Demographics of Afghanistan facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Demographics of Afghanistan
Afghanistan population pyramid in 2020
Population	41,403,465 (2023)
Growth rate	2.34% (2016)
Birth rate	35.8 births/1,000 population (2021 est.)
Death rate	7.3 deaths/1,000 population (2021 est.)
Life expectancy	63.3 years (2019)
• male	63.2 years (2019)
• female	63.2 years (2019)
Fertility rate	4.64 children born/woman (2021 est.)
Infant mortality rate	66.3 deaths/1,000 live births
Age structure
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 and over	2.4% (male 349,349/female 380,051)
Sex ratio
At birth	1.05 male/female
Under 15	1.03 male/female
15–64 years	1.04 male/female
65 and over	0.87 male/female
Nationality
Nationality	noun: Afghan(s)
Major ethnic	Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek and others
Language
Official	Persian (Dari) and Pashto
Spoken	Persian (Dari), Pashto , Uzbeki and other

Population, fertility rate and net reproduction rate, United Nations estimates

The population of Afghanistan is around 41 million as of 2023. The nation is composed of a multi-ethnic and multilingual society, reflecting its location astride historic trade and invasion routes between Central Asia, South Asia, and Western Asia. Ethnic groups in the country include Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbeks as well as smaller groups such as Nuristanis, Aimaq, Turkmen, Baloch and some others which are less known. Together they make up the contemporary Afghan people.

Approximately 46% of the population is under 15 years of age, and 74% of all Afghans live in rural areas. The average woman gives birth to five children during her entire life, the highest fertility rate outside of Africa. About 6.8% of all babies die in child-birth or infancy. The average life expectancy of the nation was reported in 2019 at around 63 years, and only 0.04% of the population has HIV.

Persian (Dari) and Pashto are both the official languages of the country. Dari functions as the inter-ethnic lingua franca for the vast majority. Pashto is widely used in the regions south of the Hindu Kush mountains and as far as the Indus River in neighbouring Pakistan. Uzbek and Turkmen are smaller languages spoken in parts of the north. Multilingualism is common throughout the country, especially in the major cities.

Up to 89.7% of the population practices Sunni Islam and belongs to the Hanafi Islamic law school, while 10–15% are followers of Shia Islam; the majority of whom belong to the Twelver branch, with smaller numbers of Ismailis. The remaining 0.3% practice other religions such as Sikhism and Hinduism. Excluding urban populations in the principal cities, most people are organised into tribal and other kinship-based groups, who follow their own traditional customs.

Population statistics

Anatol Lieven of Georgetown University in Qatar wrote in 2021 that "it may be noted that in the whole of modern Afghan history there has never been a census that could be regarded as remotely reliable."

Historical

Sport fans inside the Ghazi Stadium in the capital of Kabul, which is multi-ethnic and the largest city of Afghanistan.

The first nationwide census of Afghanistan was carried out only in 1979, but previously there had been scattered attempts to conduct censuses in individual cities. According to the 1876 census, Kabul had a population of 140,700 people. In Kandahar in 1891 a population census was carried out, according to which 31,514 people lived in the city, of which 16,064 were men and 15,450 were women.

In 1979 the total population was reported to be about 15.5 million. From 1979 until the end of 1983, some 5 million people left the country to take shelter in neighbouring northwestern Pakistan and eastern Iran. This exodus was largely unchecked by any government. The Afghan government in 1983 reported a population of 15.96 million, which presumably included the exodus.

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 questionable and no attempt has ever been made to verify if they were actually killed or had moved to neighbouring countries as refugees.

Current and latest

As of 2021, the total population of Afghanistan is around 37,466,414, which includes the 3 million Afghan nationals living in both Pakistan and Iran. About 26% of the population is urbanite and the remaining 74% lives in rural areas.

Afghanistan's Central Statistics Organization (CSO) stated in 2011 that the total number of Afghans living inside Afghanistan was about 26 million and by 2017 it reached 29.2 million. Of this, 15 million are males and 14.2 million are females. The country's population is expected to reach 82 million by 2050.

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.

Age structure

Population pyramid 2016

0–14 years: 40.62% (male 7,562,703/female 7,321,646)
15-24 years: 21.26% (male 3,960,044/female 3,828,670)
25-54 years: 31.44% (male 5,858,675/female 5,661,887)
55-64 years: 4.01% (male 724,597/female 744,910)
65 years and over: 2.68% (male 451,852/female 528,831) (2020 est.)

Population growth rate

2.34% (2021)
country comparison to the world: 39

Urbanization

Young Afghans at a music festival inside the Gardens of Babur in Kabul.

urbanisation population: 26% of the total population (2020)
rate of urbanisation: 3.37% annual rate of change (2015–20)

Sex ratio

at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
0-14 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
15-24 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
25-54 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
55-64 years: 0.97 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.85 male(s)/female
total population: 1.05 male(s)/female (2020)

Vital statistics

UN estimates

Fertility and births

Total Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR):

Fertility data by province (DHS Program):

Structure of the population

An Afghan family from the Pashtun tribe in their home in Kabul

Structure of the population (2012.01.07) (Data refer to the settled population based on the 1979 Population Census and the latest household prelisting. The refugees of Afghanistan in Iran, Pakistan, and an estimated 1.5 million nomads, are not included):

Population Estimates by Sex and Age Group (01.VII.2012) (Data refer to the settled population based on the 1979 Population Census and the latest household prelisting. The refugees of Afghanistan in Iran, Pakistan, and an estimated 1.5 million nomads, are not included.):

Population Estimates by Sex and Age Group (01.VII.2020) (Data refer to the settled population based on the 1979 Population Census and the latest household prelisting. The refugees of Afghanistan in Iran, Pakistan, and an estimated 1.5 million nomads, are not included.):

Life expectancy

total population: 63.2 years (2019)
country comparison to the world: 214
male: 63.3 years (2019)
female: 63.2 years (2019)

Life expectancy at birth in Afghanistan

Source: UN World Population Prospects

Development and health indicators

Gathering of students in 2006 at a school in Nangarhar Province.

Literacy

Definition: People over the age of 15 that can read and write

Total population: 43% (2018)

Male: 55.5%

Female: 29.8%

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)

total: 10 years
male: 13 years
female: 8 years (2018)

HIV/AIDS – adult prevalence rate

0.04% (2015)

HIV/AIDS – people living with HIV/AIDS

Up to 6,900 (2015 estimate)

In 2008, health officials in Afghanistan reported 504 cases of people living with HIV but by the end of 2012 the numbers reached 1,327. The nation's health ministry stated that 70% of of the HIV patients were men, 25% women, and the remaining 5% children. They belonged to Kabul, Kandahar and Herat, the provinces from where people make the most trips to neighbouring and foreign countries. Regarding Kandahar, 22 cases were reported in 2012. "AIDS Prevention department head Dr Hamayoun Rehman said 1,320 blood samples were examined and 21 were positive. Among the 21 patients, 18 were males and three were females who contracted the deadly virus from their husbands. He said four people had reached a critical stage while three had died.

HIV/AIDS – deaths

Up to 300 (2015 estimate)

Major infectious diseases

Degree of risk: high

• Food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhoea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
• Vector-borne diseases: malaria
• Animal contact diseases: rabies

Note: WH5N1 avian influenza has been identified in this country; it poses a negligible risk as of 2009.

Ethnic groups

An approximate distribution of the ethnolinguistic groups are listed in the chart below:

A CIA map showing the various Afghan tribal territories in 2005

Ethnolinguistic groups in Afghanistan in 2001

Ethnolinguistic groups in Afghanistan in 1982

Ethnic groups in Afghanistan

Ethnic group	Image	2023 estimate based on native mother tongue	2013 estimate	Pre-2004 estimates
Pashtun		52.4%	42%	38–50%
Tajik		32.1%	27%	20–25.3%
Hazara			9%	12–19%
Uzbek		8.8%	9%	6–8%
Aimak		–	4%	–
Turkmen		1.9%	3%	2.5%
Baloch		0.9%	2%	–
Others (Pashai, Nuristani, Arab, Brahui, Qizilbash, Pamiri, Gujjar, etc.)		3.9%	4%	1–12%

The recent estimate in the above chart is somewhat 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.

What is noticeable is that the percentage of Tajik people is noticeably higher across the board in these polls in comparison to the estimations of The World Factbook, World Data etc, while the number of Pashtuns and Aimaks tends to get underrepresented.

Languages

Dari and Pashto are both the official languages of Afghanistan.

Uzbek and Turkmen are spoken as native languages in northern provinces, mainly among the Uzbeks and Turkmens. Smaller number of Afghans are also fluent in English, Urdu, Balochi, Arabic and other languages. An approximate distribution of languages spoken in the country is shown in the chart below:

Based on information from the latest national opinion polls, up to 51% stated that they can speak or understand Pashto and up to 79% stated that they can speak or understand Dari. Uzbek was spoken or understood by up to 11% and Turkmen by up to 7%. Other languages that can be spoken are Arabic (4%) and Balochi (2%).

Religion

Afghan politicians and foreign diplomats praying at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.

Almost the entire Afghan population is Muslim, with less than 1% being non-Muslim. Despite attempts to secularise Afghan society, Islamic practices pervade all aspects of life. Likewise, Islamic religious tradition and codes, together with traditional practices, provide the principal means of controlling personal conduct and settling legal disputes. Islam was used as the main basis for expressing opposition to the progressive reforms of Afghanistan by King Amanullah in the 1920s.

The members of Sikh and Hindu communities are mostly concentrated in urban areas. They numbered hundreds of thousands in the 1970s but over 90% have since fled due to the Afghan wars and persecution.

• Islam: 99.7% of the total population
  • Sunni Muslim: 84.7–89.7%
  • Shia Muslim: 7-15%
• others: 0.3%
  • Baha'is in the hundreds
  • Sikhism: In the hundreds
  • Hinduism: In the hundreds
  • Zoroastrianism: Unknown/unreported
  • Christianity: Unknown
  • Judaism: 0
  • Buddhism: Unknown

See also

In Spanish: Demografía de Afganistán para niños

• Culture of Afghanistan
• Turks in Afghanistan
• Tajiks in Afghanistan
• Afghan Turkmens
• Afghan Kurds