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Provinces of Afghanistan

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.

Provinces of Afghanistan
CategoryUnitary state
LocationAfghanistan
Number34 provinces
Populations167,425 (Nuristan) – 5,211,452 (Kabul)
Areas737 sq mi (1,908 km2) (Kapisa) – 22,512 sq mi (58,305 km2) (Helmand)
Government
  • Provincial governments
Subdivisions

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]

Provinces of Afghanistan

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Provinces of Afghanistan

Administrative

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The following table lists the province, capital, number of districts, UN region, region, ISO 3166-2:AF code and license plate code.[2]

Afghan provinces and administrative data
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

Demographic

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The following table lists the province, population in 2024,[3][4] area in square kilometers[2] and population density.

Afghan provinces and demographic data
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 1,840,831 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

Regions of Afghanistan

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Blue : North
Red: Central
Green : South

The following tables summarize data from the demographic table.[3]

Regions and demographic data
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

UN regions

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UN regions and demographic data
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

Former provinces of Afghanistan

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Historical provinces of Afghanistan

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]

See also

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Notes

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References

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  1. ^ a b Mukhopadhyay, Dipali (2014). "Building a Theory of Strongman Governance in Afghanistan". Warlords, Strongman Governors, and the State in Afghanistan. p. 43. doi:10.1017/cbo9781139161817.001. ISBN 9781139161817.
  2. ^ a b "Afghan school books - Geography G-12" (PDF). moe.gov.af. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 March 2023. Retrieved 28 January 2025.
  3. ^ a b "Library". nsia.gov.af. Retrieved 23 January 2025.
  4. ^ "Estimated Populatin of Afghanistan 2024-25". National Statistics and Information Authority. Retrieved 23 January 2025.
  5. ^ Andrew, W. P. (1880). Our Scientific Frontier.
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