Afghanistan Economy

Lecturer: Tasal Noorzai

 An overview of Afghanistan Economy
(Geoghraphy)
• A landlocked mountainous country with plains in the north and southwest,
Afghanistan is located within South Asia and Central Asia.
• It is part of the US-coined Greater Middle East Muslim world, which lies
between latitudes 29° N and 39° N, and longitudes60° E and 75° E. The
country's highest point is Noshaq, at 7,492 m (24,580 ft) above sea level.
• Weather: It has a continental climate with harsh winters in the central
highlands, the glaciated northeast (around Nuristan), and the Wakhan
Corridor, where the average temperature in January is below −15 °C (5 °F),
and hot summers in the low-lying areas of the Sistan Basin of the
southwest, the Jalalabad basin in the east, and the Turkestan plains along
the Amu River in the north, where temperatures average over 35 °C (95 °F)
in July.
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• The country's natural resources include: coal, copper, iron ore, lithium,
uranium, rare earth elements, chromite, gold, zinc, talc, barites, sulfur,
marble, precious and semi-precious stones, natural gas, and petroleum,
among other things. In 2010, US and Afghan government officials
estimated that untapped mineral deposits located in 2007 by the US
Geological Survey are worth at least $1 trillion.
• At 652,230 km2 (251,830 sq mi), Afghanistan is the world's 41st largest
country, slightly bigger than France and smaller than Burma, about the size
of Texas in the United States. It borders Pakistan in the south and east; Iran
in the west; Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in the north; and China
in the Far East.
 Demographics

• The population of Afghanistan was estimated at 29.2 million in 2017. Of this,

15 million are males and 14.2 million females. About 22% of them are
urbanite and the remaining 78% live in rural areas. An additional 3 million or
so Afghans are temporarily housed in neighboring Pakistan and Iran, most
of whom were born and raised in those two countries. This makes the total
Afghan population at around 33,332,025, and its current growth rate is
2.34%. This population is expected to reach 82 million by 2050 if current
population trends continue.
• The only city with over a million residents is its capital, Kabul. Other large
cities in the country are, in order of population size, Kandahar, Herat,
Mazar-i-Sharif, Kunduz, Jalalabad, LashkarGah, Taloqan, Khost,
Sheberghan, and Ghazni.
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Largest cities or towns in Afghanistan
Estimated in 2012
Rank Name Province Pop.
1 Kabul Kabul Province 3,289,000

2 Kandahar Kandahar Province 491,500

3 Herat Herat Province 436,300

4 Mazar-i-Sharif Balkh Province 368,100

5 Kunduz Kunduz Province 304,600

6 Taloqan Takhar Province 219,000

7 Jalalabad Nangarhar Province 206,500

8 PuliKhumri Baghlan Province 203,600

9 Charikar Parwan Province 171,200

10 Sheberghan Jowzjan Province 161,700

 Ethnic groups in Afghanistan
Ethnic group World Factbook c. 2013 estimate[2]

Pashtun 42%

Tajik 27%

Hazara 9%

Uzbek 9%

Aimak 4%

Turkmen 3%

Baloch 2%

Others (Pashayi, Nuristani,

Pamiri, Arab, etc.) 4%
 Languages

• There are a number of smaller regional languages, they include Uzbek, Turkmen,
Balochi, Pashayi, and Nuristani. A number of Afghans are also fluent in Urdu, English,
and other foreign languages.

Spoken languages of Afghanistan

Dari (Afghan Persian) 50%

Pashto 35%

Uzbek and Turkmen 11%

30 others including Balochi 4%

 Religions
• Over 99% of the Afghan population is Muslim. According to latest
estimates, up to 90% practice Sunni Islam and the remaining 7–15%
follow to Shia Islam.

Religion in Afghanistan

Sunni Islam 84.7–89.7%

Imamiyyah 7–15%

Ismailism 4.5%

Other religion 0.5%

 Governance

• Afghanistan is an Islamic republic consisting of three branches, the

executive, legislative, and judicial. The nation is led by President Ashraf
Ghani with Abdul Rashid Dostum and Sarwar Danish as vice presidents.
Abdullah Abdullah serves as the chief executive officer (CEO). The National
Assembly is the legislature, a bicameral body having two chambers, the
House of the People and the House of Elders. The Supreme Court is led by
Chief Justice Said Yusuf Halem, the former Deputy Minister of Justice for
Legal Affairs.
 Administrative divisions
• Afghanistan is administratively divided into 34 provinces (wilayats). having a
governor and a capital. The country is further divided into nearly 400 provincial
districts, each of which normally covers a city or a number of villages. Each district
is represented by a district governor.
• The provincial governors are appointed by the President of Afghanistan and the
district governors are selected by the provincial governors.
• There are also provincial councils that are elected through direct and general
elections for a period of four years.
• According to article 140 of the constitution and the presidential decree on electoral
law, mayors of cities should be elected through free and direct elections for a four-
year term.
• However, due to huge election costs, mayoral and municipal elections have never
been held.
• Instead, mayors have been appointed by the government. In the capital city of
Kabul, the mayor is appointed by the President of Afghanistan.
 Politics of Afghanistan
• The politics of Afghanistan consists of the council of ministers, provincial governors
and the national assembly, with a president serving as the head of state and
commander-in-chief of the Afghan Armed Forces.
• The nation is currently led by President Mula Hasan Akhund who is backed by two
vice presidents, Mula Abdul Ghani Brader and Abdul Salam Hanafi. In the last
decade the politics of Afghanistan have been influenced by NATO countries,
particularly the United States, in an effort to stabilise and democratise the country.
In 2004, the nation's new constitution was adopted and an executive president was
elected. The following year a general election to choose parliamentarians took
place.
• Hamid Karzai was declared the first ever democratically elected head of state in
Afghanistan in 2004, winning a second five-year term in 2009. The National
Assembly is Afghanistan's national legislature. It is a bicameral body, composed of
the House of the People and the House of Elders. The first legislature was elected in
2005 and the current one in 2010. Members of the Supreme Court were appointed
by the president to form the judiciary. Together, this new system is to provide a
new set of checks and balances that was unheard of in the country.
 Afghanistan is a member of the following organizations:
 Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (observer)
 South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)
 Colombo Plan
 Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)
 Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO)
 Group of 77
 World Bank
 Asian Development Bank (ADB)
 International Monetary Fund (IMF)
 United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia
and the Pacific
 Islamic Development Bank (IDB)
 Food and Agriculture Organization
 International Fund for Agricultural Development
 International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
 International Civil Aviation Organization
 International Criminal Court (ICC)
 International Finance Corporation
 International Labour Organization
 International Union of Railways
 Interpol
 International Olympic Committee
 International Organization for Migration
 International Telecommunication Union
 Non-Aligned Movement
 Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
 United Nations (UN)
 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
 United Nations Industrial Development Organization
 Universal Postal Union
 World Federation of Trade Unions
 World Health Organization
 World Meteorological Organization
 World Tourism Organization
 World Trade Organization (WTO) (initially observer, became
member December 2015)z
 GDP of Afghanistan
• The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Afghanistan was worth 14.58 billion
US dollars in 2021, according to official data from the World Bank.
• The GDP value of Afghanistan represents 0.01 percent of the world
economy
• GDP in Afghanistan averaged 6.24 USD Billion from 1960 until 2016,
reaching an all time high of 20.54 USD Billion in 2012 and a record low of
0.54 USD Billion in 1960.
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Related Last Previous Unit Reference
GDP 14.58 20.14 USD Billion Dec 2021
GDP per Capita 426.23 553.04 USD Dec 2021
GDP per Capita PPP 1517.02 1968.34 USD Dec 2021

GDP from Utilities 24444.00 25942.00 AFN Million Dec 2021

GDP from Transport 42540.00 67933.00 AFN Million Dec 2021

GDP from Services 492398.00 703933.00 AFN Million Dec 2021

GDP from Mining 21804.00 21439.00 AFN Million Dec 2021

GDP from Manufacturing 91431.00 101936.00 AFN Million Dec 2021

GDP from Construction 21459.00 33199.00 AFN Million Dec 2021

GDP from Agriculture 399264.00 442548.00 AFN Million Dec 2021

 Afghanistan GDP
• The biggest sector of Afghanistan´s economy is services.
• Wholesale and retail trade, restaurants and hotels; transport, storage and
communications; finance, insurance and real estate and community,
personal, social and government services account for 49 percent of the GDP.
• Agriculture creates 26 percent of the output.
• Manufacturing and mining constitute 13 percent of the wealth and
construction 12 percent.
• Afghanistan GDP - actual data, historical chart and calendar of releases -
was last updated on January of 2021.

Actual Previous Highest Lowest Dates Unit Frequency

14.58 20.14 20.56 0.54 1960 - USD Billion Yearly Current USD
2021
 GDP - composition by sector:

• Agriculture: 35 %
industry: 26%
services: 49%
note: data exclude opium production (2021 est.)
• Definition: This entry gives the percentage contribution of agriculture,
industry, and services to total GDP.
 Afghanistan GDP Growth Rate 2003-2023
 Annual percentage growth rate of GDP at market prices based on constant local
currency.
 Aggregates are based on constant 2010 U.S. dollars.
 GDP is the sum of gross value added by all resident producers in the economy plus
any product taxes and minus any subsidies not included in the value of the
products.
 It is calculated without making deductions for depreciation of fabricated assets or
for depletion and degradation of natural resources.
• Afghanistan gdp growth rate for 2021 was -20.70%, a 18.35% decline from 2020.
• Afghanistan gdp growth rate for 2020 was -2.35%, a 6.26% decline from 2019.
• Afghanistan gdp growth rate for 2019 was 3.91%, a 2.72% increase from 2018.
• Afghanistan gdp growth rate for 2018 was 1.19%, a 1.46% decline from 2017.
 Similar Country Ranking Afghanistan GDP Growth Rate
Country Name GDP Growth (%) GDP Growth
Rwanda 10.88% Year (%) Annual Change
Tajikistan 9.40% 2021 -20.70% -18.35%
Zimbabwe 8.47%
2020 -2.35% -6.26%
Benin 7.16%
Burkina Faso 6.91% 2019 3.91% 2.72%
Senegal 6.54% 2018 1.19% -1.46%
Democratic Republic of Congo 6.20%
2017 2.65% 0.39%
Togo 5.99%
Madagascar 5.74% 2016 2.26% 0.81%
Ethiopia 5.64% 2015 1.45% -1.27%
Liberia 4.99% 2014 2.72% -2.88%
Nepal 4.84%
Guinea-Bissau 3.80% 2013 5.60% -7.15%
Uganda 3.54% 2012 12.75% 12.33%
Burundi 3.10% 2011 0.43% -13.94%
Mali 3.05%
Malawi 2.75%
2010 14.36% -7.03%
Mozambique 2.33% 2009 21.39% 17.47%
Comoros 2.11% 2008 3.93% -9.90%
Niger 1.39%
2007 13.83% 8.47%
Central African Republic 0.90%
Afghanistan -20,70 2006 5.36% -5.87%
• Afghanistan is one of the poorest and least developed countries in the
world.
• Since the collapse of the Taliban government and the NATO led invasion in
2001, the economy has been steadily growing due to the influx of foreign aid
and investments.
• However, security threats, the lack of infrastructure and endemic corruption
have been hampering economic activity.
• Agriculture (35 percent of GDP) is the most important sector of the
economy, as the majority of the population is dependent on crops.
• The resurgence of the public sector has led to growth in services, which now
account for around 40 percent of GDP.
• Mining has also been growing rapidly due to exploration of the country’s
vast mineral resources, such as lithium, and precious stones..
Afghanistan GDP Per Capita 1960-2023
 GDP per capita is gross domestic product divided by midyear population.
GDP is the sum of gross value added by all resident producers in the
economy plus any product taxes and minus any subsidies not included in the
value of the products.
 It is calculated without making deductions for depreciation of fabricated
assets or for depletion and degradation of natural resources.
 Afghanistan gdp per capita for 2021 was $364, a 29.64% decline from 2020.
• Afghanistan gdp per capita for 2020 was $517, a 3.27% increase from 2019.
• Afghanistan gdp per capita for 2019 was $501, a 0.31% decline from 2018.
• Afghanistan gdp per capita for 2018 was $502, a 5.3% decline from 2017
 Similar Country Ranking
Afghanistan GDP per Capiuta
Country Name GDP Per Capita (US $)
Zimbabwe $1,774 GDP Per Capita
Senegal $1,634 Year (US $) Annual Growth Rate (%)
Comoros $1,577 2021 $364 -29.64%
Nepal $1,229 2020 $517 3.27%
Guinea $1,189 2019 $501 -0.31%
Tanzania $1,146 2018 $502 -5.30%
Ethiopia $925 2017 $530 1.90%
Tajikistan $917
2016 $520 -12.19%
Burkina Faso $893
2015 $592 -5.68%
Uganda $883
Mali $882
2014 $628 -3.66%
Rwanda $821 2013 $652 -1.68%
Gambia $772 2012 $663 6.63%
Madagascar $503 2011 $622 12.14%
Mozambique $492 2010 $555 24.95%
Central African Republic $461 2009 $444 14.44%
Somalia $447 2008 $388 3.40%
Afghanistan $364 2007 $375 36.89%
Afghanistan GDP per capita
• The GDP per capita is obtained by dividing the country’s gross domestic
product, adjusted by inflation, by the total population.
• This page provides - Afghanistan GDP per capita - actual values, historical
data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.
• Afghanistan GDP per capita - actual data, historical chart and calendar of
releases - was last updated on January of 2018.

Actual Previous Highest Lowest Dates Unit Frequency

596.30 599.10 630.40 364.10 2002 - 2016 USD Yearly