Afghanistan

AsiaCapital city: KabulCapital metro: KabulPresident: Hibatullah AkhundzadaPrime Minister: Mohammad Hasan Akhund
2026 population
43.8M
Rank #37 globally
Area
652k km² (252k sq mi)
Metros tracked
9
19% of population in metros
Composite score
7.3
Rank #113 globally

population: UN projection (1 Jul 2025) · indicators as of 2026-09-05 · 9 metros tracked

🗺️ Geography9 metros

Afghanistan metro footprint, shaded by composite tier.

Loading map…
9 polygons

Hover for rank, click to open the metro page. Boundaries derived from Overture Maps administrative divisions; metros without source coverage are omitted.

🏙️ 9 tracked metros
9 metros
🗂️ Provinces

34 entries listed under Afghanistan. Click any to see its metros and footprint.

34 total
📋 At a glance
Official languages
Uzbek, Turkmen, Arabic, Balochi, Pashayi +4 more
Government
Islamic theocracy
Demonym
Afghan
Time zone
UTC+04:30
Driving side
Right
Calling code
+93
Internet TLD
.af
ISO 3166
AF
Established
1709
Highest point
Noshaq (7,492 m (24,580 ft))
National anthem
This Is the Home of the Brave

Facts via Wikidata.

📰 In the news1 story
Every story in the latest digest →
💹 Economy and developmentLow income
Human Dev. Index
#179 / 191
0.496
UNDP · 2023
GDP
#137 / 193
$17.8B
World Bank · 2024
GDP per capita
#192 / 193
$417
World Bank · 2024
GDP/capita (PPP)
#178 / 190
$2.2k
World Bank · 2024
GNI/capita (Atlas)
#191 / 192
$390
World Bank · 2024
Life expectancy
#162 / 194
66.3 yrs
World Bank · 2024
Median age
16.9 yrs
UN WPP · 2023
Urban population
#181 / 194
26%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. growth
2.8%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. density
#122 / 193
64/km²
World Bank · 2023
Foreign-born
#187 / 193
0.2%
World Bank · 2024
Rule of law
#160 / 175
0.08
V-Dem · 2025
Internet users
#186 / 193
16%
World Bank · 2024
Inflation
#1 / 185
-6.6%
World Bank · 2024
CO₂ per capita
#20 / 192
0.3 t
Global Carbon Budget · 2024
Renewable electricity
#26 / 186
87%
Ember · 2024

Ranks are among sovereign countries with data; ★ marks a top-5% finish. Sources: World Bank Open Data and Our World in Data (UNDP, UN WPP, V-Dem, Global Carbon Budget, Ember, Energy Institute; CC BY 4.0). Each card credits its originating body. Renewable share is of electricity generation, not of primary energy. Each figure is the most recent year available.

Alliances & Organisations2 full memberships

Security

Political & Economic

Subregional

Full memberDashed border = Candidate / ApplicantItalic = Dialogue / Observer

🏛️ Leadership History21 leaders · click to expand

marks a leader associated with atrocities or defiance of law, systemic subversion of democratic institutions, or a criminal conviction. Convictions arising from political persecution, and annulled convictions, are excluded. denotes a monarch. These are editorial designations, applied per entry rather than derived automatically.

Other

Mohammad Hasan Akhund✦ Current

2023Present

Prime Minister

Tenure: 2y 11m 16d

Hibatullah Akhundzada✦ Current

2021Present

President

Tenure: 4y 10m 18d

Ashraf Ghani

20142021

President

Tenure: 6y 10m 17d

Burhanuddin Rabbani

20012001

President

Tenure: 1m 6d

Mohammad Najibullah

19871992

President

Tenure: 4y 4m 29d

Mohammed Daoud Khan

19731978

President

Tenure: 4y 9m 10d

Mohammed Zahir Shah

19331973

President

Tenure: 39y 8m 9d

Mohammed Nadir Shah

19291929

President

Tenure: 0d

Habibullāh Kalakāni

19291929

President

Tenure: 8m 29d

Inayatullah Khan

19291929

President

Tenure: 3d

Amanullah Khan

19261929

President

Tenure: 2y 7m 5d

Emirate of Afghanistan

👑 Amanullah Khan

19191926

Monarch

Tenure: 7y 3m 12d

👑 Habibullah Khan

19011919

Monarch

Tenure: 17y 4m 27d

👑 Abdur Rahman Khan

18801901

Monarch

Tenure: 21y 2m 0d

👑 Sher Ali Khan

18631880

Monarch

Tenure: 17y 1m 22d

👑 Dost Mohammad Khan

18261863

Monarch

Tenure: 37y 5m 8dyear-level dates

👑 Shah Shuja

18031826

Monarch

Tenure: 23y 0dyear-level dates

👑 Mahmud Shah

18011803

Monarch

Tenure: 2y 0dyear-level dates

👑 Zaman Shah

17931801

Monarch

Tenure: 8y 0dyear-level dates

👑 Timur Shah Durrani

17721793

Monarch

Tenure: 21y 0dyear-level dates

Durrani Empire

👑 Ahmad Shah Durrani

17471772

King

Tenure: 25y 3m
📈 Power over timeThe Power Atlas →
Today
Minor#107 · 0.1%
3%5%8%10%19502000
Power (headline share)Latent (material mass)Recognised (standing)
Afghanistan · share of world power, 1919–2026

The powerline is the headline share of world power, running from the state’s first ranked year (benchmark estimates with wide error bars before 1816). Latent power is material mass a state could mobilise (population, manpower, heavy industry). Recognised power is what the system actually treats it as (military spending, productive economy, reach, and status such as a Security Council seat or nuclear arsenal). When latent runs above recognised, a power is rising or under-rated; when recognised runs higher, it is punching above its weight or coasting on prestige. Material sub-indices run 1816 through 2016.

⚔️ Conflicts since 194511 interstate wars · click to expand
Combat deaths: 100–457
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
Combat deaths: 9,550–14,388
Afghan Mujahideen,Afghan Interim Government,Pakistan
Combat deaths: 600,000–2,000,000
Israel Jewish National Council,Haganah,Palmach,Irgun,Lehi,Foreign volunteers,Allied Bedouin tribes,Arab Higher Committee,All-Palestine Protectorate Army of the Holy War,Arab Liberation Army,Jordan,Arab Legion
Combat deaths:
Amānullāh Khān,(Until 14 January 1929),Inayatullah Khan,(14–17 January 1929),Ali Ahmad Khan,(17 January – 9 February 1929),Various anti-Saqqawist tribes,Wardak,Maydan,Jalriz,Sanglakh,Mohammed Nādir Khān
Combat deaths:
Combat deaths:
Combat deaths:
Afghan-Sikh Wars1813–1837
Combat deaths:

Bold = principal belligerent. Source: Wikipedia, “List of interstate wars since 1945.”

👥 Population over time
Population 2023
41.5m
#36 in the world
Since 1800
13×
from 3.3m
Peak
2023
at its largest now
Share of world
0.51%
0.33% in 1800
11.3m22.5m33.8m45.0m18001850190019502000
Afghanistan · people, 1800–2023 · dashed to 2026 is projected

Our World in Data population (CC BY): UN WPP 2024 from 1950, Gapminder v7 1800-1949, HYDE 3.3 earlier; today's borders. Figures above are as of 2023, the last year that is estimated rather than forecast. The dashed tail to 2026 is a UN WPP medium-variant projection. It is drawn because the line should reach the present, and drawn differently because it has not happened yet: no rank, peak or share on this page uses it. Before 1950 the series is reconstruction rather than contemporaneous statistics, which is worth knowing when a country’s peak sits back there. The current population shown elsewhere on this page comes from the workbook and is unchanged by this. Note that people and share of world can move in opposite directions. A country can grow steadily and still become a smaller part of humanity, which is what happened to almost every rich country after 1960.

👥 To 2100

The UN’s probabilistic projection for Afghanistan: the median with its 80% and 95% bands, the UN’s own high, low and zero-migration scenarios beside it. Not this site’s model; the site reads it and says what it implies.

Peak on the median
after 2100
still growing at 2100
2050
76.9m
95% band 42.1m to 139m
2100
130m
95% band 44.1m to 401m
2100 against 2025
2.97×
median still rising in 2100
105m211m316m421m1950197520002025205020752100

Tap or drag across the chart to read any year: the estimate to 2023, then the UN median, its bands and the scenarios.

estimateUN median80% and 95% bandshigh and low fertilityzero migration

What drives it

Births, deaths and net migration on the UN medium path, with fertility, life expectancy and median age, every decade from 1950.

1950
384k born · 291k died · +6k net migration
TFR 7.25 · life expectancy 28.2 · median age 18.4
1960
456k born · 286k died · +3k net migration
TFR 7.28 · life expectancy 32.8 · median age 17.9
1970
578k born · 303k died · +4k net migration
TFR 7.40 · life expectancy 37.5 · median age 17.0
1980
704k born · 339k died · -1.2m net migration
TFR 7.64 · life expectancy 39.3 · median age 15.8
1990
637k born · 235k died · -459k net migration
TFR 7.58 · life expectancy 45.1 · median age 15.0
2000
1.0m born · 254k died · -1.0m net migration
TFR 7.57 · life expectancy 55.0 · median age 14.0
2010
1.2m born · 238k died · -167k net migration
TFR 6.20 · life expectancy 60.7 · median age 14.6
2020
1.4m born · 296k died · +144k net migration
TFR 5.14 · life expectancy 61.5 · median age 16.4
Show all 16 decades
2030
1.6m born · 262k died · +20k net migration
TFR 4.22 · life expectancy 67.6 · median age 18.2
2040
1.7m born · 313k died · +33k net migration
TFR 3.56 · life expectancy 69.4 · median age 20.5
2050
1.8m born · 395k died · -124k net migration
TFR 3.09 · life expectancy 70.9 · median age 23.0
2060
1.9m born · 507k died · -86k net migration
TFR 2.76 · life expectancy 72.3 · median age 25.6
2070
1.9m born · 657k died · +66k net migration
TFR 2.51 · life expectancy 73.6 · median age 28.1
2080
1.9m born · 833k died · -33k net migration
TFR 2.31 · life expectancy 74.8 · median age 30.4
2090
1.9m born · 1.0m died · -498 net migration
TFR 2.17 · life expectancy 76.1 · median age 32.7
2100
1.8m born · 1.2m died · -99k net migration
TFR 2.06 · life expectancy 77.3 · median age 34.8

Every country to 2100 →

Source: United Nations, DESA, Population Division. World Population Prospects 2024. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 IGO. Estimates to 2023; projections 2024 to 2100, medium variant and probabilistic intervals. The UN revises every two years; this is the WPP 2024 revision.

💰 Billionaires1 · $1.4B combined · click to expand
Real EstateReal estate

Source: Forbes real-time billionaires (via the rtb-api project). Net worth as of the latest monthly snapshot.

🏆 National Teams

Afghanistan on the international stage. Click a card for the full record.