Rural population in Afghanistan
Afghanistan: Rural population was 32.47 million in 2025. ▲ Rising
Rural population in Afghanistan, 1960–2025
Source: World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN).
Analysis
Afghanistan recorded 32.47 million for rural population in 2025. That is the highest value across all 66 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 2.5% on the previous year and up 27.1% over ten years.
Over the whole period, rural population in Afghanistan peaked at 32.47 million in 2025 and was at its lowest, 8.30 million, in 1960.
Afghanistan ranks 19th of 215 countries on this measure, in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 66 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 9.02 million | 8.30 million | 9.82 million | 10 |
| 1970s | 10.88 million | 10.02 million | 11.55 million | 10 |
| 1980s | 9.67 million | 9.14 million | 11.10 million | 10 |
| 1990s | 13.23 million | 9.97 million | 16.23 million | 10 |
| 2000s | 19.05 million | 16.39 million | 21.51 million | 10 |
| 2010s | 25.14 million | 21.99 million | 28.34 million | 10 |
| 2020s | 30.73 million | 29.20 million | 32.47 million | 6 |
Countries ranked near Afghanistan
More agriculture & rural data for Afghanistan
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 6.10 billion current US$ (2024)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 34.3% (2024)
- Rural population growth 2.4% (2025)
- Rural population 74.1% (2025)
- Agricultural raw materials imports 1.8% (2019)
- Agricultural raw materials exports 21.0% (2019)
- Agriculture as a share of GDP vs. GDP per capita 34.3% (2024)
- Share of GDP from agriculture 34.3% (2024)
- Land under cereal production 2.64 million hectares (2024)
- Cereal production 6.22 million metric tons (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is rural population in Afghanistan?
- Rural population in Afghanistan was 32.47 million in 2025, according to World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN).
- What is the highest rural population recorded in Afghanistan?
- The highest recorded value was 32.47 million in 2025.
- What is the lowest rural population recorded in Afghanistan?
- The lowest recorded value was 8.30 million in 1960.
- How does Afghanistan rank for rural population?
- Afghanistan ranks 19th out of 215 countries with data for 2025.
- Is rural population rising or falling in Afghanistan?
- Over the last ten years it is up 27.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Afghanistan data come from?
- The figures come from World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN), published as part of Rural population. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 66 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
Rural population refers to people living in rural areas as defined by national statistical offices. It is calculated as the difference between total population and urban population. Aggregation of urban and rural population may not add up to total population because of different country coverages.