What is the population of Afghanistan?
List of cities in Afghanistan
The only city in Afghanistan with over 1 million population is its capital, Kabul. The rest are smaller cities and towns. According to the CIA, an estimated total number of people living inside Afghanistan was 31,822,848. Of this, around 6 million or so were reported to be living in urban areas and the rest in rural or countryside.
Economy of Afghanistan
Despite holding over $1 trillion in proven untapped mineral deposits, Afghanistan remains one of the least developed countries on the planet. About 35% of its population is unemployed or lives below the poverty line. Many of the unemployed men join the foreign-funded militant groups or the world of crime, particularly as smugglers. The Afghan government has long been pleading for foreign investment in order to grow and stabilize its economy.
Abortion in Afghanistan
Since the Taliban's fall in 2001, fertility levels are decreasing, stemming from the Taliban's belief in not educating girls, child brides, and not providing healthcare for women. The decreased presence of the Taliban has allowed an entrance of aid workers to the country to provide educational funding for schools, family planning, and more access to birth control. The uncontrolled high fertility rates make it difficult for Afghanistan to manage the poverty levels and improve other social conditions which leaves a high dependence on aid from other countries. High fertility rates cause high birthrates, which contribute to the high fetal mortality rate. Afghanistan has the highest fetal mortality rate in the world, with 110.6 deaths per 1000 births. Mothers are also 19.9 years old on average at her first birth. As access to education across Afghanistan is increasing due to the fall of the Taliban, the fetal mortality rate is also decreasing. In rural areas the mortality rate still remains high, but aid workers are being sent to many regions of the country after receiving training on deliveries and care for newborns.
Environmental issues in Afghanistan
Environmental issues in Afghanistan predate the political turmoil of the past few decades. Forests and wetlands have been depleted by centuries of grazing and farming, practices which have only increased with modern population growth. In Afghanistan, environmental conservation and economic concerns are not at odds; with 80% of the population dependent on herding or farming, the welfare of the environment is critical to the economic welfare of the people. In 2007, the World Health Organization released a report ranking Afghanistan as the lowest among non-African nations in deaths from environmental hazards.
Ethnic violence in Afghanistan
There are about a dozen ethnic groups in Afghanistan, they include: Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras, Uzbeks, and others who make up less than 2% each. The most recent figures on the ethnic affiliations comes from a survey conducted by the Asia Foundation in 2014. According to the representative survey, 40% of the people identified themselves as Pashtun, 36% as Tajik, 10% as Hazara, 8% as Uzbek, 2% as Turkmen, 1% as Baloch, 1% as Nuristani, 1% as Aimaq, 1% as Arab, 1% as Pashaye, 1% as Sadat, 0.5% as Qizilbash, and 0.5% as Safi.
History of Afghanistan (1978–92)
The civil war in Afghanistan was guerrilla warfare and a war of attrition between government and the mujahedin; it cost both sides a great deal. Many Afghans, perhaps as many as five million, or one-quarter of the country's population, fled to Pakistan and Iran where they organized into guerrilla groups to strike Soviet and government forces inside Afghanistan. Others remained in Afghanistan and also formed fighting groups; perhaps most notable was one led by Ahmed Shah Massoud in the northeastern part of Afghanistan. These various groups were supplied with funds to purchase arms, principally from the United States, Saudi Arabia, People's Republic of China, and Egypt. Despite high casualties on both sides, pressure continued to mount on the Soviet Union, especially after the United States brought in FIM-92 Stinger anti-aircraft missiles which severely reduced the effectiveness of Soviet air cover.
Afghan morphine
Afghanistan is the world's leading producer of opium (82% of global opium production), cultivating 1,650 square kilometres of poppy and a potential 6,100 metric tons of opium in 2006, according to the UNODC World Drugs Report 2007. Afghanistan is also the source of the large majority of heroin seized in Europe. Since the US-led international intervention in 2001 to depose the Taliban, eradication programmes have been carried out by the Afghan government and their international backers, but since 2003, opium production in Afghanistan has risen sharply: the area cultivated in 2006 is 59% more than that cultivated in 2005. Equally, eradication and displacement has led to poverty among rural populations, as 2.9 million Afghans are involved in poppy cultivation. Eradication policies have, for many, led to a growing hostility among Afghans towards the government and international community who are seen to be destroying livelihoods by pursuing eradication policies.
Prostitution in Afghanistan
The number of prostitutes in Afghanistan is small. A 2007 University of Manitoba report suggests that there may be about 900 female prostitutes in Kabul, which is a city with a population of over 3 million. UNAIDS estimated there were 12,500 prostitutes in the country in 2016. About two to three prostitution arrests were made between 2007 and 2008 each week in Afghanistan, according to the Afghan Interior Ministry's department of sexual crimes.
Ethnic groups in Afghanistan
The Pashtuns (ethnic Afghans) make up the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan, comprising between 38% and 42% of the country's population. Their main territory, sometimes called Pashtunistan, is between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in neighboring Pakistan, where they are the second largest ethnic group. After the rise of the Hotaki dynasty in 1709 and the Durrani Empire in 1747, Pashtuns expanded by forming communities north of the Hindu Kush and elsewhere in Afghanistan.
There are conflicting theories about the origin of the Pashtun people, both among historians and the Pashtun themselves. A variety of ancient groups with eponyms similar to "Pukhtun" have been hypothesized as possible ancestors of modern Pashtuns. The Greek historian Herodotus mentioned a people called "Pactyans", living in the Achaemenid's Arachosia Satrap as early as the 1st millennium BC. Since the 3rd century AD and onward they are mostly referred to by the ethnonym ""Afghan"", a name believed to be given to them by neighboring Persian people. Some believe that ethnic "Afghan" is an adaptation of the Prakrit ethnonym "Avagana", attested in the 6th century CE. It was used to refer to a common legendary ancestor known as ""Afghana"", propagated to be grandson of King Saul of Israel.
Surobi District (Kabul)
The Afghan Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) along with UNHCR and Central Statistics Office (CSO) of Afghanistan estimates the population of the district to be around 44,871. According to AIMS and UNHCR, Pashtuns make up over 90% of the total population, while ethnic Pashais make up the remaining 10% of the population.
Demographics of Afghanistan
It is assumed that roughly 600,000 to as high as 2 million Afghans may have been killed during the various 1979–2001 wars. These figures are highly questionable and no attempt has ever been made to verify them. The country's population is expected to reach 82 million by 2050.
Farah, Afghanistan
The city of Farah has a population of about 108,400.
However the recent statistics (2015) showed the city population of about 54,000.
Pashtuns form the overwhelming majority of the city, comprising ca. 70 to 80%. The Tajiks at 15% and the remaining Balochis. More than 80% of the province consists of ethnic Pashtuns (excluding Kuchi nomades) followed by Tajiks as second largest group residing mainly in Farah city and Baluchis as third group. The primary Pashtun tribes in Farah province are the Eshaqzai, Alizai, Barakzai, and Nurzai. However, the Kuchi nomads, a Pashtun group, make a sizeable population in winter.
Ethnic groups in Afghanistan
The Hazara is the third largest ethnic group in Afghanistan. They are Persian-speaking and reside mainly in the Hazarajat region in central Afghanistan. The Hazaras seem to have partial Turco-Mongol origins with admixture from surrounding indigenous, Iranian-speaking groups. Linguistically the Hazara speak a dialect of Persian, known as Hazaragi, and sometimes their variant is interspersed with Turkic and Mongolic words. It is commonly believed that the Hazara are descendants of Genghis Khan's army, which invaded Afghanistan during the 12th century. Proponents of this view hold that many of the Mongol soldiers and their family members settled in the area and remained there after the Mongol empire dissolved in the 13th century, converting to Islam and adopting local customs. Most of the Hazaras practice Shia Islam, while most of the other Afghans are Sunni. They are between 6 to 7 million. 
Some notable Hazaras of Afghanistan include: Abdul Ali Mazari, Ismael Balkhi, Karim Khalili, Sultan Ali Keshtmand, Habiba Sarābi, Sarwar Danish, Ustad Muhammad Akbari, Sima Samar, Ramazan Bashardost, Abdul Haq Shafaq, Sayed Anwar Rahmati, Qurban Ali Urozgani, Azra Jafari, Ahmad Shah Ramazan, Muhammad Mohaqiq, Ahmad Behzad, Nasrullah Sadiqi Zada Nili, Rohullah Nikpai, Hamid Rahimi, Fariba Rezayee, Wakil Hussain Allahdad and Dawood Sarkhosh.
Women's rights in Afghanistan
Because Afghanistan has a struggling economy overwhelmed with massive unemployment and poverty, women often cannot find work where they receive sufficient pay. One area of the economy where women do play a significant role is in agriculture. Of the 80 percent of Afghans employed in the agriculture field or similar occupations, 30 percent of them are women. In some areas in Afghanistan, women may spend as much time working on the land as men do, but still often earn three times less than men in wages. According to World Bank, in 2014, women made up 16.1% of the labor force in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan (; Pashto/Dari: , Pashto: "Afġānistān" , Dari: "Afġānestān" ), officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in South and Central Asia. Afghanistan is bordered by Pakistan in the south and east; Iran in the west; Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in the north; and in the far northeast, China. Its territory covers and much of it is covered by the Hindu Kush mountain range, which experience very cold winters. The north consists of fertile plains, whilst the south-west consists of deserts where temperatures can get very hot in summers. Kabul serves as the capital and its largest city.
1993 in Afghanistan
Afghanistan remains a battleground, with rival factions fighting for power and pounding the capital with rockets. An estimated 10,000 people are killed, 750,000 are displaced, and many neighbourhoods in Kabul are devastated. Although the fighting lessens somewhat in the latter half of 1993, it is still unclear if the nation ultimately will be governable. Meanwhile, Najibullah, who received a promise of safe passage from the UN when it negotiated his abdication, remains in the UN office in Kabul, suffering from a kidney ailment. The UN has been unable to secure his freedom. Continuing hostilities also delay the homecoming of an estimated 3.8 million refugees in Iran and Pakistan, the largest refugee population in the world. The UN believes it will take until the end of 1995 for the 1.5 million Afghans remaining in Pakistan to return home. Afghanistan is the world's largest opium grower, according to the UN, having produced an estimated 2,000 tons in 1992. This is a concern not only for the West, where the production fuels the illegal heroin trade, but also at home, where it is estimated that 15% of all adult Afghan males age 15-40 are addicted to hard drugs.After Hekmatyar's forces captured Defense Minister Masood's ministry building in Kabul, which they were shelling for a year, a peace accord is signed. Hekmatyar is designated prime minister and a cease-fire is to be imposed.
Bahá'í Faith in Afghanistan
Estimates of the population of Bahá'ís have varied widely - the World Christian Encyclopedia records about 19,500 Afghan Bahá'ís in 1990 and 23,075 in 2000. However the Association of Religion Data Archives estimated some 15,300 Bahá'ís were again present in Afghanistan in 2005 Most recently a 2007 report from the US State Department indicated that there are only 400 Bahá'ís in Afghanistan, mostly concentrated in Kabul. According to the US State Department, in 2007 the General Directorate of Fatwas and Accounts under the Supreme Court issued a ruling on the status of the Bahá'í Faith, declaring it to be distinct from Islam and a form of blasphemy, affirmed that all Muslims who convert to the religion were apostates from Islam, declared all followers of the religion to be infidels and hazards the status of marriages of Bahá'ís. Although the Supreme Court ruling would impact Afghan Bahai'is, it would be unlikely to affect foreign-national Bahai'is. In 2008, 50 people from Afghanistan traveled to India for a regional conference held in New Delhi called for by the Universal House of Justice.
Afghan National Army
Despite the strong Taliban insurgency and the many other problems that Afghanistan faces, the ANA has been steadily expanding over the years. By early 2013, reports stated that there were 200,000 ANA troops. They are being trained by the International Security Assistance Force under NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan. An increasing number of female soldiers are also joining the ANA. Under the U.S.–Afghanistan Strategic Partnership Agreement, the United States designated Afghanistan as a major non-NATO ally and agreed to fund the ANA until at least 2024. This includes soldiers' salaries, providing training and weapons, and all other military costs.
Afghanistan
The PDPA prohibited usury, declared equality of the sexes, and introduced women to political life. During this war from 1979 until 1989, Soviet forces, their Afghan proxies and rebels killed between 562,000 and 2 million Afghans, and displaced about 6 million people who subsequently fled Afghanistan, mainly to Pakistan and Iran. Many countryside villages were bombed and some cities such as Herat and Kandahar were also damaged from air bombardment. Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province functioned as an organisational and networking base for the anti-Soviet Afghan resistance, with the province's influential Deobandi ulama playing a major supporting role in promoting the 'jihad'. Meanwhile, the central Afghan region of Hazarajat, which in this period was free of Soviet or PDPA government presence, experienced an internal civil war from 1980 to 1984. Faced with mounting international pressure and numerous casualties, the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989, but continued to support Afghan President Mohammad Najibullah until 1992.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan is a unitary presidential Islamic republic with a population of 31 million, mostly composed of ethnic Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras and Uzbeks. It is a member of the United Nations, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the Group of 77, the Economic Cooperation Organization, and the Non-Aligned Movement. Afghanistan's economy is the world's 108th largest, with a GDP of $64.08 billion; the country fares much worse in terms of per-capita GDP (PPP), ranking 167th out of 186 countries in a 2016 report from the International Monetary Fund.
Women's rights in Afghanistan
Afghanistan's population is roughly 34 million. Of this, 15 million are males and 14.2 million are females. About 22% of the Afghan people are urbanite and the remaining 78% live in rural areas. As part of local tradition, most females are married soon after completing high school. They live as housewives for the remainder of their life.
Janikhel District (Paktika)
Like in the rest of Afghanistan, no exact population numbers are available. The Afghan Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation & Development (MRRD) along with UNHCR and Central Statistics Office (CSO) of Afghanistan estimated the population of the district to be around 40,340 (CSO 2004). According to the same sources, Pashtuns make up 100% of the total population.
Economy of Afghanistan
The economy of Afghanistan has had significant improvement in the last decade due to the infusion of billions of dollars in international assistance and remittances from Afghan expatriates. The assistance that came from expatriates and outside investors saw this increase when there was more political reliability after the fall of the Taliban regime. The nation's GDP stands at about $64.08 billion with an exchange rate of $18.4 billion (2014), and the GDP per capita is about $2,000. It imports over $6 billion worth of goods but exports only $658 million, mainly gold, opium, fruits and nuts.
Afghan diaspora
Since March 2002, most Afghan refugees have been repatriated to Afghanistan with UNHCR's assistance. Around 1.3 million still remain in Pakistan, while 2.5 million are in Iran. Several countries that were part of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) have granted permanent residency to smaller number of Afghans that worked with their respective forces. Afghan natives now reside in at least 78 countries around the world.
Day Mirdad District
Like in the rest of Afghanistan, no exact population numbers are available. The Afghan Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation & Development (MRRD) along with UNHCR and Central Statistics Office (CSO) of Afghanistan estimates the population of the district to be around 28,865. According to AIMS and UNHCR, Hazaras make up the majority of the population 90% and the rest 10% others.
Abdul Malik Mujahid
Why Do Afghans Have a Life Expectancy of Only 44 Years?
Education in Afghanistan
Education in Afghanistan includes K–12 and higher education, which is greatly supervised by the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Higher Education in Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghanistan is going through a nationwide rebuilding process and, despite setbacks, institutions are established across the country. By 2013 there were 10.5 million students attending schools in Afghanistan, a country with a population of around 27.5 million people.
War in Afghanistan (1978–present)
In 2001 alone, according to several international sources, 28,000–30,000 Pakistani nationals, 14,000–15,000 Afghan Taliban and 2,000–3,000 Al Qaeda militants were fighting against anti-Taliban forces in Afghanistan as a roughly 45,000-strong military force. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf – then as Chief of Army Staff – was responsible for sending thousands of Pakistanis to fight alongside the Taliban and Bin Laden against the forces of Ahmad Shah Massoud. Of the estimated 28,000 Pakistani nationals fighting in Afghanistan, 8,000 were militants recruited in madrassas filling regular Taliban ranks. A 1998 document by the U.S. State Department confirms that "20–40 percent of [regular] Taliban soldiers are Pakistani." The document further states that the parents of those Pakistani nationals "know nothing regarding their child's military involvement with the Taliban until their bodies are brought back to Pakistan." According to the U.S. State Department report and reports by Human Rights Watch, the other Pakistani nationals fighting in Afghanistan were regular Pakistani soldiers especially from the Frontier Corps but also from the Pakistani Army providing direct combat support.
Bagrami District
The Afghan Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation & Development (MRRD), along with the UNHCR and Central Statistics Office (CSO) of Afghanistan, estimates the population of the district to be around 68,287. According to AIMS and UNHCR, Pashtuns make up the majority of the population, followed by ethnic Tajiks.
Internet in Afghanistan
Due to low literacy rate and high internet fees, about 10% of the 26 million population has internet access. Services such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and others are limited to the upper-middle-class youth in the major urban areas. Facebook currently has around 289,000 users in Afghanistan, a large part of which are foreign military personnel-related staff.
War in Afghanistan (1978–present)
The Soviet war had a damaging impact on Afghanistan. Soviet forces and their proxies committed a genocide against the Afghan people and killed up to 2 million Afghans. 5–10 million Afghans fled to Pakistan and Iran, which was 1/3 of the prewar population of the country, and another 2 million were displaced within the country. Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province functioned as an organisational and networking base for the anti-Soviet Afghan resistance, with the province's influential Deobandi ulama playing a major supporting role in promoting the 'jihad'.
Civilian casualties in the war in Afghanistan (2001–present)
According to the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), 2,777 Afghan civilians were killed in the war in 2010, a jump of 15% over the civilian toll in 2009. Of these, UNAMA/AIHRC attributed 2,080 civilian deaths to insurgents and anti-government elements, representing 74.9% of the 2,777 Afghan civilian deaths they recorded in the war in 2010, and up 28% from 2009. 1,141 or 55% of these deaths were caused by suicide attacks and improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
Ethnic groups in Afghanistan
The recent estimate in the above chart is supported by the below recent national opinion polls, which were aimed at knowing how a group of about 804 to 13,943 local residents in Afghanistan felt about the current war, political situation, as well as the economic and social issues affecting their daily lives. Ten surveys were conducted between 2004 and 2018 by the Asia Foundation (a sample is shown in the table below; the survey in 2015 did not contain information on the ethnicity of the participants) and one between 2004 and 2009 by a combined effort of the broadcasting companies NBC News, BBC, and ARD.
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
As of 2013, 8.2 million Afghans attended school, including 3.2 million girls, up from 1.2 million in 2001, including fewer than 50,000 girls.
Health in Afghanistan
Tuberculosis is a serious public health problem in Afghanistan. In 2007, 8,200 people in the country died from tuberculosis and, in the WHO's Global Tuberculosis Control Report 2009, an annual estimated figure of 46,000 new cases of tuberculosis were in Afghanistan. As such, Afghanistan is ranked 22nd in amongst highly affected Tuberculosis countries.
Afghans in Germany
German Afghans are German citizens and non-citizen residents born in, or with ancestors from, Afghanistan and the largest Afghan community in Europe and part of the Afghan diaspora. In 2015, the Federal Statistical Office of Germany estimated the number of people of Afghan descent residing in Germany at 156,000. In particular, there are 35,805 Afghans in Hamburg. Offenbach am Main and Hamburg had the highest shares of Afghan migrants among all German districts in 2011.
Afghanistan
One of the main drivers for the current economic recovery is the return of over 5 million expatriates, who brought with them fresh energy, entrepreneurship and wealth-creating skills as well as much needed funds to start up businesses. Many Afghans are now involved in construction, which is one of the largest industries in the country. Some of the major national construction projects include the New Kabul City next to the capital, the Aino Mena project in Kandahar, and the Ghazi Amanullah Khan Town near Jalalabad. Similar development projects have also begun in Herat, Mazar-e-Sharif, and other cities. An estimated 400,000 people enter the labor market each year.
Human rights in Afghanistan
Several elections have been held in Afghanistan since 2001. The most recent election was held 18 September 2010, for the National Assembly with a reported 2,499 candidates competing for 250 seats. During the elections the Taliban attacked many of those involved, killing 11 civilians and 3 Afghan National Policemen in over 300 attacks on the polls. The low death toll at the hands of the Taliban can be attributed to stepped up operations specifically targeting the leaders of insurgents planning attacks in the days leading up to the elections. which captured hundreds of insurgents and explosives. Turnout at election was 40%.
Afghan Youth Parliament
Formed in July 2016, the parliament has around 122 members, who are elected from the 34 provinces of Afghanistan. The membership is 33 percent female, 3 percent nomads, three percent disabled people, and 1 percent each Hindu and Sikh. The youth parliament has been established in order to further involve the country's young generation in socio-political affairs.
Demographics of Afghanistan
The population of Afghanistan is around 33 million as of 2016, which includes the roughly 3 million Afghan citizens living as refugees in both Pakistan and Iran. The nation is composed of a multi-ethnic and multilingual society, reflecting its location astride historic trade and invasion routes between Central Asia, Southern Asia, and Western Asia. Its largest ethnic group is the Pashtun, followed by Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, Aimak, Turkmen, Baloch and a few others.
Demographics of Afghanistan
Urban areas have experienced rapid population growth in the last decade, which is due to the return of over 5 million expats. The only city in Afghanistan with over a million residents is its capital, Kabul. The other largest cities in the country are shown in the chart below.
Sikhism in Afghanistan
Before the 1990s, the Afghan Sikh population was estimated around 50,000. As of 2013, they are around 800 families of which 300 families live in Kabul. Sikh leaders in Afghanistan claim that the total number of Sikhs is 3,000. Many Sikh families have chosen to emigrate to other countries including, India, North America, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, and other places.
Afghanistan
An estimated 99.7% of the Afghan population is Muslim. There has never been a nationwide census of any kind in Afghanistan, so the proportions of different religious groups are estimates by different organisations.
Health in Afghanistan
Health in Afghanistan is unsatisfactory but slowly improving. The Ministry of Public Health oversees all matters concerning the health of Afghanistan's population. According to the Human Development Index, Afghanistan is the 15th least developed country in the world. Its average life expectancy at birth is reported at around 60 years. The country's maternal mortality rate is 396 deaths/100,000 live births and its infant mortality rate is 66 to 112.8 deaths in every 1,000 live births.
Ethnic groups in Afghanistan
"Aimaq", meaning "tribe" in Turkic-Mongolic ("Oymaq"), is not an ethnic denomination, but differentiates semi-nomadic herders and agricultural tribal groups of various ethnic origins including the Tajik, Hazara and Baluch, that were formed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They live among non-tribal people in the western areas of Badghis, Ghor and Herat provinces. They are Sunni Muslims, speak Aimaq dialect of the Persian close to Dari, and refer to themselves with tribal designations. Population estimates vary widely, from less than 500,000 to around 800,000.
European migrant crisis
Afghan refugees comprise the second-largest refugee population in the world. According to the UNHCR, there are almost 2.5 million registered refugees from Afghanistan. Most of these refugees have fled the region due to war and persecution. The majority have resettled in Pakistan and Iran, but it is becoming increasingly common to migrate further west to the European Union. Afghanistan has faced nearly 40 years of conflict dating back to the Soviet invasion in 1979. Since then, the nation has faced fluctuating levels of civil war amidst unending unrest. The increase in refugee numbers has been credited primarily to the Taliban presence within Afghanistan. Their retreat in 2001, led to nearly 6 million Afghan refugees returning to their homeland. However, after civil unrest and fighting alongside the Taliban's return, nearly 2.5 million refugees have fled Afghanistan. Most Afghan refugees, however, seek refuge in the neighboring nation of Pakistan. Increasing numbers, though, have committed to the strenuous migration to Turkey and the European Union.
List of companies of Afghanistan
Afghanistan is an impoverished least developed country, one of the world's poorest because of decades of war and lack of foreign investment. , the nation's GDP stands at about $60.58 billion with an exchange rate of $20.31 billion, and the GDP per capita is $1,900. The country's exports totaled $2.7 billion in 2012. Its unemployment rate was reported in 2008 at about 35%. According to a 2009 report, about 42% of the population lives on less than $1 a day. The nation has less than $1.5 billion in external debt.
Demographics of Afghanistan
0.04% (2015)
Soviet–Afghan War
5.5 million Afghans were made refugees by the war—a full one third of the country's pre-war population—fleeing the country to Pakistan or Iran.
Multinational state
Afghanistan has no ethnic majority, although the Pashtuns are estimated to account for over 45% of the population. Under the sovereign governance of Pashtun rulers, the term "Afghan" was changed from an ethnonym for Pashtuns to a demonym for any citizen of Afghanistan, regardless of ethnic affiliation. This change was incorporated into the constitution, making it resemble that of a multinational state. However, irredentist disputes over Pakistan's Pashtun lands have continued.
Tsamkani District
Like in the rest of Afghanistan, no exact population numbers are available. The Afghan Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation & Development (MRRD) along with UNHCR and Central Statistics Office (CSO) of Afghanistan estimated the population of the district to be around 58,560 (CSO 2004). According to the same sources, Pashtuns make up 100% of the total population.
Soviet–Afghan War
Civilian death and destruction from the war was considerable.
Estimates of Afghan civilian deaths vary from 562,000 to 2,000,000. 5–10 million Afghans fled to Pakistan and Iran, 1/3 of the prewar population of the country, and another 2 million were displaced within the country. In the 1980s, half of all refugees in the world were Afghan.
Birth rate
Afghanistan has the 11th highest birth rate in the world, and also the highest birth rate of any non-African country (as of 2016). The rapid population growth of Afghanistan is considered a problem by preventing population stabilization, and affecting maternal and infant health. Reasons for large families include tradition, religion, the low status of women and the cultural desire to have several sons.
Ethnic groups in Afghanistan
Afghanistan is a multiethnic and mostly-tribal society. The population of the country is divided into the following ethnolinguistic groups: Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, Aymāq, Turkmen, Baloch, Pashai, Nuristani, Gujjar, Arab, Brahui, Pamiri and a few others. The Afghan National Anthem and the Afghan Constitution mention a total of 14 ethnic groups.
Paghman
Paghman (Pashto/Persian: پغمان) is a town in the hills near Afghanistan's capital of Kabul. It is the seat of the Paghman District (in the western part of Kabul Province) which has a population of about 120,000 (2002 official UNHCR est.), which are made up of mainly both Pashtuns and Tajiks. The gardens of Paghman is a major attraction, and is why the city is sometimes known as the garden capital of Afghanistan.
Pashtun diaspora
The ethnonym "Afghan" has been historically used since the 3rd century AD to refer to the Pashtuns, and is now used to describe every citizen of Afghanistan. Pashtuns make up the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan, comprising 42–60% of the total Afghan population. Approximately 1.7 million Afghan refugees live in neighboring Pakistan. The majority of them are Pashtuns who were born in that country.
LGBT rights in Afghanistan
Afghanistan's population is over 99% Muslim, and the country's Constitution stipulates that Islam shall be the official religion. Homosexuality and cross-dressing are widely seen as taboo and indecent activities, owing to traditional Islamic views concerning appropriate gender roles and sexual conduct.
Ghazni District
Like in the rest of Afghanistan, no exact population numbers are available. The Afghan Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation & Development (MRRD) along with UNHCR and Central Statistics Office (CSO) of Afghanistan estimates the population of the district to be around 154,618. According to AIMS and UNHCR, Tajiks make up 50% of the population, followed by Hazaras and Pashtuns, 50%.
Afghans in India
Indian Afghans are Indian citizens and non-citizen residents born in, or with ancestors from, Afghanistan numbering up to 11,439,000. Around 8,500 of them are recent Hindu and Sikh refugees who fled the Taliban regime and political instability in Afghanistan; they are concentrated in and around Delhi.
Kabul Province
Kābul (, Dari/Persian and Pashto ), situated in the east of the country, is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. The capital of the province is Kabul city, which is also Afghanistan's capital. The population of the Kabul Province is nearly 4 million people as of 2012, of which almost 80 percent live in the urban areas. The current governor of the province is Hamid Akram.
Demographics of Afghanistan
In 1979, the population was reported to be about 15.5 million.
2.32% (2015)
country comparison to the world: 39
Pakistanis in Afghanistan
Pakistanis in Afghanistan are mostly refugees, but also include laborers, traders, businesspersons, and small number of diplomats. Because Pakistan and Afghanistan are neighbouring states with a loosely controlled border, and a distributed population of ethnic Pashtuns and Baloch people, there is constant flow of population between the two countries.
Economy of Afghanistan
The current trade between Afghanistan and other countries is at US$5 billion a year. In 1996, legal exports (excluding opium) were estimated at $80 million and imports estimated at $150 million per year. Since the collapse of the Taliban government in 2001, new trade relations are emerging with the United States, Pakistan, Iran, Turkmenistan, the EU, Japan, Uzbekistan, India and other countries. Trade between Afghanistan and the U.S. is beginning to grow at a fast pace, reaching up to approximately $500 million per year. Afghan handwoven rugs are one of the most popular products exported from the country. Other products include hand crafted antique replicas as well as leather and furs.
Demographics of Afghanistan
"urbanization population:" 24% of the total population (2008)
"rate of urbanization:" 5.4% annual rate of change (2005–10)
Democratic Republic of Afghanistan
Afgan refugees are Afghanistan nationals who have fled their country as a result of the ongoing Afghan conflict. About six million people have fled the country, most to neighbouring Pakistan and Iran, making it the largest producer of refugees in the world.
Demographics of Afghanistan
The recent estimate in the above chart is some what supported by the below national opinion polls, which were aimed at knowing how a group of about 804 to 8,706 local residents in Afghanistan felt about the current war, political situation, as well as the economic and social issues affecting their daily lives. Ten surveys were conducted between 2004 and 2015 by the Asia Foundation (a sample is shown in the table below; the survey in 2015 did not contain information on the ethnicity of the participants) and one between 2004 and 2009 by a combined effort of the broadcasting companies NBC News, BBC, and ARD.
History of Afghanistan (1978–92)
As the Afghan–Soviet war became more destructive, internal refugees flocked to Kabul and the largest of the provincial cities. Varying estimates (no authentic census was taken) put Kabul's population at more than 2 million by the late 1980s. In many instances villagers fled to Kabul and other towns to join family or lineage groups already established there.
Ethnic groups in Afghanistan
Like the rest of the ethnic groups in Afghanistan, the origin of Tajiks is a mystery. They were only able to rule and at the same time legitimize their rule as second- or even as immediate sub-rulers with some significant influence on the foreigners – with the exception of the short 10-month rule of Habibullah Kalakani in 1929. The total number of Tajiks in Afghanistan was around 4.3 million in 1995, and the Encyclopædia Britannica explains that by the early 21st century they constituted about one-fifth of the population.
Tajiks are the major ethnic group in neighboring Tajikistan, a country that was created north of Afghanistan in 1991. During the late 19th century and early 20th century, large number of Central Asian Tajiks fled the conquest of their native homeland by Russian Red Army and settled in northern Afghanistan.
Punjabis in Afghanistan
The population of Punjabi Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan stood up to 100,000 prior to the 1990s. The Soviet invasion in 1979 and the ensuing Afghan civil wars sparked a mass exodus and the community declined drastically. Most migrated to Pakistan or India, while others resettled in North America and Europe. The current population is around 3,000. The majority live in Kabul. During the Taliban regime, Sikhs and Hindus were forced to wear yellow arm bands for identification as well as hang yellow flags over their homes. Some discrimination still persists as they are often barred from government jobs, viewed as immigrants or threatened for ransom because they are considered rich.
Afghanistan Midwifery Project
The Afghanistan Midwifery Project (AMP) is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to helping the women of Afghanistan through childbirth, and other women's health issues. Afghanistan currently rests near the bottom of the World Health Organization's list for infant mortality rates, child birth fatalities, and prenatal care.
Demographics of Afghanistan
"0–14 years:" 42.3% (male 6,464,070/female 6,149,468)
"15–64 years:" 55.3% (male 8,460,486/female 8,031,968)
"65 years and over:" 2.4% (male 349,349/female 380,051) (2011 est.)
Afghan refugees
Due to the ongoing conflict, insecurity, unemployment, and poverty in Afghanistan, the Afghan government has had difficulty coping with its internally displaced population in addition to the influx of returnees in a short period of time. In order to meet the needs of returning refugees, within its 2017 Humanitarian Response Plan for Afghanistan, the UN has appealed the international community for $240 million in humanitarian assistance.
Religion in Afghanistan
Afghanistan is an Islamic republic where Islam is practiced by 99% of its citizens. As high as 80% of the population follow Sunni Islam. The remaining are Shias. Apart from Muslims, there are also small minorities of Sikhs and Hindus.
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
By 2001, the Taliban controlled as much as 90% of Afghanistan, with the Northern Alliance confined to the country's northeast corner. Fighting alongside Taliban forces were some 28,000–30,000 Pakistanis (usually also Pashtun) and 2,000–3,000 Al-Qaeda militants. Many of the Pakistanis were recruited from madrassas. A 1998 document by the U.S. State Department confirmed that "20–40 percent of [regular] Taliban soldiers are Pakistani." The document said that many of the parents of those Pakistani nationals "know nothing regarding their child's military involvement with the Taliban until their bodies are brought back to Pakistan". According to the U.S. State Department report and reports by Human Rights Watch, other Pakistani nationals fighting in Afghanistan were regular soldiers, especially from the Frontier Corps, but also from the Pakistani Army providing direct combat support.
Elections in Afghanistan
Who Won?
Laghman Province
Laghman (Pashto/Persian: لغمان) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the eastern part of the country. It has a population of about 445,600, which is multi-ethnic and mostly a rural society. The city of Mihtarlam serves as the capital of the province. In some historical texts the name is written as "Lamghan" or as "Lamghanat".
Pashto
As a national language of Afghanistan, Pashto is primarily spoken in the east, south, and southwest, but also in some northern and western parts of the country. The exact number of speaker is unavailable, but different estimates show that Pashto is the mother tongue of 45–60% of the total population of Afghanistan.
History of Afghanistan
Mirwais Hotak followed by Ahmad Shah Durrani unified Afghan tribes and founded the last Afghan Empire in the early 18th century CE. Afghanistan is inhabited by many and diverse peoples: the Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras, Uzbeks, Turkmen, Aimak, Baloch and others. The Pashtuns, with 55% form the largest group, second are the Tajiks with 25%.
Afghanistan
The only city with over a million residents is its capital, Kabul. Due to a lack of census there is no clear indication of what the largest cities in the country are, with various national and international estimates and without always acknowledging the differentiation of city municipalities and urban areas that go beyond city limits. After Kabul the other five large cities are Kandahar, Herat, Mazar-i-Sharif, Kunduz and Jalalabad. Other major cities include Lashkar Gah, Taloqan, Khost, Sheberghan, and Ghazni.
Afghans in the Netherlands
, statistics of the Dutch Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek to people of Afghan origin showed:
For a total of 40,064 persons (21,482 men, 18,582 women). This represented more than eight times the 1996 total of 4,916 persons. The proportion of persons of second-generation background increased from 7.7% to 21% over the same period; the rest of the growth was due to immigration. 2010 was the first year since 2003 that population growth by immigration exceeded population growth by natural increase. As with other migrant ethnic groups, their age structure is skewed towards young people—90% are younger than 45, a similar proportion to Turkish, Iranian, and Somali migrants, but much higher than the equivalent figure of 60% in the native Dutch population.
Afghanistan Relief Organization
With deaths in pregnancy or in childbirth so high in Afghanistan, and few trained women there to assist with childbirth, the training of midwives is another major project for the Afghanistan Relief Organization. In 2006, one in 60 Afghan women died of pregnancy-related causes, giving the country one of the world's highest maternal mortality rates, second only to Sierra Leone. The infant mortality rate was about 135 per 1,000 live births in 2006, which is an improvement from the 165 per 1,000 in 2001, but is still far too high.
Demographics of Afghanistan
Islam is the religion of more than 99% of Afghanistan's citizens. Roughly 90% of the population practice Sunni Islam and belong to the Hanafi Islamic law school, while 7–15% are followers of Shia Islam; the majority of whom belong to the Twelver branch, with smaller numbers of Ismailis. The remaining 1% or less practice other religions such as Sikhism and Hinduism. Excluding urban populations in the principal cities, most People are organized into tribal and other kinship-based groups, who follow their own traditional customs, for instance Pashtuns Pashtunwali. The majority of the country's population lives in rural areas and is involved in agricultural activities.
Afghan Americans
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there were approximately 65,972 Afghan-Americans living in the country in 2006. 
The American Community Survey (ACS) estimates a total of 94,726 Afghan foreign-born immigrants residing in the United States in 2016, which shows a 30% increase in the last ten years. Congress passed the Afghan Allies Protection Act in 2009, which was motivated by the ongoing War on Terror. This Act stated that Afghans who agreed to work with the U.S. government as translators and interpreters in Afghanistan are eligible for special immigrant visas (SIVs) after completing one year of employment. Because these individuals put their lives at risk for the interest of U.S. intelligence, Afghans eligible for SIVs are able to use this as a pathway towards lawful permanent residence for both themselves and their immediate family members. . Since 2005, tens of thousands of Afghans have been admitted to the United States under special programs such as the Special Immigrant Visa. From the fiscal year of 2007 to 2015, a total of 19,916 Afghans were issued a Special Immigrant Visa.
Phantom aid in Afghanistan
Afghanistan is a low-income country with GDP per capita of US$501 in 2010. The country currently ranks 172 in the Human Development Index (HDI). It is heavily reliant on foreign aid and aid accounts for more than 90 percent of the national budget. Many of the nation's sectors are currently poorly developed. The country's infant mortality rates are high at 16.7 percent, literacy levels are low at 18 percent and unemployment levels are high at 35 percent.
Afghanistan
The literacy rate of the entire population is 38.2% (males 52% and females 24.2%). In 2010, the United States began establishing a number of Lincoln learning centers in Afghanistan. They are set up to serve as programming platforms offering English language classes, library facilities, programming venues, internet connectivity, and educational and other counseling services. A goal of the program is to reach at least 4,000 Afghan citizens per month per location. The Afghan National Security Forces are provided with mandatory literacy courses. In addition to this, Baghch-e-Simsim (based on the American Sesame Street) serves as a means to attract Afghan children into learning.
Kabul
In November 2001, the Northern Alliance captured Kabul after the Taliban had abandoned it following the American invasion. A month later a new government under President Hamid Karzai began to assemble. In the meantime, a NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was deployed in Afghanistan. The war-torn city began to see some positive development as many expatriate Afghans returned to the country. The city's population grew from about 500,000 in 2001 to over 3 million in recent years. Many foreign embassies re-opened, and the city has been recovering ever since.
Demographics of Afghanistan
Note: WH5N1 avian influenza has been identified in this country; it poses a negligible risk as of 2009.
Kyrgyz people
The Kyrgyz population of Afghanistan was 1,130 in 2003, all from eastern Wakhan District in the Badakhshan Province of northeastern Afghanistan. They still lead a nomadic lifestyle and are led by a "khan" or "tekin".
Demographics of Afghanistan
"total population:"
60.5 years (2015)country comparison to the world: 214
"male:" 59.3 years (2013)
"female:" 61.9 years (2013)
Source: "UN World Population Prospects"
Afghans in Pakistan
Although most Afghans live in refugee camps near the Pakistan-Afghan border and have little contact with Pakistani society and culture, some travel to nearby cities for work or other purposes. The population of Pakistan was about 180 million in 2012, making it the world's sixth-most-populous country. Due to political unrest in Pakistan, energy crises, unemployment and strained relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Afghan immigrants are viewed as an additional economic and social burden on Pakistan. With the Pakistani population, Afghan refugees were affected by the 2005 earthquake and 2010 floods.
List of cities in Afghanistan
The chart below shows 19 cities of Afghanistan with a population over 100,000, by order of population.
April 2012 Afghanistan attacks
Following a period of stabilization in Afghanistan, attacks started to increase with a growth in suicide bombings since 2006. In 2007, the number of Afghan civilian deaths stood at more than 230. In 2008, there were about 1,000 civilian deaths attributed to the Taliban. In 2011, the number of civilians killed rose 8% from 2010, with over 3,000 civilian deaths. The vast majority of the casualties were due to activities by insurgents. According to the Associated Press, there are around 25,000 Taliban soldiers in Afghanistan in 2012.
LGBT rights in Afghanistan
Prior to 2003, little or no HIV-AIDS education or treatment existed. As of 2008, the official number of people living with HIV-AIDS is 504, although the actual number is suspected of being higher, possibly in the thousands. Low literacy rates, weak infrastructure and traditional social mores make it difficult to introduce comprehensive public health education initiatives.
Afghan refugees
There are over one million internally displaced people in Afghanistan. The majority of the IDPs in Afghanistan are as a direct and indirect result of conflict and violence, although there are also reasons of natural disasters. The Soviet invasion caused approximately 2 million Afghans to be internally displaced, mostly from rural areas into urban areas. The Afghan Civil War (1992–96) caused a new wave of internal displacement, with many Afghans moving to northern cities in order to get away from the Taliban ruled areas. Afghanistan continues to suffer from insecurity and conflict, which has led to an increase in internal displacement.
Geography of Afghanistan
Afghanistan is a landlocked mountainous country located within South Asia and Central Asia. The country is the 40th largest in the world in size. Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan, located in the Kabul Province. Strategically located at the crossroads of major trade routes, Afghanistan has attracted a succession of invaders since the sixth century BCE.
Communications in Afghanistan
Afghanistan uses its own space satellite called Afghansat 1. There are about 18 million mobile phone users in the country. Telecom companies include Afghan Telecom, Afghan Wireless, Etisalat, MTN, Roshan, Salaam and a few others. Over 50% of the population have access to the internet.
Ethnic groups in Afghanistan
The Baloch people are speakers of Balochi who are mostly found in and around the Balochistan region of Afghanistan. In the 1990s their number figure was put at 100,000 but they are around 200,000 today. They are most likely an offshoot of the Kurds and reached Afghanistan sometimes between 1000 and 1300 BCE. Mainly pastoral and desert dwellers, the Baloch are also Sunni Muslim. Abdul Karim Brahui Governor of Nimruz Province, is Baloch.
Culture of Afghanistan
Islam is the main religion of Afghanistan and over 99% of Afghans are Muslims. An estimated 84.7–90% of the population adhere to Sunni Islam, while an estimated 7–15% practice Shia Islam, and approximately 1% are followers of other religions.
Health in Afghanistan
In 2009, 2,143,354 patients received treatment under the health programs mentioned. As of August 2010, BRAC Afghanistan had covered 388 districts and 25 million of the total population are under the BRAC Afghanistan Health Program. Health facilities also include six District Hospitals, 26 Comprehensive Health Centres, 53 Basic Health Centres, 18 Sub Health Centres as well as 533 Mobile Clinics every month.
Abortion in Afghanistan
Afghanistan has one of the highest fertility rates in the world, with very few women actively using contraceptive methods, despite support from the government and conformance with religious ethics. Only 22.5% of people utilize contraceptive measures in comparison to the United States, where 74.1% of people utilize contraception. In the 1990s, the average woman had 8 children throughout her lifetime, but this decreased in the mid-2000s to 6.,1 with hopes to hit an average of 5 births per woman by the end of 2010.
2009 Afghan presidential election
The lack of security and its effects on voter registration, polling station accessibility, and voter turnout – mainly in regions populated by Afghanistan's Pashtun tribes, which make up 32-37% of the country's population – have raised serious concerns about an ethnic imbalance in the Afghan election.