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The population of Afghanistan is around 28,395,716 as of the year 2010, which is unclear if the 3 million Afghan refugees living outside the country are included or not. It is a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual society, reflecting its location astride historic trade and invasion routes between Western Asia, Central Asia, and Southern Asia. The majority of Afghanistan's population consist of the Iranic peoples, notably the Pashtuns and Tajiks. The Pashtun is the largest group followed by Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, Aimak, Turkmen, Baloch and others.

Pashto and Dari (Persian) are both the official languages of the country. Persian is spoken by about half of the population and serves as a lingua franca for the majority. Pashto is spoken widely in the south, east and south west of the country as well as in neighboring western Pakistan. Uzbek language and Turkmen language are spoken in parts of the north. Smaller groups throughout the country also speak more than 30 other languages and numerous dialects.

Islam is the religion of 99.7% of Afghanistan. An estimated 80-89% of the population practice Sunni Islam and belong to the Hanafi Islamic law school while 10-19% are Shi'a, majority of the Shia follow the Twelver branch with smaller numbers of Ismailis. The remaining 1% or less practice other religions such as Sikhism and Hinduism. Despite attempts during the 1980s to secularize Afghan society, Islamic practices pervade all aspects of life. In fact, Islam served as the principal basis for expressing opposition to the Soviet invasion. Likewise, Islamic religious tradition and codes, together with traditional practices, provide the principal means of controlling personal conduct and settling legal disputes. Excluding urban populations in the principal cities, most Afghans are organized into tribal and other kinship-based groups, which follow their own traditional customs: for instance Pashtunwali.

Nationality and ethnicity

For more information see: History of Afghanistan and Afghan

The term "Afghan", historically synonymous with "Pashtun", is today the national identity of Afghanistan. Despite being of various ethnicities, in a research poll that was conducted in Afghanistan in 2009, 72% of the population labelled their identity as Afghan first, before ethnicity.

The modern Afghan national identity is derived from the rise of the Pashtun Hotaki and Durrani dynasties, especially with the establishment of the Durrani Empire (Afghan Empire) in the early-18th century. From 1747 until 1826, Ahmad Shah Durrani and his descendants held the monarchy in direct session. They were the first rulers of a Pashtun dominated sovereign state and were later replaced by the Pashtun Barakzai dynasty.

While national culture of Afghanistan is not uniform, at the same time, the various ethnic groups have no clear boundaries between each other and there is much overlap. Additionally, ethnic groups are not racially homogenous.

Since Afghan history is fraught with regional cleavages any notion of an Afghan nation state is absent until the rise of the Hotakis and Durranis in the early-18th century. Important figures from the past such as Avicenna and Rumi, who were of ethnic Tajik identity, are generally not identified as ethnic Afghans, at least according to academics, while they are generally included within the context of the collective history of the modern nation-state in the geographic sense.

Pashtuns

Pashtuns (also known as Pakhtuns or ethnic Afghans) reside mainly in the eastern, southern and southwestern areas of Afghanistan but important colonies have also settled in some northern and northwestern parts as a result of relocation. An even larger number of Pashtuns live in neighboring Pakistan where they are the second major ethnic group and exert considerable influence. Smaller groups of Pashtuns are also found in the eastern section of Iran. Followers of Sunni Islam, their total number in Afghanistan was estimated at 10.1 million in 1995.

There are many 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. Some believe that Afghan is an adaptation of the Prakrit ethnonym Avagānā, attested in the 6th century CE. According to several scholars such as V. Minorsky, W.K. Frazier Tyler and M.C. Gillet, the name "Afghan" first appears in the 982 CE Hudud-al-Alam work. Al-Biruni referred to the Afghans in the 11th century as various tribes living on the western frontier mountains of Ancient India and Persia, which would be the Sulaiman Mountains. According to other sources, some of these Pashtuns may be the Lost tribes of Israel that never returned and were converted to Islam during the Arab Empire. Thus, it is believed that the Pashtuns emerged from the area around the Sulaiman Mountains, and expanded to other places over time. Between the 13th and 16th century some Pashtun tribes conquered areas outside their traditional Pashtun homeland pushing deeper into South Asia, often forming kingdoms such as the Delhi Sultanate.

The Afghan identity began to develop as Pashtun identity in and around the early 18th century, under the rule of Ahmad Shah Durrani who united all the Pashtun tribes and formed the Afghan Empire. Another boost took place under the rule of Abdur Rahman Khan who with British support further centralized the government. Pashtuns are the traditional rulers of Afghanistan since the rise of the Hotaki dynasty in 1709 or more specifically when the Durrani Empire was created in 1747. The current Karzai administration, which is led by Hamid Karzai, is dominated by Pashtun ministers.

Tajiks

The Persian-speaking Tajiks are closely related to the Persians of Iran. Sub-groups of the Tajiks include the Farsiwan and the Qizilbash. The major difference between them is that they are generally of the Shia sect while the majority of Tajiks practice Sunni Islam. Scholars believe that they have descended from the native Indo-Iranian Bactrians, Sogdians and Scythian tribes and have been in this region since the times when the region was recognized as Ariana. The area was ruled by ancient Persian emperors beyond the modern boundaries from first hand, but have lost power as the dominant group in the region due to other invading powers, so they were only able to rule and at the same time legitimize their rule as second- or even as immediate sub-rulers with strong 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.

Tajiks are the major ethnic group in Tajikistan, which borders Afghanistan in the north. Most Tajiks live in cities and towns, and often they are found working in government ministries and public services. The Tajiks dominate four of Afghanistan's six large cities (Kabul, Herat, Ghazni, and Mazar-i-Sharif). They are also known for being bureaucrats, doctors, teachers, professors, merchants or traders, and so on. Some of them living in rural regions engage in farming and herding. The ethnic Tajiks are the closest rivals to Pashtuns for political power and prestige in Afghanistan.

Hazaras

The Hazaras are a Persian-speaking people who reside mainly in the Hazarajat region. The Hazara seem to have partial Mongolian origins with some admixture from surrounding indigenous groups. Linguistically the Hazara speak a dialect of Persian, known as Hazaragi, and sometimes their variant is interspersed with Altaic words. It is commonly believed by many Afghans that the Hazara are descendants of Genghis Khan's army, which marched into the area 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 Shi'a Islam, while most of the other Afghans are Sunnis. Hazaras were estimated in 1995 at about one million. There are sizable Hazara communities in Pakistan particularly in the city of Quetta, and in Iran among the Afghan refugees.

Uzbeks

The Uzbeks are the main Turkic people of Afghanistan whos native territory is in the northern regions of the country. Most likely the Uzbeks migrated with a wave of Turkic invaders and intermingled with local Iranian tribes over time to become the ethnic group they are today. By the 16th century the Uzbeks had settled throughout Central Asia and reached Afghanistan following the conquests of Muhammad Shaybani. Uzbeks are Sunni Muslim and closely related to the Turkmen of Afghanistan. The Uzbeks of Afghanistan are usually bilingual, fluent in both Persian and Uzbek. They were estimated in the 1990s at approximately 1.3 million.

Aimaq

Aimaq, meaning tribe in Turkish, is not an ethnic domination, but differentiates seminomadic herders and agricultural tribal groups of various ethnic origins, including the Turkic Hazara and Baloch, that were formed in the 16th and 17th centuries. They live among nontribal people in the western areas of Badghis, Ghor and Herat provinces. They are Sunni Muslims, speak dialects close to Dari and refer to themselves with tribal designations. Population estimates vary widely, from less than 500,000 to around 800,000. A group of about 120,000 live in Iranian Khorasan.

Turkmen

The Turkmen are the smaller Turkic group who can also be found in neighboring Turkmenistan and Iran particularly around Mashad. They are Sunni Muslims, and their origins are very similar to that of the Uzbeks. Unlike the Uzbeks, however, the Turkmen are traditionally a nomadic people (though they were forced to abandon this way of life in Turkmenistan itself under Soviet rule). In the 1990s their number was put at around 200,000.

Baloch

The Baloch people are speakers of Baloch language whos numbers are around 200,000 in Afghanistan. In the 1990s their number figure was put at 100,000. The main Baloch areas located in Balochistan province in Pakistan and Sistan and Baluchistan province of Iran. Many also live in southern Afghanistan. They are most likely an offshoot of the Kurds and reached Afghanistan sometime between 1000 and 1300 BCE. Mainly pastoral and desert dwellers, the Baloch are also Sunni Muslim.

Nuristani

The Nuristani are an Indo-Iranian people, representing a fourth independent branch of the Aryan peoples (Indo-Aryan, Iranian, Nuristani, and Dardic), who live in isolated regions of northeastern Afghanistan as well as across the border in the district of Chitral in Pakistan. They speak a variety of Nuristani languages. Better known historically as the Kafirs of what was once known as Kafiristan (land of pagans), they converted to Islam during the rule of Amir Abdur Rahman and their country was renamed "Nuristan", meaning "Land of Light" (as in the light of Islam). A small unconquered portion of Kafiristan inhabited by the Kalash tribe who still practice their pre-Islamic religion still exists across the border in highlands of Chitral, northwestern Pakistan. Many Nuristanis believe that they are the descendants of Alexander the Great's ancient Greeks, but there is a lack of genetic evidence for this and they are more than likely an isolated pocket of early Aryan invaders. Physically, the Nuristani are of the Mediterranean sub-stock with about one-third recessive blondism. They are largely Sunni Muslims. The population in the 1990s is estimated at 125,000 by some; the Nuristani prefer a figure of 300,000.

Smaller groups

Smaller groups include Pashai, Brahuis, Pamiris, Kyrgyz, Arabs, Gujjars, and few others.

Population statistics

As of July 2010, the population of Afghanistan is around 28,395,716, but it is unknown if the 3 million Afghan refugees living in Pakistan and Iran are included or not. A 2009 UN estimate shows that the Afghan population was 28,150,000 and a 2009–2010 nationwide survey conducted by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) of Afghanistan has put it at 26 million but not counting some parts of the country due to insecurity.

A partial census conducted in 1979 showed roughly 15.5 million people living in the country. The Statistical Yearbook published in 1983 by the Babrak Karmal government claimed a total population of 15.96 million for 1981-82. Between 600,000 to 2 million Afghans were killed during the various 1979-2001 wars, majority of them during the Soviet war in the 1980s. At least 5 million more fled the country to neighboring countries. According to the Population Reference Bureau, the Afghan population is estimated to increase to 82 million by 2050.

The only city in Afghanistan with over two million residents is its capital, Kabul. The other major cities in the country are, in order of population size, Kandahar, Herat, Mazar-e Sharif, Jalalabad, Ghazni and Kunduz. Urban areas are experiencing rapid population growth since the Karzai administration began in late 2001, which is mainly due to the return of over 5 million expats.

Ethnic groups

Afghanistan is a multiethnic society. The population of the country is divided into a wide variety of ethnolinguistic groups. Because a systematic census has not been held in the nation in decades, exact figures about the size and composition of the various ethnic groups are unavailable. In this regard, the Encyclopædia Britannica states:

No national census has been conducted in Afghanistan since a partial count in 1979, and years of war and population dislocation have made an accurate ethnic count impossible. Current population estimates are therefore rough approximations, which show that Pashtuns comprise somewhat less than two-fifths of the population. The two largest Pashtun tribal groups are the Durrānī and Ghilzay. Tajiks are likely to account for some one-fourth of Afghans and Ḥazāra nearly one-fifth. Uzbeks and Chahar Aimaks each account for slightly more than 5 percent of the population and Turkmen an even smaller portion.

An approximate distribution of the nation's total ethnic groups is shown in the line chart below:

The percentage numbers in the chart at the bottom are from recent national opinion polls aimed at knowing how Afghan citizens feel about the 2001–present US-led war, the current political situation, as well as the economic and social issues affecting their daily lives. One was conducted in 2006 by the Asia Foundation (with technical assistance by the Indian Centre for the Study of Developing Societies and the Afghan Center for Socio-economic and Opinion Research) and the other between 2004 to 2009 by a combined effort of the broadcasting companies NBC News, BBC, and ARD.

The 2006 Asia Foundation survey involved 6,226 randomly-selected Afghan citizens from 32 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces. However, Uruzgan Province (representing 1.1 percent) and Zabul Province (representing 1.2 percent) were excluded from the survey because of security concerns. The margin of sampling error in that survey is 2.5 percent.

To questions about their ethnicity at the end of the questionnaires, the results of the total 7,760 Afghan citizens came as:

Languages

Dari (Persian) and Pashto are both the official languages of Afghanistan. Dari (also known as Farsi) has always been the prestige language, it is the lingua franca, the language resorted to when people of different ethnic groups need to conduct business or otherwise communicate. Sources before 1996 state that Pashto is the native tongue of 35-55% of the population and Persian being of 25-50%, although it is the most widely used language in the country by different ethnic groups. A fair number of Afghans can also speak and understand Urdu, including Punjabi, Hindi and English. The Afghan National Anthem is only in the Pashto language. An approximate distribution of languages spoken in the country is shown in the line chart below:

According to the recent survey "A survey of the Afghan people – Afghanistan in 2006" by The Asia Foundation, Persian was the first language of 49% of the polled people, while additional 37% spoke the language as a second language (combined 86%). Pashto was the first language of 40% of the polled people, while additional 27% knew the language (combined 67%). Uzbek was spoken or understood by 6%, Turkmen by 3%. In the survey "Afghanistan: Where Things Stand" (average numbers from 2005 to 2009), 69% of the interviewed people preferred Persian, while 31% preferred Pashto. Additionally, 45% of the polled people said that they can read Persian, while 36% said that they can read Pashto.

Religions

• Islam: 99.7% of the total population
  • Sunni Muslim: 80-89%
  • Shi'a Muslim: 10-19%
• Other: less than 1%
  • Sikhism: In the thousands
  • Hinduism: In the thousands
  • Judaism (one known individual: Zablon Simintov)
  • Zoroastrianism: Unknown
  • Buddhism: Unknown

Age structure

0–14 years: 44.5% (male 7,064,670; female 7,300,446)
15–64 years: 53% (male 9,147,846; female 8,679,800)
65 years and over: 2.4% (male 394,572; female 422,603) (2009 est.)

Population growth rate

2.471% (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 33

Birth rate

38.11 births/1,000 population (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 19

Death rate

17.65 deaths/1,000 population (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world:4

Net migration rate

21 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 2

Urbanization

urbanization population: 24% of the total population (2008)
rate of urbanization: 5.4% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)

Literacy

Definition: Age 15 and over can read and write

Total population: 28.1%

Male: 43.1%

Female: 12.6% (2000 est.)

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)

total: 8 years
male: 11 years
female: 4 years (2004)

Sex ratio

at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15–64 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.93 male(s)/female
total population: 1.05 male(s)/female (2009 est.)

Infant mortality rate

total: 151.95 deaths/1,000 live births
country comparison to the world: 3
male: 156.01 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 147.7 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 44.64 years
country comparison to the world: 214
male: 44.47 years
female: 44.81 years (2009 est.)

Total fertility rate

• 5.5 children born/woman (2010 est.)

country comparison to the world: 13

• 6.53 children born/woman (2009 est.)

country comparison to the world: 4

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate

0.01% (2001 est.)

According to Afghanistan’s National Aids Control Program (NACP), as of late 2008, 504 cases of HIV/AIDS have been documented. In the same year it was estimated that up to 2,500 people may be infected nationwide.

country comparison to the world: 168

HIV/AIDS - deaths

one

Major infectious diseases

degree of risk: high
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne diseases: malaria
animal contact diseases: rabies
note: H5N1 avian influenza has been identified in this country; it poses a negligible risk with extremely rare cases among US citizens who have close contact with birds (2009)

See also

• Culture of Afghanistan
• History of Afghanistan
• History of Arabs in Afghanistan
• Demography of Central Asia
• Pashtunistan

References

1. ^ "Population of Afghanistan". Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The World Factbook. 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-12.
2. "Ethnic groups: Pashtun 42%, Tajik 27%, Hazara 9%, Uzbek 9%, Aimak 4%, Turkmen 3%, Baloch 2%, other 4%". CIA. The World Factbook. Retrieved 2010-09-18.
3. ^ "Languages of Afghanistan". CIA. The World Factbook. Retrieved 2010-09-18.
4. ^ "Mapping the Global Muslim Population: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Muslim Population". Pew Research Center. October 7, 2009. Retrieved 2010-09-03.
5. ^ Miller, Tracy, ed. (October 2009). Mapping the Global Muslim Population: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Muslim Population (PDF). Pew Research Center. Retrieved 2010-09-03.
6. ^ "Country Profile: Afghanistan" (PDF). Library of Congress Country Studies on Afghanistan. Library of Congress. August 2008. Retrieved 2010-09-03.
7. ^ "Religions: Sunni Muslim 80%, Shia Muslim 19%, other 1%". CIA. The World Factbook. Retrieved 2010-09-03.
8. "Afghan" (with ref. to "Afghanistan: iv. Ethnography") by Ch. M. Kieffer, Encyclopaedia Iranica Online Edition 2006: "From a more limited, ethnological point of view, “Afḡān” is the term by which the Persian-speakers of Afghanistan (and the non-Paṧtō-speaking ethnic groups generally) designate the Paṧtūn. The equation Afghan Paštūn has been propagated all the more, both in and beyond Afghanistan, because the Paštūn tribal confederation is by far the most important in the country, numerically and politically. ..."
9. ^ ABC NEWS/BBC/ARD POLL – AFGHANISTAN: WHERE THINGS STAND, February 9th, 2009, p. 38-40 Cite error: The named reference "ABCBBCARD" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
10. Peter R. Blood, ed. Afghanistan: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 2001.
11. Vogelsang, Willem. 2002. The Afghans. Blackwell Publishers. Oxford. ISBN 0-631-19841-5
12. ^ Morgenstierne, G. (1999). "AFGHĀN". Encyclopaedia of Islam (CD-ROM Edition v. 1.0 ed.). Leiden, The Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill NV.
13. People-in-Country Profile
14. ^ "Ethnic Groups". Library of Congress Country Studies. 1997. Retrieved 2010-10-08. In 1996, approximately 40 percent of Afghans were Pashtun, 11.4 of whom are of the Durrani tribal group and 13.8 percent of the Ghilzai group. Tajiks make up the second largest ethnic group with 25.3 percent of the population, followed by Hazaras, 18 percent; Uzbeks, 6.3 percent; Turkmen, 2.5 percent; Qizilbash, 1.0; 6.9 percent other.
15. Chapter 7 of The History of Herodotus (trans. George Rawlinson; originally written 440 BC) (retrieved 10 January 2007)
16. Banuazizi, Ali and Myron Weiner (eds.). 1994. The Politics of Social Transformation in Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan (Contemporary Issues in the Middle East), Syracuse University Press. ISBN 0-8156-2608-8 (retrieved 7 June 2006).
17. From the Encyclopædia Britannica, Pashtun
18. Afghanistan, CIA World Factbook
19. Pashtuns Of Afghanistan
20. Afghan Government 2009, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
21. Richard S. Newell "Post-Soviet Afghanistan: The Position of the Minorities". Asian Survey, Vol. 29, No. 11 (Nov., 1989), pp. 1090-1108. Publisher: University of California Press
22. Tajiks of Afghanistan
23. ^ L. Dupree (July 1982), "Afghānistān: (iv.) ethnocgraphy", in Encyclopædia Iranica, Online Edition 2006.
24. Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division (2009). "World Population Prospects, Table A.1" (PDF). 2008 revision. United Nations. Retrieved 2009-03-12. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
25. "CSO census puts population at 26 million". Rahmatullah Afghan. Pajhwok Afghan News. August 4, 2010. Retrieved August 16, 2010.
26. "Chapter 2. The Society and Its Environment" (pdf). Afghanistan Country Study. Illinois Institute of Technology. pp. 105–06. Retrieved 2010-10-12.
27. "Population". U.S. Library of Congress. 2008. Retrieved 2010-10-12.
28. "Afghanistan (1979-2001)". Retrieved 2010-10-12.
29. "Afghanistan – Population Reference Bureau". Population Reference Bureau. Retrieved 2009-12-29.
30. BBC News – Afghan poll's ethnic battleground – 2004-10-06.
31. ^ "Afghanistan - People: Ethnic groups". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2010-10-12. Cite error: The named reference "CIA-Ethnic-groups" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
32. "Ethnic divisions:". The World Factbook/Central Intelligence Agency. University of Missouri. 1993-01-22. Retrieved 2010-10-16. Pashtun 38%, Tajik 25%, Uzbek 6%, Hazara 19%; minor ethnic groups include Chahar Aimaks, Turkmen, Baloch, and others
33. "The People". Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL). June 30, 2002. Retrieved 2010-10-08.
34. "Ethnic groups:". The World Factbook/Central Intelligence Agency. University of Missouri. 2003. Retrieved 2010-09-18. Pashtun 44%, Tajik 25%, Hazara 10%, minor ethnic groups (Aimaks, Turkmen, Baloch, and others) 13%, Uzbek 8%
35. ^ "Afghanistan in 2006 - A survey of the Afghan people" (PDF). Kabul, Afghanistan: The Asia Foundation. 2006. p. 128. Retrieved 2010-10-29. D-8.* Which ethnic group do you belong to? SINGLE RESPONSE ONLY Pashtun 41%, Tajik 37%, Uzbek 9%, Hazara 9%, Turkmen 2%, Baloch 1%, Nuristani 0%, Aimak 0%, Arab 1%, Pashaye 0%, Other 0%.
36. ^ "AFGHANISTAN v. Languages". Ch. M. Kieffer. Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved 2010-10-10. A. Official languages. Paṧtō (1) is the native tongue of 50 to 55 percent of Afghans... Persian (2) is the language most spoken in Afghanistan. The native tongue of twenty five percent of the population, it is split into numerous dialects.
37. "The Afghans - Language and Literacy". Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL). June 30, 2002. Retrieved 2010-09-16.
38. "Languages of Afghanistan". SIL International. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Retrieved 2010-09-18.
39. Children at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS in Afghanistan. December 1, 2008.
40. Number Of New HIV Cases Reported In Afghanistan Increasing, Health Ministry Says. July 11, 2008.

•  This article incorporates public domain material from The World Factbook. CIA.
•  This article incorporates public domain material from U.S. Bilateral Relations Fact Sheets. United States Department of State.

Further reading

• Jawad, Nassim (1992). Afghanistan: A Nation of Minorities. London: Minority Rights Group International. ISBN 0-946690-76-6.

External links

• Afghanistan's Provinces
• Afghanistan Information Management Services
• Central Statistics Organization of Afghanistan
• Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation & Development of Afghanistan
• Afghanistan - Naval Postgraduate School
• Population cartogram of Afghanistan

• Demographics of Afghanistan
• Afghan people