Demographics & population — Afghanistan
Population size, age structure, migration, ethnicity, language, education, and health indicators.
Profile updated 2026-06-02
⚡ Demographics & population at a glance
Population size, age structure, migration, ethnicity, language, education, and health indicators. Key figure for Afghanistan: 40,121,552
Immigration rules and fees change frequently — confirm current requirements on official government or embassy websites.
Population overview
- Population
40,121,552
- Population Growth Rate
2.22%
- Population Distribution
- populations tend to cluster in the foothills and periphery of the rugged Hindu Kush range
- smaller groups are found in many of the country's interior valleys
- in general, the east is more densely settled, while the south is sparsely populated
- Urban Population
- urban population: 26.9%
- of total population rate of urbanization: 3.34% annual rate of change
- Population in Major Urban Areas
4.589 million KABUL (capital)
- Population: Male/Female
- male: 20,301,066
- female: 19,820,486
Age & family
- Age Structure
- years: 39.6% (male 8,062,407/female 7,818,897) 15-64
- years: 57.5% (male 11,702,734/female 11,372,249) 65
- years and over: 2.9% (male 535,925/female 629,340)
- Median Age
- total: 20
- years male: 20
- years female: 20.1 years
- Birth Rate - births/1,000 population
34
- Death Rate - deaths/1,000 population
11.8
- Total Fertility Rate - children born/woman
4.43
- Gross reproduction rate
2
- Child Marriage
- women married by age 15: 4.2%
- women married by age 18: 28.3%
- Contraceptive Prevalance Rate - female 12-49
18.9%
- Contraceptive Prevalence Rate - female 12-49
18.9%
- Currently married women (ages 15-49)
70.3%
- Mean Age for Mother's First Birth (age 25-49)
19.9
- Mother's mean age at first birth
19.9
- Sex Ratio at Birth - male/female
- at birth: 1.05
- male(s)/female 0-14 years: 1.03
- male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.03
- male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.85
- male(s)/female total population: 1.02 male(s)/female
Migration
- Net Migration Rate - migrant(s)/1,000 population
-0.1
Ethnicity & language
- Ethnic Groups
- current, reliable statistical data on ethnicity in Afghanistan are not available
- Afghanistan's 2004 Constitution cited Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, Turkman, Baluch, Pashaie, Nuristani, Aymaq, Arab, Qirghiz, Qizilbash, Gujur, and Brahwui ethnicities
- Afghanistan has dozens of other small ethnic groups
- Language Note
Afghan Persian or Dari (official, lingua franca) 77%, Pashto (official) 48%, Uzbeki 11%, English 6%, Turkmani 3%, Urdu 3%, Pashaie 1%, Nuristani 1%, Arabic 1%, Balochi 1%, other <1%
- Nationality Noun
- Afghan(s) adjective: Afghan
Education
- Literacy - total population
37.3%
- Literacy - male
52.1%
- Literacy - female
22.6%
- Literacy Definition
age 15 and over can read and write
- Education Expenditures - percent of GDP
2.9%
- Total School Life Expectancy - (primary to tertiary)
- total: 10
- years male: 13
- years female: 8 years
Health & living conditions
- Life Expectancy at Birth
- total population: 54.4
- years male: 52.8
- years female: 56.1 years
- Infant Mortality Rate
- total: 101.3 deaths/1,000
- live births male: 109.7 deaths/1,000
- live births female: 92.5 deaths/1,000 live births
- Infant Mortality Rate - total deaths/1,000 live births
- total: 101.3 deaths/1,000
- live births male: 109.7 deaths/1,000
- live births female: 92.5 deaths/1,000 live births
- Maternal Mortality Rate - deaths/100,000 live births
620
- Physicians Density - physicians/1,000 population
.25
- Hospital Bed Density - beds/1,000 population
.4
- Health Expenditures - percent of GDP
15.5%
- Major Infectious Diseases - degree of risk
- intermediate food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A,
- Crimea-Congo hemorrhagic fever note: Afghanistan is one of two countries with endemic wild polio virus (the other is Pakistan) and considered high risk for international spread of the disease; before any international travel, anyone unvaccinated, incompletely vaccinated, or with an unknown polio vaccination status should complete the routine polio vaccine series; before travel to any high-risk destination, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that adults who previously completed the full, routine polio vaccine series receive a single, lifetime booster dose of polio vaccine
- Obesity - adult prevalence rate
5.5%
- Tobacco Use
- total: 23.3%
- male: 39.4%
- female: 7.2%
- Alcohol consumption per capita
- total: 0.01
- liters of pure alcohol beer: 0
- liters of pure alcohol wine: 0
- liters of pure alcohol spirits: 0.01
- liters of pure alcohol other alcohols: 0 liters of pure alcohol
- Drinking Water Source - percent of urban population improved
- urban: 100%
- rural: 68.3%
- total: 76.5%
- urban: 0%
- rural: 31.7%
- total: 23.5% of population
- Sanitation Facility Access - percent of urban population improved
- urban: 88.2%
- of population rural: 52%
- of population total: 61.4%
- urban: 11.8%
- of population rural: 48%
- of population total: 38.6% of population
- Underweight - percent of children under five years
19.1%
