Population Considerations
Demographics
The population of Afghanistan is divided into a wide variety of ethnic groups. Because a systematic census has not been held in the country in decades, exact figures about the size and composition of the various ethnic groups are not available. Therefore most figures are approximations only.

Population
The population of Afghanistan in 2003 was estimated by the United Nations at 23,897,000, which placed it as number 46 in population among the 193 nations of the world. In that year approximately 3% of the population was over 65 years of age, with another 43% of the population under 15 years of age. There were 107 males for every 100 females in the country in 2003. According to the UN, the annual population growth rate for 2000–2005 is 3.88%, with the projected population for the year 2015 at 35,473,000. The population density in 2002 was 42 per sq km (110 per sq mi).
It was estimated by the Population Reference Bureau that 22% of the population lived in urban areas in 2001. The capital city, Kabul, had a population of 2,454,000 in that year. Other major population centers include Kandaha¯r, 339,200; Mazār-e Sharif, 239,800; and Hera¯t, 166,600. According to the United Nations, the urban population growth rate for 2000–2005 was 6.9%. These figures are unreliable, however, because many city dwellers have left their urban homes for refuge in rural areas. Approximately 20% of the population is nomadic.
Two decades of near constant warfare make Afghanistan's population—never certain in any case—even more difficult to assess. As many as three million Afghans are estimated to have died, and an additional six million sought refuge in Pakistan, Iran, and elsewhere in the world during the worst of the fighting when thousands of Soviet troops were present. The last official census was taken in 1988.

Migration
Due to the U.S.-led bombing campaign in 2001–2002 carried out against the Taliban regime, a large Afghan refugee population was created in surrounding countries. The Afghan refugee population in Pakistan in 2002 was approximately 3.7 million, and, in Iran and the west, an additional 1.6 million. In 2002, there were approximately 1 million internally displaced persons (IDP) within the country. Since early-2002, there were many spontaneous returnees, but the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) began assisting refugees to repatriate in February 2002. As of October, more than over 1.5 million had returned to their homes.In mid-2002, there was a daily influx of homeless migrants into Kabul, approximately 300–400 families a day. Seventy percent of Kabul's population was living in illegal structures.In the summer of 2001, the majority of the over 1 million internally displaced persons in Afghanistan had been driven off their land and into refugee camps by ongoing conflict and four years of drought. After September 11, 2001, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) began to deliver shelter and non-food supplies to help the IDPs survive the Afghan winter. It dispatched road convoys from Iran, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan to destinations in Afghanistan, carrying blankets, winter clothing, tents, and other essential items. Following the winter, with the defeat of the Taliban and the beginning of the spring planting season, the IOM worked to return the IDPs to their villages from the refugee camps. The IDP families were offered wheat, seeds, blankets, soap, agricultural tools, and other items. In addition to the IOM and the UNHCR, the International Committee of the Red Cross and UNICEF have been heavily involved in repatriating refugees.
Underway in the country is also the Return of Qualified Afghans program, designed to bring back Afghan professionals living abroad to participate in rebuilding the country. The program had returned 227 people by mid-2002. A further 343 people were identified to fill key jobs in ministries and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

Languages
Both Pashtu (or Pushtu) and Dari (Afghan Persian) are the official languages of the country. Pashtu is spoken by about 35% of the population while approximately 50% speak Dari. Although Pashtu has a literature of its own, Dari, the language spoken in Kabul, has been the principal language of cultural expression, of the government, and of business. Both Pashtu and Dari are written primarily with the Arabic alphabet, however, there are some modifications. The Hazaras speak their own dialect of Dari. The Turkic languages, spoken by 11% of the population, include Uzbek and Turkmen, and the Nuristanis speak some seven different dialects belonging to the Dardic linguistic group. There are about 30 minor languages, primarily Balochi and Pashai, spoken by some 4% of the population. Balochi belongs to the same linguistic group, as do several languages spoken in the high Pamirs. Bilingualism is common.
The CIA fact book on languages spoken in Afghanistan is as follows: Persian (officially known as Dari, but known more widely as Farsi) 50% and Pashto 35%; both are Indo-European languages from the Iranian languages sub-family. Pashto and Persian are the official languages of the country. Other languages spoken include Turkic languages (primarily Uzbek and Turkmen) 9%, as well as 30 minor languages 4% (primarily Balochi, Nuristani, Pashai, Brahui, Pamiri languages, Hindko, Hindi/Urdu, etc.). Bilingualism is common.
Languages of Afghanistan:
██ 50% Persian (usually of the Dari dialect)
██ 35% Pashto
██ 8% Uzbeki
██ 3% Turkmeni
██ 2% Balochi
2% other (Nuristani, Pashai, Brahui, Pamiri languages, Hindko, Urdu, Hindi, etc.)

Languages of Afghanistan

According to the Encyclopædia Iranica, the Persian language is the mother tongue of roughly one-third of Afghanistan's population, while it is also the most widely used language of the country, spoken by around 90% of the population. It further states that Pashto is spoken by around 50% of the population.

Ethnic Groups
About the middle of the second millennium BC, Indo-Aryans began to move into and through the present area of Afghanistan. Much later came other tribal groups from Central Asia—Pactyes (from whom the present-day name "Pashtoons" derives), Sakas, Kushans, Hephthalites, and others—and a procession of Iranians and Greeks. In the 7th century AD, Arabs arrived from the south, spreading the new faith of Islam. In the same century, Turks moved in from the north, followed in the 13th century by Mongols, and, finally, in the 15th century by Turko-Mongols. This multiplicity of movements made Afghanistan a loose conglomeration of racial and linguistic groups.All citizens are called Afghans, but the Pashtoons (the name may also be written as "Pushtun" or "Pukhtun," and in Pakistan as "Pathan") are often referred to as the "true Afghans." Numbering about 38% of the population in 2001, they are known to have centered in the Sulaiman range to the east; it is only in recent centuries that they moved into eastern and southern Afghanistan, where they now predominate. They have long been divided into two major divisions, the Durranis and the Ghilzais, each with its own tribes and subtribes.
The Tajiks, of Iranian stock, comprise nearly 25% of the population and are mainly concentrated in the north and northeast. In the central ranges are found the Hazaras (about 19%), who are said to have descended from the Mongols. To the north of the Hindu Kush, Turkic and Turko-Mongol groups were in the majority until 1940. Each of these groups is related to groups north of the Amu Darya and within the former USSR; among them are the Uzbeks, who number about 6% of the population. Other groups include the Aimaks, Farsiwans (Persians) and Brahiu. In the northeast are the Kafirs, or infidels. After their conversion to Islam at the end of the 19th century, they were given the name of Nuristanis, or "people of the light."

Ethno linguistic Groups in Afghanistan

The Encyclopædia Britannica gives a slightly different list for various ethnolinguistic groups in Afghanistan:

Religions
Almost all Afghans are Muslims. Approximately 84% are Sunnis; 15% are Shi'is; others comprise only 1%. The Pashtuns, most of the Tajiks, the Uzbeks, and the Turkmen are Sunnis, while the Hazaras are Shi'is. The country's small Hindu and Sikh population is estimated at less than 30,000. Before the 1978 Communist coup, Islam was the official religion of Afghanistan; in an effort to win over religious leaders, the Marxist regime set up a Department of Islamic Affairs in 1981 and began providing funds for new mosques and for the maintenance of old ones. Following the overthrow of the Communist regime, an Islamic State was again proclaimed.
In 1994 the Islamic militants who called themselves the Taliban—literally "the Seekers," a term used to describe religious students—began to impose their strict form of Islam observance in the areas that they controlled. The Taliban, composed mostly of Pashtoons, were puritanical zealots. Women were ordered to dress in strict Islamic garb and were banned from working or from going out of their houses unless accompanied by a male relative. Some men were forced to pray five times a day and grow full beards as a condition of employment in the government. Under the Taliban, repression of the Hazara ethnic group, who were predominantly Shi'is, was severe.Since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, the 1964 constitution has been used as a basis for the definition of religious freedom and practices. The 1964 constitution proclaims Islam the "sacred religion of Afghanistan" and states that religious rites of the state shall be performed according to Hanafi doctrine. Religious toleration for non-Muslims has been granted, according to the 1964 constitution and the 2001 Bonn Agreement.

Health
Starvation, disease, death, war, and migration had devastating effects on Afghanistan's health infrastructure in the 1990s. According to the World Health Organization, medication was scarce. Infectious diseases accounted for more than half of all hospital admissions (mostly malaria and typhoid) in 1994. Even before the war disrupted medical services, health conditions in Afghanistan were inadequate by western standards. A national medical school was established in 1931 and, in the following year, the first tuberculosis hospital was built. In 1990, for every 100,000 people, 278 were stricken with tuberculosis.
Efforts to take medical services to war-ravaged areas of Afghanistan and to areas left without public health programs due to the termination of services were waged by volunteer medical programs from France, Sweden, the US, and other countries.
In 1991, there were 2,233 doctors, 510 pharmacists, 267 dentists, 1,451 nurses, and 338 midwives. Between 1985-1995 only 29% of the population had access to health services. During those same years, few of the population had access to safe water (10%) and adequate sanitation (8%). For children under one the immunization rates were as follows: tuberculosis (44%), diphtheria, pertussus, and tetanus (18%), polio (18%), and measles (40%) between 1990–94.
In 2002, estimated life expectancy was 46.6 years—one of the lowest in the world—and infant mortality was estimated at 145 per 1,000 live births, which makes the country have the world's fourth highest mortality rate for children under age 5. The maternal mortality rate in 2002 was one of the highest in the Central Asia region with 1,600 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. The death rate in 2002 was 17 per 1,000 people. Cholera reached epidemic proportions with 19,903 cases reported in 1995. In 2002, 80,000 children a year were dying of diarrheal disease. From 1978 to 1991, there were over 1,500,000 war-related deaths. It is estimated that 3767 civilians died because of US bombs in Afghanistan between October 7 and December 7 of 2001. Approximately 300–400 civilians were killed betweeen October 2001 and July 2002.
As of 2002, Afghanistan had an average of four hospital beds for every 10,000 people. Most of the country's facilities are in Kabul, and those needing treatment must traverse the countryside to get there. Health care is being provided by the international community primarily. Some military field hospitals were set up as a result of the US-led coalition war. There are some medical facilities supported by the Red Cross operating in the country. In 24 of 31 provinces there are no hospitals or medical staff. For every 10,000 people in the country, there is an average of 1.8 physicians. Primary care physicians are most needed for pediatrics, women's health, internal medicine, and ob-gyn. Afghan physicians need training and retraining to upgrade their skills and knowledge base.

Education
Adult illiteracy for the year 2002 for males was 49%; females, 79%. This is the highest illiteracy rate in Asia. Education is free at all levels. Primary education lasts for six years and is theoretically compulsory for 6 years, but only 53% of boys and 5% of girls were enrolled in elementary school in 2002. Boys and girls are schooled separately. A teacher has on average 58 pupils in an elementary school classroom, but only 28 students in a secondary school classroom. Only 32% of the males and 11% of females graduating from elementary school continue into secondary education. Vocational training is provided in secondary schools and senior high schools, and six percent of students are enrolled in the vocational system. Secondary education lasts for another six years. Children are taught in their mother tongue, Dari (Persian) or Pashtu (Pashto), during the first three grades; the second official language is introduced in the fourth grade. Children are also taught Arabic so that they may be able to read the Koran (Qur'an). The school year extends from early March to November in the cold areas and from September to June in the warmer regions. The school-aged population in Afghanistan is 6,650,000.
In addition to the secular public education system, the traditional Islamic madrassa school system is functioning. At the madrassas, children study the Koran, the Hadith (Sayings of the Prophet Mohammad), and popular religious texts.
Under the Taliban regime, girls were not allowed to have education at all levels. All teachers have civil service status. The educational system is totally centralized by the state.
The University of Kabul, which is now coeducational, was founded in 1932. In 1962, a faculty of medicine was established at Jalalabad in Nangarhar Province; this faculty subsequently became the University of Nangarhar. By 2002 a total of 8 universities had been established in Afghanistan along with 9 pedagogical institutes. The number of Afghans enrolled in higher education was expected to double from 26,000 to 52,000 by 2003. An estimated one thousand women throughout Afghanistan participated in university entrance examinations in 2002.

An overview of Population Considerations
Population: 31,056,997 (July 2006 est.)
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: 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.)
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: 0.95 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: 43.34 years
male: 43.16 years
female: 43.53 years (2006 est.)
Total fertility rate: 6.69 children born/woman (2006 est.)
Nationality: noun: Afghan(s)
adjective: Afghan
Ethnic groups: Pashtun 42%, Tajik 27%, Hazara 9%, Uzbek 9%, Aimak 4%, Turkmen 3%, Baloch 2%, other 4%
Religions: Sunni Muslim 80%, Shi'a Muslim 19%, other 1%
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 36%
male: 51%
female: 21% (1999 est.)