Demographics of Afghanistan

File:Ethnic groups of afghanistan-provinces.jpg

Ethnic groups of Afghanistan (percentages are from Encyclopædia Iranica and CIA World Factbook)

  36.4% to 42% Pashtun

  27% to 33.6% Tajik

  8.0% to 9% Hazara

  8.0% to 9% Uzbek

      3.2% to 4% Aimak

  3% Turkmen

  1.6% to 4% Baloch

      4% to 9.2% other (Pashai, Nuristani, Brahui, Hindkowans, Hindustani, etc.)

Languages of Afghanistan (percentages are from CIA World Factbook)

  50% Persian (Dari)

  35% Pashto

  8% Uzbek

  3% Turkmen

  4% Balochi

      2% other (Nuristani, Pashai, Brahui, etc.)

The Demographics of Afghanistan are ethnically and linguistically mixed. This reflects its location astride historic trade and invasion routes leading from Central Asia into South Asia and Southwest Asia. Afghanistan can be considered a country of minorities as there is no group serving as a majority. Rather, Pashtuns are the largest ethnic group followed by Tajiks as the second largest group, then Hazaras, Uzbeks tied for third, followed by the Aimak, Turkmen, Baluch, Nuristani and other small groups. Pashto and Persian (Dari) the two official languages of the country. Persian is spoken by at least half of the population and serves as a lingua franca for most. Pashto is spoken widely in the south, east and south west. Uzbek and Turkmen are spoken in the north. Smaller groups throughout the country also speak more than 70 other languages and numerous dialects.

The term Afghan, though historically synonymous with Pashtun, now refers to a nationality rather than an ethnicty. As such, all constitutions drafted since the early 20th century have declared Afghan as the official nationality for all citizens of Afghanistan.

99% of Afghanistan's population adheres to Islam. An estimated 80% of the population is Sunni, following the Hanafi school of jurisprudence; 19% is predominantly Shi'a. Despite attempts during the years of communist rule to secularize Afghan society, Islamic practices pervade all aspects of life. In fact, Islam served as the principal basis for expressing opposition to communist rule and 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 divided into tribal and other kinship-based groups, which follow traditional customs and religious practices.

History and identification of the Afghan people

For more information see: History of Afghanistan and Durrani Empire

Afghans as a whole draw their modern national identity from the founding of the Durrani Empire in the mid 18th century. From 1747 until 1823 Ahmed Shah Durrani born in Multan, Punjab in modern day Pakistan, his sons and grandsons held the monarchy in direct session. They were the first Pashtun rulers of Afghanistan, from the Sadozai line of the Abdali (known as the Durrani since Ahmad Shah's reign) group of clans. It was under the leadership of Ahmad Shah that the nation of Afghanistan began to take shape following centuries of fragmentation and exploitation. However each ethnic group has its own unique history which makes up the entire Afghan history.

There requires some realization that Afghan nationalism can be synonymous with that of Pashtun nationalism and as a result cannot be conflated into an Afghan national identity as the country is a multiethnic entity. This is further complicated by the fact that there are now more Pashtuns (ethnic Afghans) located in Pakistan than in Afghanistan itself which has resulted in the increased usage of the term Afghanistani to denote the inhabitants of the modern state of Afghanistan and its diverse population. Thus, there have been a variety of groups who have lived in what is today Afghanistan, but were not ethnic Afghans such as the aforementioned Tajiks as well as Uzbeks and Hazaras etc. who are currently divided as to what constitutes a national Afghan identity. Because Afghan history is fraught with regional cleavages any notion of an Afghan nation-state is largely absent until the 18th century and the rise of the Durrani Empire. For this reason, important figures from the past such as Avicenna and Rumi, who were of ethnic Persian (Tajik) identity, are often not identified as ethnic Afghans or even as Afghan people, 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

Pashtun children in Khost

Main article: Pashtun people

The Pashtuns (also known as Pakhtun or Pathan), are people that reside mainly in southern and eastern Afghanistan and are also located in western Pakistan. Considerable pockets also exist throughout other parts of Afghanistan, and they are a major ethnic minority in all the major cities of Pakistan; notably Lahore, Islamabad/Rawalpindi, Sialkot and Karachi which has the largest concentration(estimated at around 2 million not including Afghan refugees) of Pushtuns in a single city anywhere in the world. Smaller groups of Pashtuns are also found in Iran. Pashtun culture is ancient and much of it is yet to be recorded in contemporary times. There are many conflicting theories, some contemporary, some ancient, about the origins of the Pashtun people, both among historians and the Pashtun themselves. According to the writer W.K. Frazier Tyler writing in his book Afghanistan, "The word Afghan… first appears in history in the Hudud-al-Alam, a work by an unknown Arab geographer who wrote in 982 AD." The Afghan identity began to develop as Pashtun identity under the rule of Ahmad Shah Durrani who united the Pashtun (Afghan) chiefdoms in the middle of 18th century. Another boost took place under the rule of Nadir Shah who with Pashtun support further centralized the government. Until the advent of the modern "Afghan" state in the 20th century, the word Afghan had been synonymous with Pashtun.

Tajiks, Farsiwan, and Qizilbash

Tajik children

Main article: Tajiks

Main article: Farsiwan

Main article: Qizilbash

The Persian-speaking Tajiks are closely related to the Persians of Iran and are amongst the oldest inhabitants of the region. They can trace their roots back to the original Eastern Iranian peoples that settled Central Asia in ancient times, such as the Bactrians, Sogdians, Scythians and Parthians, as well as ancient Persians who fled to Central Asia during the Arab Islamic expansion. The Tajiks also comprise the majority population of Tajikistan and are found in large numbers in Uzbekistan and Iran as well as parts of western Pakistan and the Xinjiang province of China. Related groups in Afghanistan known as the Farsiwan and the Qizilbash are often affiliated with the Tajiks and are considered a subgroup the Tajiks. The difference between them is that the Farsiwan and Qizilbash are generally of the Shia while the rest of the Tajiks are of the Sunni sect.

Hazaras

File:Hazara boy in Mazari Sharif 1662005.jpg

A young Hazara boy poses for a photograph outside his home

Main article: Hazara people

Historically, the Hazara seem to have Turkic-Mongolian origins, but with some admixture from surrounding indigenous groups. Linguistically though the Hazara speak Persian, their variant is interspersed with more Mongolian words, but this is also the case with many Turkic languages such as Uzbek. It may simply be the case that the Hazara are of Uyghur Turkic origin as many Turks accompanied the Mongol armies or arrived in the region long before the Mongols. It is however 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. The theory regarding a more Turkic origin for the Hazara has equal validity and the relatively small number of actual Mongols in comparison to Turks makes it more likely that the Hazara are descendants of Turkic invaders who were Persianized over time. Unlike most Afghans the Hazara are Shia, which has often set them apart from their neighbors. There are sizeable Hazara communities in Pakistan particularly in Quetta as well as in Iran.

Uzbeks

File:Uzbek old man, Uzbekistan, October 15, 2005.jpg

An old Uzbek man

Main article: Uzbek people

The Uzbeks are the main Turkic people of Afghanistan and are found mainly 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 1500s the Uzbeks had settled throughout Central Asia and reached Afghanistan following the conquests of Muhammad Shaybani. Most Uzbeks are Sunni Muslim and are closely related to the Turkmen who also can be found in Afghanistan. The Uzbeks of Afghanistan are usually bilingual, fluent in both Persian and Uzbek.

Turkmen

Main article: Turkmen people

The Turkmen are the smaller Turkic group who can also be found in neighboring Turkmenistan, Iran particularly around Mashad and Pakistan. Largely Sunni Muslim, 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).

Baluch

Main article: Baloch people

The Baluch are another Iranian ethnic group that numbers around 200,000 in Afghanistan. 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 Baluch are also Sunni Muslim.

Nuristani

A Nuristani boy beside an American soldier during a U.S. humanitarian assistance supply hand to Nuristani families.

Main article: Nuristani people

The Nuristani are an Indo-Aryan people, representing a third branch independent of the Aryan peoples groups, who live in isolated regions of northeastern Afghanistan as well as across the border in the district of Chitral in Pakistan. Better known historically as the Kafirs of what was once known as Kafiristan (land of pagans), they were forcibly converted to Islam during the rule of Amir Abdur Rahman the iron and their country was renamed "Nuristan" or "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 Pakistan on highlands. Many Nuristanis believe that they are the descendants of Alexander's Greeks, but there is a lack of genetic evidence for this and they are more than likely an isolated pocket of early Aryan invaders. They are largely Sunni Muslims.

Culture

Main article: Culture of Afghanistan

Language

There are a variety of languages in Afghanistan of which the largest and official ones are Persian (Dari) and Pashto. Other significant languages include the Turkmen and the Uzbek languages.

Religion

About 99% of Afghanistan's population is Muslim with the majority as Sunni Muslims. Approximately 15% are Shiites. Before Islam's arrival, the region was predominantly Zoroastrian and Buddhist. Recent media attention to the arrest of a Christian convert indicates that there is a very small community of Christians living inside and outside Afghanistan

Additional demographic information

Nationality

Noun: Afghan

Adjective: Afghan

Population

31,056,997 (July 2006 est.)

Demographics of Afghanistan, Data of FAO, year 2005 ; Number of inhabitants in thousands.

Age structure

0-14 years: 44.6% (male 7,095,117/female 6,763,759)

15-64 years: 53% (male 8,436,716/female 8,008,463)

65 years and over: 2.4% (male 366,642/female 386,300) (2006 est.)

Median age

Population pyramid for Afghanistan

Total: 17.6 years

Male: 17.6 years

Female: 17.6 years (2006 est.)

Population growth rate

2.67% (2006 est.)

Birth rate

46.6 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Death rate

20.34 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Net migration rate

0.42 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Gender 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: 0.95 male(s)/female

Total population: 1.05 male(s)/female (2006 est.)

Infant mortality rate

Total: 160.23 deaths/1,000 live births

Male: 164.77 deaths/1,000 live births

Female: 155.45 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

Total population: 46 years (2004 est.)

Male: 46 years

Female: 46 years

Total fertility rate

6.69 children born/woman (2006 est.)

HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 0.01% (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 61 (as of 2006)

HIV/AIDS - deaths: 4

Major infectious diseases

degree of risk: high

food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever

vectorborne disease: malaria is a high risk countrywide below 2,000 meters from March through November

animal contact disease: rabies (2005)

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Languages spoken

An approximate distribution of languages based on the CIA World Factbook is as following:

• Persian (Dari): 50% (official language of the country)
• Pashto: 35% (official language of the country)
• Turkic languages (primarily Uzbeki and Turkmeni) 11%
• 30 minor languages (primarily Balochi, Pashai, and Nuristani) 4%
• much bilingualism

Literacy

Definition: Age 15 and over can read and write

Total population: 36%

Male: 51%

Female: 21% (1999 est.)

Religions

Further information: [[:Islam in Afghanistan, Hinduism in Afghanistan, Buddhism in Afghanistan, Roman Catholicism in Afghanistan]]

• Islam - Approximately 99% of Population
  • Sunni Muslim: 80%
  • Shi'a Muslim: 19%
• Other: 1%
  • Hinduism
  • Sikhism
  • Buddhism: 0.3%
  • Christianity (predominantly Roman Catholic)
  • Judaism (one known individual: Zablon Simintov)

Notes and references

• Template:CIA WFB 2006
•  This article incorporates public domain material from U.S. Bilateral Relations Fact Sheets. United States Department of State.

Further reading

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

See also

• Languages of Afghanistan
• Culture of Afghanistan
• History of Afghanistan