# 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.
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.

## Provinces of Afghanistan
### Administrative

The following table lists the province, capital, number of districts, UN region, region, ISO 3166-2:AF code and license plate code.
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 |
| Zabul | Qalat | 9 | South West | South | AF-ZAB | ZAB |

### Demographic

The following table lists the province, population in 2024, area in square kilometers and population density.
Afghan provinces and demographic data :
| Province | Population | Area km$^2$ | Density /km$^2$ |
| 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 |

## Regions of Afghanistan

The following tables summarize data from the demographic table.
Regions and demographic data :
| Region | Population | Area km$^2$ | Density /km$^2$ |
| 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

UN regions and demographic data :
| Region | Population | Area km$^2$ | Density /km$^2$ |
| 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

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.
* Southern Province – dissolved in 1964 to create Paktia Province.
* Turkestan Province – dissolved somewhere between 1929 and 1946.
* Qataghan-Badakhshan Province – dissolved in 1963 into Badakhshan Province and Qataghan Province, the latter of which was also dissolved that same year.
* Qataghan Province – dissolved in 1963 into Baghlan Province, Kunduz Province, and Takhar Province.
* Eastern Province – dissolved in 1964 to create Nangarhar Province.
* Farah-Chakansur Province – dissolved in 1964 into Farah Province and Nimruz Province.
* Mazar-i-Sharif Province – dissolved in 1964 into Balkh Province and Jowzjan Province.
* Meymaneh Province – dissolved in 1964 into Badghis Province and Faryab Province.