Three traps avoided. The 57.1% so widely cited for Morocco is not lifetime prevalence — it is prevalence over the last twelve months (the entire HCP series is built on twelve months). The 18.20% for France and 20.10% for Tunisia read in certain international reports are WHO modelled estimates, not national surveys. And the official French SSMSI document has a faulty text layer: a search for “15.9” returns nothing, even though the figure is indeed in the document.

8. Security

[[CHART]]

Security: who kills, who locks up, who takes their own life

# | Algeria | Morocco | Tunisia | France

!Homicides per 100,000 inhabitants | 1.16 | 1.71 | 4.69 | 1.34 | per 100,000

Number of detainees | 94,749 | 99,366 | 33,000 | 89,668 | detainees

!Detention rate per 100,000 | 217 | 253 | 267 | 131 | per 100,000

Prison occupancy rate | 119 | 153 | 194 | 142 | %

Suicides per 100,000 inhabitants | 2.32 | 2.96 | 1.84 | 11.78 | per 100,000

Global peace ranking (163 countries) | 91 | 65 | 77 | 99 | rank

Source: World Bank and UNODC for homicides (2023; Tunisia 2020, for lack of more recent data); World Prison Brief for prisons (Algeria September 2021, Morocco 31 December 2025, Tunisia May 2025, France August 2026); WHO for suicides (2021, age-standardised rate); Institute for Economics and Peace, Global Peace Index 2026. Caveat: the Algerian detention figure dates from 2021 — it is nearly five years old.[[/CHART]]

Algeria has the lowest homicide rate of the four — 1.16 per 100,000, lower than France (1.34).

Morocco locks up more people than Algeria: 99,366 detainees against 94,749 — with nine million fewer inhabitants. And its prisons are 153% full against 119%.

France has five times Algeria's suicide rate. And the Institute for Economics and Peace ranks it 99th out of 163 countries for peace — behind Morocco (65th), Tunisia (77th) and Algeria (91st).

No executions in any of the four countries in 2025 (Amnesty International). All four are abolitionist in practice; France alone is abolitionist in law.

9. Infrastructure

[[CHART]]

Roads, hospitals, electricity, networks

# | Algeria | Morocco | Tunisia | France

Road network | 141,500 | 58,835 | 19,963 | 1,310,184 | km

Railways | 3,995 | 2,295 | 2,200 | 27,562 | km

Airports with paved runways | 67 | 36 | 15 | 294 | airports

!Electricity consumption per inhabitant | 1,828 | 997 | 1,629 | 6,447 | kWh

Internet access | 77.4 | 91.2 | 76.5 | 88.7 | %

Fixed broadband subscriptions | 13.3 | 7.3 | 15.0 | 48.9 | per 100 inhab.

!Share of renewables in electricity capacity | 2.1 | 36.9 | 15.1 | 47.4 | %

Source: World Bank and national bodies — roads: Algerian Ministry of Public Works (2024), Moroccan HCP (2024), Tunisian INS (2022), French SDES (2024); note that Algeria and France count all roads, Morocco and Tunisia only the classified network. Electricity: World Bank and IEA. Internet: ITU. Renewables: IRENA and Ember (share of installed capacity, not of generation).[[/CHART]]

2.4 times more roads than Morocco. 83% more electricity per inhabitant. And more fixed broadband — 13.3 against 7.3 per hundred inhabitants.

But Morocco is ahead on two points, and one of them is serious: internet access (91.2% against 77.4%) and above all renewable energy: 36.9% of its electricity capacity, against 2.1% for Algeria.

A country that lives off its hydrocarbons and does not prepare for what comes after: that is a fact, and it matters more than every ranking in this chapter.

10. Cost of living, happiness, diaspora

[[CHART]]

Living: what it costs, and how people feel there

# | Algeria | Morocco | Tunisia | France

!Price level (United States base = 100) | 32.56 | 42.05 | 30.57 | 76.57 | index

World happiness ranking (147 countries) | 83 | 112 | 105 | 35 | rank

Emigrants born in the country and living abroad | 1,780,399 | 3,627,829 | 715,249 | 2,547,158 | people

Share of the population that has emigrated | 3.8 | 9.4 | 5.8 | 3.7 | %

Remittances received from the diaspora | 1.80 | 13.66 | 3.26 | 40.40 | Md$

!Share of remittances in GDP | 0.67 | 7.49 | 6.34 | 1.20 | %

Source: World Bank and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (price level index, ICP 2025, United States base = 100); UN SDSN, Gallup and Oxford, World Happiness Report 2026 (147 countries, 2023-2025 window); UN DESA for emigrant stocks (2024) and World Bank for remittances (2025 for Morocco and France, 2024 for Algeria and Tunisia).[[/CHART]]

Living in Algeria costs 23% less than in Morocco (index 32.56 against 42.05) — and two and a half times less than in France.

Algeria is the happiest country in the Maghreb: 83rd out of 147. Morocco is 112th, Tunisia 105th.

And a figure that should give pause for thought: 9.4% of Morocco's population lives abroad, against 3.8% of Algeria's. Morocco draws 13.66 billion dollars in remittances — 7.49% of its GDP — against 1.80 billion for Algeria (0.67%). That is a dependence eleven times greater.

11. Unemployment and inflation — unfiltered

[[CHART]]

Unemployment and inflation — the raw figures, without adjustment

# | Algeria | Morocco | Tunisia | France

!Youth unemployment (15-24, 2025) | 29.44 | 21.88 | 38.08 | 18.89 | %

Total unemployment (2025) | 11.63 | 9.00 | 15.11 | 7.54 | %

Inflation (2025) | 1.42 | 0.70 | 5.15 | 0.94 | %

GDP growth (2025) | 3.82 | 4.60 | 2.49 | 0.84 | %

Source: World Bank, WDI (SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS, SL.UEM.1524.ZS, FP.CPI.TOTL.ZG, NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG), 2025. Caveat: the Moroccan unemployment rate changed method in 2026 — the HCP replaced its survey and adopted “strict unemployment”, taking the figure from 13.3% to 9.5% with no corresponding job creation.[[/CHART]]

Let us be direct: on youth unemployment, Algeria is behind Morocco (29.44% against 21.88%). On inflation, it is ahead (1.42% against 0.70%).

But two caveats, and they are heavy.

The first, we have seen it: Algeria pays an allowance to 1.9 million of its unemployed. Morocco to 27,000. An identical unemployment rate does not mean the same thing in the two countries.

The second: the Moroccan figure changed method in 2026. The HCP replaced its national employment survey and adopted “strict unemployment”. The rate went from 13.3% to 9.5% — by redefinition, not by job creation.

12. The land, what is planted on it, what comes out of it

[[CHART]]

The land and what is drawn from it

# | Algeria | Morocco | Tunisia | France

Total area | 2,381,740 | 446,300 | 155,360 | 538,950 | km²

Arable land | 75,310 | 68,741 | 28,313 | 168,992 | km²

!Share of the territory in agricultural land | 17.36 | 66.74 | 62.44 | 52.50 | %

!Cereal production (2024) | 4.12 | 3.21 | 1.50 | 53.55 | M tonnes

Electricity generation (2024) | 96.36 | 42.40 | 21.37 | 561.78 | TWh

Steel production (2025) | 5.5 | 1.5 | — | — | M tonnes

Source: World Bank (AG.LND.TOTL.K2, AG.LND.ARBL.HA, AG.LND.AGRI.ZS, AG.PRD.CREL.MT, EG.ELC.PROD.KH) for land, cereals and electricity; World Steel Association, World Steel in Figures 2026, for steel (ranking limited to the world's top 50 producers out of 70 reporting countries — Tunisia and France do not appear in the published table).[[/CHART]]

Two facts that surprise.

Algeria has more arable land than Morocco: 75,310 km² against 68,741. And it produces more cereals: 4.12 million tonnes against 3.21.

But it uses only 17% of its territory for agriculture, against 67% for Morocco. That is the Sahara — 2.38 million km², the vast majority of it desert. Morocco has a better-distributed agricultural potential; Algeria has a larger gross area but concentrated on a coastal fringe.

And a figure by the way: Algeria produces 5.5 million tonnes of steel, against 1.5 for Morocco. It has overtaken its neighbour.

On agricultural trade, a surprise nobody picks up:

[[CHART]]

Agricultural trade — who sells, who buys

# | Algeria | Morocco | Tunisia | France

!Agricultural trade balance | -11.3 | -3.66 | — | +1.96 | Md$

Fisheries balance | — | +2.79 | — | — | Md$

!Morocco's agricultural balance, fisheries included | — | -1.70 | — | — | Md$

Source: FAOSTAT, crop and livestock trade balances, 2024. For France, the gross agricultural balance is +10.58 Md$: imports of fishery products destroy 81% of it, bringing it down to +1.96 Md$. For Algeria, the agricultural deficit of 11.3 Md$ represents about three times its total trade surplus, all products combined.[[/CHART]]

Morocco, presented everywhere as the great agricultural power of the Maghreb, is a net importer of agricultural products: −3.66 billion dollars. And it remains so even adding its fisheries surplus (+2.79 billion): −1.70 billion.

France, Europe's leading agricultural power, sees its fish imports destroy 81% of its gross agricultural surplus. From 10.58 billion, it falls to 1.96.

And Algeria's agricultural deficit — 11.3 billion dollars — represents about three times the country's total trade surplus, all goods combined. That is the true face of food dependence.

13. Fruit, vegetables, livestock — the world rankings

Algeria is a major agricultural country in specific products. Here are the ranks, with the number of countries ranked — because a rank without its total means nothing.

| Algeria's world rankings | Algeria | Producers ranked | Production |

|---|---|---|---|

| Dates | 3 | 37 | 1,337,301 t |

| Figs | 3 | 50 | — |

| Watermelons | 5 | 125 | — |

| Olives | 8 | — | — |

| Onions | 12 | — | — |

| Tomatoes | 15 | — | — |

| Sheep flock (head) | 12 | — | 32.35 M head |

| Sheep and goat meat | 10 | 187 | 403,045 t |

Source: FAOSTAT (food balances and production), 2024. Ranks must always be read with their denominator: the dates ranking covers 37 reporting countries, the watermelon ranking 125. A rank of 3rd out of 37 countries is not worth the same as a rank of 3rd out of 200.

Algeria's sheep flock — 32.35 million head — is larger than those of Morocco and Tunisia COMBINED.

And the country produces more milk than Morocco (3.30 million tonnes against 1.94) — with a smaller cattle herd.

On olives, Morocco (1,079,874 t) and Tunisia (1,056,228 t) are practically level in 6th and 7th place worldwide.

14. What each country exports — and its dependence

[[CHART]]

Export dependence

# | Algeria | Morocco | France

Share of the top product in exports | 92.2 | 14.9 | —

!Share of hydrocarbons in Algerian exports | 92.2 | — | %

Non-hydrocarbon exports (Algeria) | 3.84 | — | Md$

Car exports (Morocco, 2024) | — | 559,645 | vehicles

Vehicles produced by the Fiat plant in Oran | 53,000 | — | vehicles (2025)

Manufacturing value added | 25.46 | 24.52 | — | Md$

!Share of manufacturing in GDP | 9.45 | 15.27 | %

Source: Bank of Algeria (annual report 2024) for the structure of Algerian exports; Moroccan Exchange Office for Morocco; World Bank (NV.IND.MANF.CD and NV.IND.MANF.ZS) for manufacturing value added, 2024; OICA via the Spanish press and Hespress for Moroccan car production; Fiat for the Oran plant.[[/CHART]]

There is the real imbalance, and it is not where one expects it.

Algeria draws 92.2% of its exports from hydrocarbons. Its non-hydrocarbon exports weigh only 3.84 billion dollars — and they have fallen by 24%. That is the country's structural fragility, and it is more serious than any ranking.

Morocco is the most diversified of the four. Its top export product — passenger cars — weighs only 14.9%. It has gone from 40,000 vehicles produced in 2010 to 559,645 in 2024, which places it 23rd producer worldwide — the OICA naming 34 countries and grouping all the others in an “others” category. We give the denominator, because a rank without it means nothing.

But beware of a figure in circulation: Algerian and Moroccan manufacturing value added are virtually identical in dollars — 25.46 against 24.52 billion. The difference is the weight in the economy: 15.27% of GDP in Morocco against 9.45% in Algeria.

⚠️ And a trap many commentators fall into: one often reads that “industry accounts for 36% of Algerian GDP”. That is true — but it is oil and gas, not factories. Algeria has the highest industrial share of the four and the lowest manufacturing share. Those are two different things.

And here is the harshest measure of that gap, published by UNIDO:

[[CHART]]

Competitive industrial performance index (UNIDO, 2024)

# | Rank | Score | Countries ranked

!Algeria | 93 | — | out of 152

Morocco | 45 | — | out of 152

Tunisia | 70 | — | out of 152

France | 12 | — | out of 152

Source: United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Competitive Industrial Performance (CIP) index, 2024 edition; ranking established over 152 countries compiled by us. Caveat: UNIDO's Yearbook 2025 gives, for 2023 data, slightly different ranks (Algeria 88 or 95 depending on the series, Morocco 57 or 58) — the vintages are not homogeneous and we say so.[[/CHART]]

Algeria is 93rd out of 152. Morocco, 45th. A gap of forty-eight places — and a score about four times lower.

That is the harshest finding of this entire comparison for Algeria, and it is all the more striking because it contradicts appearances: the share of “industry” in Algerian GDP is higher than Morocco's. But it is made of wells, not factories.

15. Insulin — and here, Algeria does something no one else in Africa does

It has to be said plainly, because it is verifiable and because it is rare: Algeria manufactures insulin. Not packaging — full production.

And it exports it.

| Insulin: where each country stands | Algeria | Morocco | France |

|---|---|---|---|

| Local insulin production | yes, in “full process” | yes (Sothema) | packaging (Novo Nordisk, Chartres) |

| Annual pen capacity | 60,000,000 pens/year | — | — |

| Industrial investment | 13 Md DA | — | — |

| Coverage of national pharmaceutical needs | 83 % | — | — |

| Number of pharmaceutical production units | 233 plants | — | — |

| Share of the African continent's medicine plants | one third | — | — |

| Insulin exports | yes, to Tunisia (May 2026) | — | — |

Source: Esseha (4 March 2026) for Biocare Biotech's production, its capacity and its investment; National Agency for Pharmaceutical Products (ANPP), Dr Khadija Bouguerra, Radio nationale, for the coverage rate, the number of units and the continental share; Esseha (22 May 2026) for the export agreement with Tunisia. ⚠️ Caveat: the same source announces a capacity of 60 million pens then “more than 120 million” in the same article — we keep the more cautious figure.

Two producers, two models.

Biocare Biotech, a subsidiary of the Biocare group, produces Glarus plus® 300 U/ML — an insulin manufactured entirely on Algerian soil. Capacity: 60 million pens a year. Investment: 13 billion dinars. Strategic stock: three months of finished products and raw materials. The company announces a reduction of 23 million euros in the import bill.

Saidal, the public group, is moving ahead on its own side with Novo Nordisk. On 29 December 2025, the two launched on the Algerian market the latest-generation Tresiba pens. And Saidal's statement is explicit: “the full process production process has already been engaged at the Constantine site”.

At the launch ceremony, at Novo Nordisk's headquarters in Boufarik (Blida), were present Nabila Benygzer, CEO of the Saidal group, and Hamza Benharkat, general manager of Novo Nordisk Algeria.

And on 20 May 2026, in Algiers, the Biocare group signed a protocol with DORCAS Laboratoires, of Tunisia.

Purpose: technology transfer and the export of insulins produced in Algeria.

A Maghreb country exporting insulin to another Maghreb country, in 2026. That is a fact, and it deserves to be said.

The rest of the pharmaceutical picture, according to the ANPP:

233 production units, more than 780 lines, one third of the medicine plants of the entire African continent, and 100 new projects under construction. Of the 200 anti-cancer medicines in the national nomenclature, 54 are already manufactured in Algeria. The country covers 83% of its pharmaceutical needs.

The ANPP states that Algeria is “the only country in Africa and the Arab world to produce insulin pens 100% locally”. The country is also aiming for maturity level 3 of the World Health Organization.

What the other three do, for context:

Morocco has a genuine manufacturer, Sothema, protected until 1 October 2025 by anti-dumping duties of 13.89% on Danish insulin — protection that has expired after Sothema withdrew its own request.

France does not manufacture the molecule: Sanofi produces its own in Frankfurt, including its new 1.3-billion-euro plant. The Novo Nordisk plant in Chartres, however, does manufacture insulin cartridges and vials, and assembles pens. The molecule is Danish; the format is French.

And Tunisia therefore now imports Algerian insulin.

One last precision, to be exact: Algeria was long dependent. Production had been interrupted in 2013, relaunched in March 2023 in Constantine, before the arrival of Biocare and the agreement with Novo Nordisk. What is happening today is the result of a reconstruction, not of an inheritance.

The ranking: where is life best?

We have built a ranking from six verifiable indicators: human development, income per inhabitant at purchasing power parity, happiness, the rule of law, life expectancy and price level. Each indicator is converted into a percentile rank within its region, then weighted.

This ranking is our construction, not an official index. We say so plainly — and we flag its limitation: the HDI already contains life expectancy and income, which partly double-counts their weight.

[[CHART]]

The ranking — Africa (top 15 of 41 rankable countries)

# | Rank | Score | Population

!Mauritius | 1 | — | —

!Algeria | 2 | — | —

Tunisia | 3 | — | —

South Africa | 4 | — | —

Morocco | 5 | — | —

Namibia | 6 | — | —

Gabon | 7 | — | —

Botswana | 8 | — | —

Libya | 9 | — | —

Egypt | 10 | — | —

Ghana | 11 | — | —

Senegal | 12 | — | —

Kenya | 13 | — | —

Côte d'Ivoire | 14 | — | —

Mauritania | 15 | — | —

Source: ranking built by Algeria Vanguard from the Human Development Report 2025 (UNDP), the World Bank, the World Happiness Report 2026 and the World Justice Project 2025. Each indicator is converted into a regional percentile rank, weighted: HDI 25%, income per inhabitant at PPP 20%, happiness 20%, rule of law 20%, life expectancy 15%. Important limitation: only 41 of the 54 African states are rankable, the World Happiness Report covering only 147 countries and omitting thirteen of them in Africa.[[/CHART]]

Algeria is second in Africa. Tunisia third. Morocco fifth. The first is Mauritius.

[[CHART]]

The ranking — Europe (top 15 of 39 rankable countries)

# | Rank | Score | Population

!Norway | 1 | — | —

Switzerland | 2 | — | —

Iceland | 3 | — | —

Denmark | 4 | — | —

Sweden | 5 | — | —

Netherlands | 6 | — | —

Finland | 7 | — | —

Ireland | 8 | — | —

Luxembourg | 9 | — | —

Germany | 10 | — | —

Belgium | 11 | — | —

Austria | 12 | — | —

United Kingdom | 13 | — | —

!France | 14 | — | —

Malta | 15 | — | —

Source: same method. France is 13th or 14th depending on the weighting used — solidly inside the top fifteen, never inside the top ten.[[/CHART]]

And here is where the four countries of this comparison actually stand, in world rankings:

[[CHART]]

The four countries in the world — the rankings that matter

# | Algeria | Morocco | Tunisia | France

Human development (193 countries) | 96 | 120 | 105 | 26

GDP per inhabitant at PPP (232 countries) | 125 | 158 | 138 | 34

!Happiness (147 countries) | 83 | 112 | 105 | 35

Corruption perceptions (182 countries) | 109 | 91 | 91 | 27

Press freedom (180 countries) | 145 | 105 | 137 | 25

Peace (163 countries) | 91 | 65 | 77 | 99

!Rule of law (143 countries) | 88 | 91 | 85 | 22

Innovation (139 countries) | 111 | 54 | 71 | 13

Prosperity (Legatum, 161 countries) | 83 | 76 | 75 | 21

Source: UNDP (HDR 2025), World Bank, UN SDSN (WHR 2026), Transparency International (CPI 2025, published on 10 February 2026), Reporters Without Borders (RSF 2026), Institute for Economics and Peace (GPI 2026), World Justice Project (2025), WIPO (GII 2026, published on 29 September 2026), Legatum Institute (2026). Morocco and Tunisia are in an exact tie in the corruption ranking, with a score of 39 out of 100: presenting them in an order would be inventing a hierarchy the data does not support.[[/CHART]]

This table has to be read without cheating.

Algeria is ahead of Morocco on human development, happiness, peace and the rule of law. It is behind on corruption, press freedom and innovation. On innovation, it is 111th out of 139 — and that, together with the share of renewables in its electricity, is the worst figure of this entire comparison.

So, where is life best?

There is no single answer. There are four, and they do not point to the same country.

For getting care, Algeria and Morocco spend the same amount per inhabitant (233 and 232 dollars), but Algeria has twice as many doctors, almost three times as many nurses and 38,000 more hospital beds. On the other hand, infant mortality there is the worst of the four. For a birth and for the survival of a newborn, Tunisia and France are clearly ahead.

For raising one's children, Algeria spends 1.58 times more than Morocco — 301 dollars per inhabitant against 233. The results partly follow: 7.42 years of schooling against 6.20.

For a young person looking for work, the answer is harsher. Algeria has the lowest female activity rate of the four countries studied — 14.14%, against 19.70% in Morocco, 26.50% in Tunisia and 51.48% in France — and 29.44% youth unemployment. But it is the only one of the four countries to pay an allowance to a young person who has never worked. Morocco grants it only to those who have lost a job after contributing.

For feeding itself, Algeria has more arable land than Morocco and produces more cereals, more milk, and has a sheep flock larger than those of Morocco and Tunisia put together. It is the world's 3rd producer of dates and figs, and it produces its insulin in full process — to the point of exporting it to Tunisia since May 2026. But it exploits only 17% of its territory: the rest is desert.

And the real subject is in none of these columns. Algeria draws 92.2% of its exports from oil and gas, and its non-hydrocarbon exports are falling by 24%. Morocco, by contrast, has diversified: its top export weighs only 14.9%. That is Algeria's fragility, and no foreign exchange reserve settles it.

For living on little, Algeria is the cheapest country of the four and the least unequal of the four on the latest known figure (Gini 27.6 in 2011, against 39.5 in Morocco).

And for feeling safe, Algeria has the lowest homicide rate and a suicide rate half that of Morocco, five times lower than France's.

But if the question is taken seriously — where does one objectively live best, across all the indicators — the answer is France, and it is not debatable. 26th out of 193 for human development. 5,318 dollars of health spending per inhabitant against 233. A life expectancy of 83 years against 76. A rule of law ranked 22nd in the world.

And just behind, in Africa, comes Algeria — second on the continent, ahead of Tunisia and Morocco. A country that spends less per inhabitant than France on health, but owns 76 billion dollars net where the other three are in debt, that pays an allowance to 1.9 million unemployed people, and whose inhabitants declare themselves happier than Moroccans and Tunisians.

A very imperfect country, with gaping holes: women's participation in the labour market, press freedom, the energy transition, corruption. But a solvent, fed, cared-for, secure country — one that, on the numbers, holds its own in the comparison.

All it took was doing the multiplications.

One last thing, which is not a figure

In Algeria, a young person who has never worked receives 139 dollars a month from the state.

In Morocco, he receives nothing — unless he has already held a job and contributed.

In Tunisia, the scheme does not yet exist.

It is a difference no unemployment rate will ever show.

⚠️ What we refuse to publish, and why

This article contains no figure we have not verified at source. Here is the list of what we set aside — and what another outlet would publish without hesitation.