8 Billion Lives
Be born

Where you could be born / Asia / Southern Asia

Born in Afghanistan

About 1 in 90 people born in 2023 started life in Afghanistan. A boy can expect to live 65 years and a girl 68, up from 28 and 29 in 1950. Fewer than half of people live in cities, and 79% have basic drinking water.

1 in 90
odds of being born here
1.5 million births · Ranked 18th of 230
65 / 68
years of life, boys / girls
Was 28 / 29 in 1950
$1,984
income per person a year
2021 dollars · Ranked 169th of 203
25%
live in a city
Most live in villages

Life and health

Life lasts about 38 years longer than in 1950. Child deaths fell from 414 in every 1,000 births to 56.

How long a life lasts

GirlsBoys

020406080195019852023

Years a baby born that year could expect to live.

Children who die before age 5
0200400600195019852023

In every 1,000 births.

Life expectancy at birth64.5 years for boys, 67.5 for girlsUN WPP 2024
Children who die before age 556.2 in every 1,000 birthsUN WPP 2024
Deaths a year240,000UN WPP 2024
Doctors per 1,000 people0.3World Bank WDI
Children immunized against measles55%World Bank WDI
Adults living with HIV0.1%World Bank WDI
New tuberculosis cases a year204 per 100,000 peopleWorld Bank WDI
Malaria cases a year13 per 1,000 people at riskWorld Bank WDI

Family

Women had 7.3 children on average in 1950. Now it is 4.8.

Children per woman
02468195019852023

Average over a lifetime.

Children per woman4.84UN WPP 2024
Average age of mothers at birth30.4 yearsUN WPP 2024

Money and work

Economic output per personabout $1,984 a year (2021 dollars, adjusted for prices)World Bank WDI
Unemployment14.0% of the workforce (2023)World Bank WDI
Price rises-4.6% a year (2023)World Bank WDI
Growth in output per person0.1% (2023)World Bank WDI
Jobs in farming51% of jobsWorld Bank WDI
Self-employed83% of jobs (2025)World Bank WDI
Secondary school enrolment60% (can pass 100 when older students are counted)World Bank WDI

Daily life

The largest city is Kabul, with 4.4 million people.

25%
live in cities
85%
have electricity at home
79%
have basic drinking water
Largest cities
People living there
Kabul4.4 million
Herāt574,300
Mazār-e Sharīf523,300
Kandahār523,300
Jalālābād271,900
Languages
Share of people who can use each
Persian50%
Pashto43%
Uzbek5%
Turkmen2%
Persian, Pashto, Uzbek, Turkmen is official.

Cities and regions

Every state, province and large city with a page.

Largest regions

Kabul4.5 million
Balkh703,116
Herat656,086
Kandahar523,300
Nangarhar286,998
Kunduz257,977
Baghlan187,181
Parwan181,881
Ghazni141,000
Bamyan126,863

Sourced: GeoNames Population of each state, province or region.

Large cities

Sourced: GeoNames Cities with a page: a million people or more.

All 28 regions
  • Kabul4.5 million
  • Balkh703,116
  • Herat656,086
  • Kandahar523,300
  • Nangarhar286,998
  • Kunduz257,977
  • Baghlan187,181
  • Parwan181,881
  • Ghazni141,000
  • Bamyan126,863
  • Faryab113,800
  • Helmand113,122
  • Takhar108,515
  • Paktia103,601
  • Badakhshan100,036
  • Khowst96,123
  • Jowzjan70,659
  • Sar-e Pol Province67,498
  • Panjshir65,000
  • Nimroz64,984
  • Kunar64,108
  • Samangan47,823
  • Farah43,561
  • Daykundi30,058
  • Badghis30,000
  • Logar22,305
  • Laghman17,345
  • Ghowr15,967

People on the move

About 18% as many people born here live abroad as live here. The most common destinations are Iran, Pakistan, Germany.

Where people born here live abroad
By country of residence, 2024
Iran3,752,317
Pakistan1,923,453
Germany358,767
Residents born abroad0.2% (2024)World Bank WDI
People born here who live abroadequal to 17.6% of the people who live hereUN DESA migrant stock
Where they go mostIran (3.8 million), Pakistan (1.9 million), Germany (358,767)UN DESA migrant stock
Money sent home from abroadabout $788.9 million a year (2020)World Bank WDI

Safety nets

25% of older people receive a pension. Help for someone who loses a job reaches 2%.

25%
of older people receive a pension (2019)
2%
of unemployed people receive a benefit (2019)

Events in the data

The game draws real events from these records, so a life lived here can meet them.

Reported COVID-19 deaths, 2020 to 20247,998Our World in Data, from WHO
Significant earthquakes recorded since 195040; the deadliest, in 1998, killed about 4,700 people (magnitude 6.6)NOAA NCEI
Deaths in organized violence317,793 between 1989 and 2024UCDP

Now live it.

Born in Afghanistan, to a family drawn from these numbers. Every life replays exactly from its seed.

Be born in Afghanistan

Elsewhere in Asia

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How to read the sources. Every figure is sourced to a named dataset, shown beside it. A figure marked "Extrapolated" is estimated by a model because no survey covers the year. UN figures are for 2023, the latest year of UN estimates; other figures are the latest year their dataset has. Rank 1 is the highest figure among 230 countries and territories. All sources and licences