ABSTRACT
Afghanistan is a landlocked country located in South-Central Asia, north of Pakistan, east of Iran, and south of the former Soviet Republics of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. The 250,000-square-mile (647,000-square-kilometer) country borders China on the extreme northeast. Since the country gained independence in 1919, its economic and social development has languished, primarily as a result of Cold War disputes between the West and the Soviet Union. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the country has been racked by factional conflicts among competing adherents of Sunni Islam. Over the past de cade, the military conflicts have produced millions of refugees. In part due to the long period of unbroken conflict, the country lacks basic necessities and health services, and is mired in abject poverty and neglect. In 1996, life expectancy at birth was 45.9 years in Afghanistan, significantly lower than in nearby Iran and Pakistan. The infant mortality rate was estimated at 163.4 deaths per 1,000 live births. The national economy is dominated by agricultural production. Only 20 percent of all Afghanis reside in urban areas.
1995 |
1980 |
1965 |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
GEOGRAPHY |
||||
AREA (square miles/kilometers) |
250,000/647,000 |
|||
LAND AREA (square miles/kilometers) |
250,000/647,000 |
|||
COASTLINE |
Landlocked |
|||
CITIES |
||||
CAPITAL |
Kabul |
1,424,400 (88) |
||
MAJOR CITIES |
Kandahar |
225,500 |
||
Herat |
177,300 |
|||
Mazar-I-Sharif |
130,600 |
|||
POPULATION |
||||
TOTAL |
20,141,000 |
13,051,058 (79) |
n/a |
|
DENSITY (per square mile/kilometer) |
81/31 |
52/20 |
n/a |
|
ANNUAL GROWTH |
4.78% |
2.6% |
1.8% |
|
AGE COHORTS |
||||
0–14 |
43% |
|||
15–64 |
54% |
|||
65 AND OVER |
3% |
|||
MALE |
51% |
|||
FEMALE |
49% |
|||
URBAN |
20% |
15.4% |
n/a |
|
RURAL |
80% |
84.6% |
n/a |
|
NET MIGRATION RATE |
22.9 |
n/a |
n/a |
|
IDENTITY |
||||
ETHNICITY |
||||
PASHTUN |
38% |
|||
TAJIK |
25% |
|||
HAZARA |
19% |
|||
LANGUAGE |
||||
AFGHAN-PERSIAN (Dari) |
50% |
|||
PASHTU |
35% |
|||
UZBEK-TURKMEN |
11% |
|||
RELIGION |
||||
SUNNI MUSLIM |
84% |
|||
SHI’A MUSLIM |
15% |
|||
VITAL STATISTICS |
||||
BIRTHS |
||||
BIRTH RATE |
43 |
48.1 |
n/a |
|
INFANT MORTALITY RATE |
163.4 |
181.6 |
n/a |
|
LIFE EXPECTANCY AT BIRTH |
45.9 |
37 |
n/a |
|
MARRIAGES |
||||
MARRIAGE RATE |
4.6 |
n/a |
n/a |
|
DIVORCE RATE |
0.9 |
n/a |
n/a |
|
DEATHS |
||||
DEATH RATE |
18.2 |
22.3 |
n/a |
|
ECONOMICS AND LABOR |
||||
GDP PER CAPITA US$ |
$600 |
|||
TRANSPORT |
||||
JOURNEYS (by transport mode) |
||||
AIR PASSENGER TRIPS (thousands) |
238 |
|||
VEHICLES (thousands) |
||||
CARS |
35 |
n/a |
12.8 |
|
COMMERCIAL VEHICLES |
41 |
n/a |
12.6 |
|
EDUCATION |
||||
SCHOOL AGE IN SCHOOL |
||||
PRIMARY |
n/a |
36% |
16% |
|
SECONDARY |
n/a |
11% |
2% |
|
HIGHER |
n/a |
0.4% |
0.2% |
|
FEMALES IN SCHOOL |
||||
IN PRIMARY |
n/a |
13% |
5% |
|
IN SECONDARY |
n/a |
4% |
1% |
|
ADULT ILLITERACY M/F |
n/a |
69.7/95% (79) |
n/a |
|
COMMUNICATIONS |
||||
RATE OF NEWSPAPERS |
12 |
6 |
6 |
|
RATE OF RADIOS |
118 |
75 |
n/a |
|
RATE OF TELEVISIONS |
10 |
3 |
n/a |
