This question was posted on Quora.com and was answered by Ken Kahre, lives in American, I Read a Lot of History In many respects the changes were profound and so life never returned to normal. Some things continue on today. After the Flu, there were an over abundance of widows and orphans. And they were common place for generations. 5% of the world’s population died. That upset the global economy in terms of manufacturing output, the demand for greater workers wages, having an impact on agricultural productivity - there was a general depression shortly after the end of the Great War. General sanitation was tightened: Free lunch in saloons disappeared, spitting in cuspidors and on the sidewalks were outlawed, enforced by fines. Because of manpower shortages, women began moving out of the homes and into jobs in greater numbers than before, demanding greater economic and political voices. This lead to woman suffrage by 1920. The horrors of the pandemic, drove home many health law reforms, putting in place among other things, the first mandatory vaccination laws. Public Health Departments gained greater authoritative powers. In later years: long term effects on those who were in utero while their mothers suffered from Spanish Flu - they would in life have a higher risk of heart disease, diabetes, schizophrenia and stroke. They were also be less likely to finish high school, and earn appreciably less wages. In conclusion, the negative effects left the children of the Spanish Flu with a lower success rate for the rest of their lives. This meant a higher medical bills and lower paycheck. There was of course, the Great War that was going on at the same time. While the Spanish Flu killed far more than the war did, it is also safe to say they both helped play one another out. So it is difficult at times to see what one did and where the other left off. Source
