Provinces of Afghanistan | |
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Category | Unitary state |
Location | Afghanistan |
Number | 34 provinces |
Populations | 167,425 (Nuristan) – 5,211,452 (Kabul) |
Areas | 737 sq mi (1,908 km2) (Kapisa) – 22,512 sq mi (58,305 km2) (Helmand) |
Government |
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Subdivisions |
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Afghanistan is divided into 34 provinces (ولايت wilāyat). The provinces of Afghanistan are the primary administrative divisions. Each province encompasses a number of districts or usually over 1,000 villages.
Provincial governors played a critical role in the reconstruction of the Afghan state following the creation of the new government under Hamid Karzai.[1] According to international security scholar Dipali Mukhopadhyay, many of the provincial governors of the western-backed government were former warlords who were incorporated into the political system.[1]
The following table lists the province, capital, number of districts, UN region, region, ISO 3166-2:AF code and license plate code.[2]
Province | Capital | Districts | UN Region | Region | ISO | Plate code |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Badakhshan | Fayzabad | 29 | North East | North | AF-BDS | BDN |
Badghis | Qala i Naw | 7 | West | Central | AF-BDG | BDG |
Baghlan | Puli Khumri | 16 | North East | North | AF-BGL | BAG |
Balkh | Mazar-i-Sharif | 15 | North West | North | AF-BAL | BLH |
Bamyan | Bamyan | 7 | West | Central | AF-BAM | BAM |
Daykundi | Nili | 8 | South West | South | AF-DAY | DYK |
Farah | Farah | 11 | West | Central | AF-FRA | FRH |
Faryab | Maymana | 14 | North West | North | AF-FYB | FYB |
Ghazni | Ghazni | 19 | South East | South | AF-GHA | GAZ |
Ghor | Chaghcharan | 11 | West | Central | AF-GHO | GHR |
Helmand | Lashkargah | 13 | South West | South | AF-HEL | HEL |
Herat | Herat | 15 | West | Central | AF-HER | HRT |
Jowzjan | Sheberghan | 9 | North West | North | AF-JOW | JZJ |
Kabul | Kabul | 18 | Central | Central | AF-KAB | KBL |
Kandahar | Kandahar | 16 | South West | South | AF-KAN | KRD |
Kapisa | Mahmud-i-Raqi | 7 | Central | Central | AF-KAP | KPS |
Khost | Khost | 13 | South East | South | AF-KHO | KST |
Kunar | Asadabad | 15 | East | Central | AF-KNR | KNR |
Kunduz | Kunduz | 7 | North East | North | AF-KDZ | KDZ |
Laghman | Mihtarlam | 5 | East | Central | AF-LAG | LGM |
Logar | Pul-i-Alam | 7 | Central | Central | AF-LOG | LGR |
Nangarhar | Jalalabad | 23 | East | Central | AF-NAN | NGR |
Nimruz | Zaranj | 5 | South West | South | AF-NIM | NRZ |
Nuristan | Parun | 7 | East | Central | AF-NUR | NUR |
Paktia | Gardez | 11 | South East | South | AF-PIA | PAK |
Paktika | Sharana | 15 | South East | South | AF-PKA | PKT |
Panjshir | Bazarak | 7 | Central | Central | AF-PAN | PJR |
Parwan | Charikar | 9 | Central | Central | AF-PAR | PRN |
Samangan | Aybak | 5 | North West | North | AF-SAM | SAM |
Sar-e Pol | Sar-e Pol | 7 | North West | North | AF-SAR | SRP |
Takhar | Taloqan | 16 | North East | North | AF-TAK | TAK |
Uruzgan | Tarinkot | 6 | South West | South | AF-URU | ORZ |
Wardak | Maidan Shar | 9 | Central | Central | AF-WAR | WDK |
Zabul | Qalat | 9 | South West | South | AF-ZAB | ZAB |
The following table lists the province, population in 2024,[3][4] area in square kilometers[2] and population density.
Province | Population | Area km2 |
Density /km2 |
---|---|---|---|
Badakhshan | 1,130,535 | 44,836 | 25.2 |
Badghis | 575,212 | 20,794 | 27.7 |
Baghlan | 1,093,013 | 18,255 | 59.9 |
Balkh | 1,560,365 | 16,186 | 96.4 |
Bamyan | 531,344 | 18,029 | 29.5 |
Daykundi | 553,372 | 17,501 | 31.6 |
Farah | 604,420 | 49,339 | 12.3 |
Faryab | 1,192,381 | 20,798 | 57.3 |
Ghazni | 1,461,703 | 22,461 | 65.1 |
Ghor | 833,304 | 36,657 | 22.7 |
Helmand | 1,552,838 | 58,305 | 26.6 |
Herat | 2,332,654 | 55,869 | 41.8 |
Jowzjan | 648,804 | 11,293 | 57.5 |
Kabul | 5,966,395 | 4,524 | 1,319.0 |
Kandahar | 1,532,662 | 54,845 | 27.9 |
Kapisa | 523,201 | 1,908 | 274.2 |
Khost | 682,333 | 4,235 | 161.1 |
Kunar | 535,488 | 4,926 | 108.7 |
Kunduz | 1,233,223 | 8,081 | 152.6 |
Laghman | 528,879 | 3,978 | 132.9 |
Logar | 465,698 | 4,568 | 101.9 |
Nangarhar | 2,140,831 | 7,641 | 240.9 |
Nimruz | 197,513 | 42,410 | 4.7 |
Nuristan | 175,507 | 9,267 | 18.9 |
Paktia | 830,994 | 5,583 | 148.8 |
Paktika | 656,430 | 19,516 | 33.6 |
Panjshir | 182,054 | 3,772 | 48.3 |
Parwan | 792,273 | 5,715 | 138.6 |
Samangan | 552,763 | 13,438 | 41.1 |
Sar-e Pol | 666,737 | 16,386 | 40.7 |
Takhar | 1,175,306 | 12,459 | 94.3 |
Uruzgan | 467,659 | 11,474 | 40.8 |
Wardak | 707,486 | 10,348 | 68.4 |
Zabul | 412,150 | 17,472 | 23.6 |
The following tables summarize data from the demographic table.[3]
Region | Population | Area km2 |
Density /km2 |
---|---|---|---|
Central | 16,594,746 | 237,335 | 69.9 |
North | 9,253,127 | 161,730 | 57.2 |
South | 8,347,654 | 253,801 | 32.9 |
Region | Population | Area km2 |
Density /km2 |
---|---|---|---|
Central | 8,637,107 | 30,835 | 280.1 |
East | 3,080,705 | 25,812 | 119.4 |
North East | 4,632,077 | 83,631 | 55.4 |
North West | 4,621,050 | 78,100 | 59.2 |
South East | 3,631,460 | 51,795 | 70.1 |
South West | 4,716,194 | 202,006 | 23.3 |
West | 4,876,934 | 180,688 | 27.0 |
During Afghanistan's history it had a number of provinces in it. It started out as just Kabul, Herat, Qandahar, and Balkh but the number of provinces increased and by 1880 the provinces consisted of Balkh, Herat, Qandahar, Ghazni, Jalalabad, and Kabul.[5]