Afghanistan is divided into 34 provinces (ولايت, wilåyat).
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 | |
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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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Provincial governors played a critical role in the reconstruction of the Afghan state following the creation of the new government under Hamid Karzai. 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.
Province | ISO 3166-2:AF | License Plate Code | Capital | Area (km2) | Population (2015) | Population (December 2022) | Population density (per km2 in 2020) | No. of Districts | U.N. Region | Region |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Badakhshan | AF-BDS | BDN | Fayzabad | 44,835.91 | 950,953 | 1,066,985 | 23.5 | 29 | North East | North |
Badghis | AF-BDG | BDG | Qala i Naw | 20,794.01 | 495,958 | 560,021 | 26.4 | 7 | West | Central |
Baghlan | AF-BGL | BAG | Puli Khumri | 18,255.24 | 910,784 | 1,023,512 | 55.6 | 16 | North East | North |
Balkh | AF-BAL | BLH | Mazar-i-Sharif | 16,186 | 1,325,659 | 1,524,677 | 93.2 | 15 | North West | North |
Bamyan | AF-BAM | BAM | Bamyan | 18,029.16 | 487,218 | 510,543 | 27.5 | 7 | West | Central |
Daykundi | AF-DAY | DYK | Nili | 17,501.36 | 507,339 | 529,610 | 29.5 | 8 | South West | South |
Farah | AF-FRA | FRH | Farah | 49,339.11 | 507,405 | 581,293 | 11.4 | 11 | West | Central |
Faryab | AF-FYB | FYB | Maymana | 20,797.63 | 998,147 | 1,116,894 | 53.3 | 14 | North West | North |
Ghazni | AF-GHA | GAZ | Ghazni | 22,460.53 | 1,228,831 | 1,373,653 | 60.7 | 19 | South East | South |
Ghor | AF-GHO | GHR | Chaghcharan | 36,657.42 | 790,296 | 809,245 | 20.9 | 11 | West | Central |
Helmand | AF-HEL | HEL | Lashkargah | 58,305.07 | 924,711 | 1,456,789 | 24.8 | 13 | South West | South |
Herat | AF-HER | HRT | Herat | 55,868.53 | 1,890,202 | 2,152,892 | 38.3 | 15 | West | Central |
Jowzjan | AF-JOW | JZJ | Sheberghan | 11,292.52 | 540,255 | 624,313 | 53.3 | 9 | North West | North |
Kabul | AF-KAB | KBL | Kabul | 4,523.58 | 4,372,977 | 5,211,452 | 1,150.5 | 18 | Central | Central |
Kandahar | AF-KAN | KRD | Kandahar | 54,844.50 | 1,226,593 | 1,409,105 | 25.5 | 16 | South West | South |
Kapisa | AF-KAP | KPS | Mahmud-i-Raqi | 1,908 | 441,010 | 503,524 | 255.9 | 7 | Central | Central |
Khost | AF-KHO | KST | Khost | 4,235.26 | 574,582 | 645,217 | 150.3 | 13 | South East | South |
Kunar | AF-KNR | KNR | Asadabad | 4,925.90 | 450,652 | 508,040 | 101.4 | 15 | East | Central |
Kunduz | AF-KDZ | KDZ | Kunduz | 8,080.86 | 1,010,037 | 1,145,678 | 140.7 | 7 | North East | North |
Laghman | AF-LAG | LGM | Mihtarlam | 3,978.087 | 445,588 | 499,871 | 124.1 | 5 | East | Central |
Logar | AF-LOG | LGR | Pul-i-Alam | 4,568 | 392,045 | 444,419 | 95.1 | 7 | Central | Central |
Nangarhar | AF-NAN | NGR | Jalalabad | 7,641.05 | 1,517,388 | 1,712,331 | 222.7 | 23 | East | Central |
Nimruz | AF-NIM | NRZ | Zaranj | 42,409.53 | 164,978 | 191,265 | 4.3 | 5 | South West | South |
Nuristan | AF-NUR | NUR | Parun | 9,266.74 | 147,967 | 167,425 | 17.7 | 7 | East | Central |
Paktia | AF-PIA | PAK | Gardez | 5,583.15 | 551,987 | 627,567 | 109.6 | 11 | South East | South |
Paktika | AF-PKA | PKT | Sharana | 19,515.86 | 434,742 | 792,226 | 39.7 | 15 | South East | South |
Panjshir | AF-PAN | PJR | Bazarak | 3,771.62 | 371,902 | 382,425 | 45.0 | 7 | Central | Central |
Parwan | AF-PAR | PRN | Charikar | 5,715.05 | 664,502 | 747,618 | 129.1 | 9 | Central | Central |
Samangan | AF-SAM | SAM | Aybak | 13,437.91 | 387,928 | 440,919 | 32.0 | 5 | North West | North |
Sar-e Pol | AF-SAR | SRP | Sar-e Pol | 16,385.57 | 559,577 | 630,706 | 37.9 | 7 | North West | North |
Takhar | AF-TAK | TAK | Taloqan | 12,458.82 | 983,336 | 1,093,100 | 87.7 | 16 | North East | North |
Uruzgan | AF-URU | ORZ | Tarinkot | 11,473.67 | 386,818 | 448,219 | 38.0 | 6 | South West | South |
Wardak | AF-WAR | WDK | Maidan Shar | 10,348.32 | 596,287 | 667,612 | 63.8 | 9 | Central | Central |
Zabul | AF-ZAB | ZBL | Qalat | 17,471.80 | 304,126 | 402,899 | 22.0 | 9 | South West | South |
Region | Area (km2) | Population (2015) | Population (2020) | Population density (per km2 in 2020) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Central | 237,334 | 13,571,397 | 15,067,100 | 63.4 |
North | 161,730 | 7,666,676 | 8,570,500 | 52.9 |
South | 253,800 | 6,304,707 | 7,752,800 | 30.5 |
Region | Area (km2) | Population (2015) | Population (2020) | Population density (per km2 in 2020) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Central | 30,835 | 6,838,723 | 7,695,300 | 249.5 |
East | 25,812 | 2,561,595 | 2,858,400 | 110.7 |
North East | 83,630 | 3,855,110 | 4,298,500 | 51.3 |
North West | 78,100 | 3,811,566 | 4,272,000 | 54.6 |
South East | 51,794 | 2,790,142 | 3,386,500 | 65.3 |
South West | 202,006 | 3,514,565 | 4,366,300 | 21.6 |
West | 180,687 | 4,171,079 | 4,513,400 | 24.9 |
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.
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