Demographics of Afghanistan

Source	UN (World Population Prospects 2024)
Date	07 Apr 2026

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As of 2026, the population of Afghanistan is projected at 45.05 million, compared to 43.84 million in 2025. It ranks 36th in the world by population and 15th in Asia, accounting for 0.54% of the global population and 0.93% of Asia's population. The population growth rate for 2026 is projected at 2.71%, placing Afghanistan 15th among 237 countries and dependent territories.

There are 22.76 million males and 22.29 million females in Afghanistan. The male population accounts for 50.52%, compared to 49.48% for females. Afghanistan has 464k more males than females. The sex ratio in 2026 is projected at 102.08 males per 100 females. Afghanistan ranks 194th globally in terms of the female-to-male ratio.

Population
Growth
Gender

Afghanistan population
Year	Population			Growth (%)	M per 100 F
Year	Male	Female	Total	Growth (%)	M per 100 F
1950	4,118,834	3,657,341	7,776,176	1.27	112.618
1955	4,362,582	3,964,398	8,326,979	1.49	110.044
1960	4,690,245	4,344,798	9,035,043	1.91	107.951
1965	5,173,290	4,862,718	10,036,008	2.28	106.387
1970	5,788,703	5,501,424	11,290,128	2.48	105.222
1975	6,524,498	6,249,456	12,773,954	2.34	104.401
1980	6,697,575	6,471,736	13,169,311	-6.14	103.490
1985	5,736,473	5,690,379	11,426,852	0.17	100.810
1990	6,011,167	6,034,493	12,045,660	-0.47	99.613
1995	8,525,665	8,540,170	17,065,836	4.14	99.830
2000	10,094,646	10,035,682	20,130,327	-1.21	100.588
2005	12,284,657	12,119,909	24,404,567	4.53	101.359
2010	14,272,309	14,011,779	28,284,089	2.74	101.859
2015	17,099,520	16,732,244	33,831,764	2.34	102.195
2020	19,725,450	19,343,529	39,068,979	3.27	101.974
2021	20,186,456	19,813,956	40,000,412	1.46	101.880
2022	20,475,675	20,103,167	40,578,842	1.41	101.853
2023	20,924,078	20,530,683	41,454,761	2.85	101.916
2024	21,532,540	21,114,952	42,647,492	2.83	101.978
2025	22,142,579	21,701,532	43,844,111	2.71	102.032
2026	22,755,660	22,291,409	45,047,069	2.71	102.083

Demographics Indicators
Year	Life expectancy	Median age	Fertility rate
1950	28.156	18.395	7.248
1955	30.366	18.187	7.262
1960	32.799	17.864	7.282
1965	35.124	17.525	7.305
1970	37.460	16.974	7.400
1975	39.994	16.360	7.542
1980	39.258	15.825	7.643
1985	32.132	15.320	7.550
1990	45.118	15.002	7.576
1995	52.103	14.556	7.767
2000	55.005	13.989	7.566
2005	58.247	13.979	6.858
2010	60.702	14.608	6.195
2015	62.270	15.490	5.652
2020	61.454	16.411	5.145
2021	60.417	16.575	5.039
2022	65.617	16.752	4.932
2023	66.035	16.940	4.840
2024	66.289	17.116	4.761
2025	66.538	17.278	4.659
2026	66.771	17.444	4.562

Life expectancy
Median age
Fertility rate

Afghanistan death and birth rate
Year	Total		Crude (per 1000)
Year	Death	Birth	Crude death	Crude birth
1950	290,970	383,985	37.418	49.380
1955	286,725	417,650	34.433	50.156
1960	286,157	456,418	31.672	50.516
1965	292,983	510,721	29.193	50.889
1970	302,999	578,135	26.838	51.207
1975	311,723	655,576	24.403	51.321
1980	338,529	703,929	25.706	53.452
1985	362,217	590,687	31.699	51.693
1990	234,642	637,076	19.479	52.888
1995	245,793	899,076	14.403	52.683
2000	253,807	1,036,525	12.608	51.491
2005	241,933	1,097,038	9.913	44.952
2010	237,639	1,181,113	8.402	41.759
2015	254,691	1,331,758	7.528	39.364
2020	295,554	1,429,983	7.565	36.601
2021	320,099	1,453,685	8.002	36.342
2022	243,193	1,462,654	5.993	36.045
2023	240,296	1,469,029	5.797	35.437
2024	243,186	1,492,956	5.702	35.007
2025	245,867	1,507,838	5.608	34.391
2026	248,524	1,520,756	5.517	33.759

Total
Crude

Urban and rural population of Afghanistan
Year	Population		Urban (%)
Year	Urban	Rural	Urban (%)
1950	449,463	7,326,713	5.780
1955	566,921	7,760,059	6.808
1960	733,876	8,301,168	8.123
1965	956,366	9,079,642	9.529
1970	1,267,855	10,022,273	11.230
1975	1,759,081	11,014,873	13.771
1980	2,065,080	11,104,232	15.681
1985	1,899,310	9,527,542	16.621
1990	2,079,567	9,966,093	17.264
1995	3,043,587	14,022,249	17.834
2000	3,735,826	16,394,501	18.558
2005	4,809,142	19,595,425	19.706
2010	6,296,457	21,987,632	22.261
2015	8,276,911	25,554,853	24.465
2020	9,869,688	29,199,291	25.262
2021	10,139,249	29,861,163	25.348
2022	10,304,561	30,274,281	25.394
2023	10,559,793	30,894,968	25.473
2024	10,960,719	31,686,773	25.701
2025	11,373,235	32,470,877	25.940
2026	11,807,012	33,240,056	26.210

Population
Urbanization

Afghanistan population by Age Group (2026)
Age group	Male	Female	Total		M per 100 F
Age group	Male	Female	Persons	Share (%)	M per 100 F
00-04	3,580,503	3,430,963	7,011,466	15.56	104.359
05-09	3,230,758	3,093,436	6,324,194	14.04	104.439
10-14	2,906,037	2,775,634	5,681,671	12.61	104.698
15-19	2,553,735	2,430,778	4,984,512	11.07	105.058
20-24	2,266,642	2,165,963	4,432,604	9.84	104.648
25-29	1,950,995	1,892,258	3,843,253	8.53	103.104
30-34	1,573,152	1,547,656	3,120,808	6.93	101.647
35-39	1,199,864	1,185,253	2,385,117	5.29	101.233
40-44	920,631	912,577	1,833,207	4.07	100.883
45-49	754,040	751,818	1,505,859	3.34	100.296
50-54	599,195	614,494	1,213,688	2.69	97.510
55-59	444,089	484,750	928,839	2.06	91.612
60-64	308,370	368,678	677,048	1.50	83.642
65-69	209,034	268,183	477,217	1.06	77.945
70-74	133,617	180,482	314,099	0.70	74.033
75-79	75,612	111,608	187,220	0.42	67.748
80-84	35,923	54,488	90,411	0.20	65.928
85-89	11,226	18,077	29,302	0.07	62.101
90-94	2,046	3,857	5,902	0.01	53.046
95-99	186	433	619	0.00	42.956
100+	7	23	30	0.00	30.435
Total	22,755,662	22,291,409	45,047,066		102.083

Population pyramid
Gender ratio