European Asylum Support OfficeAfghanistan
Key socio-economic
indicators
Focus on Kabul City, Mazar-e Sharif andHerat CityCountry of Origin Information Report

April 2019SUPPORT IS OUR MISSION

European Asylum Support OfficeAfghanistan
Key socio-economic
indicators
Focus on Kabul City, Mazar-e Sharif andHerat CityCountry of Origin Information Report

April 2019

More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (http://europa.eu).
PDF: ISBN: 978-92-9485-857-3

doi: 10.2847/781331

BZ-02-19-806-EN-N© European Asylum Support Office (EASO) 2019
Reproduction is authorised, provided the source is acknowledged, unless otherwise stated.
For third-party materials reproduced in this publication, reference is made to the
copyrights statements of the respective third parties.

Cover photo: © UN Photo/Fardin Waezi, 14 June 2017, Kabul, Afghanistan, Photo #726186, url
Secretary-General António Guterres met with with Afghans displaced by conflict, as part ofhis one-day visit to the country's capital. A view of the camp for internally displaced persons(IDPs) outside Kabul.

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AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT

Acknowledgements
EASO would like to acknowledge the following national asylum and migration departments as the codrafters of this report:
Finland, Finnish Immigration Service, Legal Service and Country Information Unit
Romania, General Inspectorate for Immigration

The following national asylum and migration departments contributed by reviewing this report:
Denmark, Danish Immigration Service
Netherlands, Immigration and Naturalization Service, Office of Country Information andLanguage Analysis
Luxembourg, Ministère des Affaires étrangères et européennes, Service Réfugiés

The following organisation reviewed the report:
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

Furthermore, an external expert review was carried out by Fabrizio Foschini, political analyst with the
Afghanistan Analysts Network.
It must be noted that the review carried out by the mentioned departments, experts or organisations
contributes to the overall quality of the report, but does not necessarily imply their formal
endorsement of the final report, which is the full responsibility of EASO.

AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT — 5

Contents
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................... 4Contents ............................................................................................................................................ 5
Disclaimer .......................................................................................................................................... 7
Glossary and abbreviations ............................................................................................................... 8
Introduction..................................................................................................................................... 10
Terms of Reference ..................................................................................................................... 10
Methodology............................................................................................................................... 10
Structure and use of the report .................................................................................................. 10
Map ................................................................................................................................................. 11
1. Background information on Kabul City, Herat City and Mazar-e Sharif ...................................... 12
1.1 Population ............................................................................................................................. 12
1.1.1 Kabul ..................................................................................................................... 12
1.1.2 Herat ..................................................................................................................... 13
1.1.3 Mazar-e Sharif ...................................................................................................... 13
1.2 Displacement and returnees ................................................................................................. 13
1.2.1 Kabul ..................................................................................................................... 14
1.2.2 Herat ..................................................................................................................... 15
1.2.3 Mazar-e Sharif ...................................................................................................... 16
2. Internal mobility .......................................................................................................................... 18
2.1 Airports and flight connections............................................................................................. 18
2.1.1 Kabul ..................................................................................................................... 18
2.1.2 Herat ..................................................................................................................... 19
2.1.3 Mazar-e Sharif ...................................................................................................... 19
2.2 Travel restrictions and documents ....................................................................................... 19
2.3 Freedom of movement for women ...................................................................................... 21
2.4 Roadway security .................................................................................................................. 21
3. Economic climate ........................................................................................................................ 23
3.1 Economic growth .................................................................................................................. 23
3.2. Business climate ................................................................................................................... 24
3.2.1 Business climate in the three cities ...................................................................... 25
3.3. Development Aid ................................................................................................................. 25
4. Employment ................................................................................................................................ 27
4.1 Unemployment ..................................................................................................................... 27
4.2 Labour opportunities and conditions.................................................................................... 27 doi:

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AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT

4.2.1 Labour opportunities in the three cities .............................................................. 28
4.3 Livelihood opportunities for IDPs and returnees .................................................................. 29
4.3.1 Situation in the three cities .................................................................................. 30
4.4 Employment opportunities for women ................................................................................ 31
4.5 Child labour ........................................................................................................................... 32
5. Poverty ........................................................................................................................................ 34
5.1 General trends ...................................................................................................................... 34
5.2 Urban poverty ....................................................................................................................... 34
5.3 Situation of female-headed households, IDPs and returnees .............................................. 35
6. Food security ............................................................................................................................... 36
6.1 General situation................................................................................................................... 36
6.2 Food security for IDPs and returnees ................................................................................... 36
6.3 Food security in the three cities............................................................................................ 37
7. Education ..................................................................................................................................... 39
7.1 Gender gap ............................................................................................................................ 40
7.2 The impact of conflict on education ..................................................................................... 41
7.3 Education opportunities for IDPs and returnees .................................................................. 42
7.4 Education opportunities in the three cities .......................................................................... 42
8. Health care .................................................................................................................................. 44
8.1 Basic data .............................................................................................................................. 44
8.1.1 Afghanistan health status..................................................................................... 44
8.2 Access and availability........................................................................................................... 45
8.2.1 Impact of conflict on health care ......................................................................... 46
8.2.2 Cost of treatment ................................................................................................. 46
8.2.3 Availability of medicines....................................................................................... 47
8.3 Situation for women ............................................................................................................. 48
8.4 Mental health care ................................................................................................................ 49
8.5 Situation for IDPs and returnees ........................................................................................... 50
8.6 Situation in the three cities ................................................................................................... 50
9. Housing, water and sanitation .................................................................................................... 53
9.1 Urbanisation.......................................................................................................................... 53
9.2 Land and property laws......................................................................................................... 54
9.3 Water and sanitation ............................................................................................................ 55
9.4 Situation for IDPs and returnees ........................................................................................... 55
9.5 Situation in the three cities ................................................................................................... 56
Annex I: Bibliography ...................................................................................................................... 59
Annex II: Terms of Reference .......................................................................................................... 72

AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT — 7

Disclaimer
This report was written according to the EASO COI Report Methodology (2012).1 The report is basedon carefully selected sources of information. All sources used are referenced.
The information contained in this report has been researched, evaluated and analysed with utmost
care. However, this document does not claim to be exhaustive. If a particular event, person ororganisation is not mentioned in the report, this does not mean that the event has not taken place orthat the person or organisation does not exist.
Furthermore, this report is not conclusive as to the determination or merit of any particular application
for international protection. Terminology used should not be regarded as indicative of a particular legal
position.
‘Refugee’, ‘risk’ and similar terminology are used as generic terminology and not in the legal sense as
applied in the EU Asylum Acquis, the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the
Status of Refugees.
Neither EASO nor any person acting on its behalf may be held responsible for the use which may bemade of the information contained in this report.
The drafting of this report was finalised on 31 December 2018. Any event taking place after this dateis not included in this report. More information on the reference period for this report can be foundin the methodology section of the Introduction.

1 The EASO methodology is largely based on the Common EU Guidelines for processing Country of Origin Information (COI),

2008, and can be downloaded from the EASO website: http://www.easo.europa.eu.

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AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORTGlossary and abbreviations
AAN

Afghanistan Analysts Network

ACBR

Afghanistan Central Business Registry

ACCI

Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries

ACJC

Anti-Corruption Justice Center

ALCS

Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey; long running survey of the
Afghan population conducted by CSO

ANMDP

Afghanistan New Market Development Project

APPRO

Afghanistan Public Policy Research Organization

Arazi

Afghanistan’s independent land authority

AREU

Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit

AUWSSC

Urban Water Supply and Sewerage Corporation of Afghanistan

BazaarA traditional type of marketplace

Be naqsha

Without permission

BPHS

Basic Package of Health Services

CSO

Central Statistics Organisation

DTM

Displacement Tracking Matrix

EHPS

Essential Package of Hospital Services

FAO

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

FCV

Fragility – Conflict - Violence

GCPEA

Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack

Ghayr-e plani

Unplanned residential area

Ghayr-e qanuni

IllegalICRC

International Committee for the Red Cross

IDMC

Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre

IDPs

Internally displaced persons

IGC

International Growth Centre

ILO

International Labour Organization

IOM

International Organization for Migration

IPSO

International Psycho-Social Organization

ISKP

Islamic State in Khorasan Province; affiliates of ISIL based in Pakistan
and Afghanistan

IWA

Integrity Watch Afghanistan

IWPR

Institute for War and Peace ReportingAFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT — 9

MadrasaIslamic religious school

MCN

Ministry of Counter Narcotics

Microraion

Soviet-style residential area in Kabul City

MoE

Ministry of Education

MoLSAMD

Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled

MSF

Médecins Sans Frontières

NahiyaAdministrative district

NEET

Neither in Employment, Education or Training

NPR

National Public Radio

NRC

Norwegian Refugee Council

PTSD

Post-traumatic stress disorder

Qawmi

A social unit based on kinship, residence, or occupation

SCA

Swedish Committee for Afghanistan

SEHAT

System Enhancement for Health Action

Shahrak

Residential complex

SIGAR

Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction; an
independent oversight body on US-funded reconstruction programs

TazkeraAfghan identity document

UNAMA

United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan

UNFPA

United Nations Population Fund

UNHCR

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

UNOCHA

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

UNODC

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

USDoS

US Department of State

USIP

United States Institute of Peace

WFP

World Food Programme

Zorabad

Literally translates as ‘land taken by force’. It refers to the areas
where people grabbed government and public land and sold it toothers or built their houses without seeking official permission

10 —AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT

Introduction
This report was co-drafted by the national COI specialists, as referred to in the Acknowledgements
section.

Terms of Reference
The report aims to provide relevant information for the purposes of the examination of applications
for international protection. In particular, it is intended to inform the update of the chapter on Internal
Protection Alternative within the Country Guidance on Afghanistan 2019 update.
The terms of reference of this report build on the input received from policy experts from EU+
countries and UNHCR in the context of the pilot development of Country Guidance on Afghanistan asreflected in ‘Key socio-economic indicators, state protection, and mobility in Kabul City, Mazar-e Sharif,and Herat City’ (August 2017). During a kick-off meeting for the drafting of the current report in
September 2018, the terms of reference were further adapted by the national COI experts drafting
and reviewing this report, as mentioned under the Acknowledgement section. The Country Guidance
Network was subsequently informed of these updated terms of reference.
Terms of reference for this report can be found in Annex II.

Methodology
The information is a result of desk research of public, specialised paper-based and electronic sources
until 30 November 2018.
To verify whether the writers respected the EASO COI Report Methodology, a peer review was carriedout by COI specialists from the departments listed as reviewers in the Acknowledgements section. In
addition, a review of the report was carried out by Fabrizio Foschini, a political analyst with the
Afghanistan Analysts Network and UNHCR. All comments made by the reviewers were taken into
consideration and most of them were implemented in the final draft of this report. EASO performed
the final quality review and editing of the text. This quality process led to the inclusion of some
additional information, in response to feedback received during the respective reviews, until
31 December 2018.

Structure and use of the report
During 2016, EASO initiated a pilot project to facilitate Member States’ cooperation on thedevelopment of country guidance notes on Afghanistan. In the context of this project, the need for
updated information was identified on topics of relevance for the consideration of Internal Protection
Alternative (IPA) in Afghanistan, with a focus on the cities of Kabul, Herat and Mazar-e Sharif. This
choice of focus was also kept for the 2019 update of Country Guidance on Afghanistan.
After providing some background information on these three cities and discussing their accessibility,
the report looks into several socio-economic indicators. The information is provided for the country as
a whole, and where available for the three cities separately. Additional attention is paid to specificvulnerable groups such as IDPs, returnees, women and children.

AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT — 11

Map

Map 1: Afghanistan - administrative divisions, source: UNOCHA12 —AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT

1. Background information on Kabul City,
Herat City and Mazar-e Sharif
1.1 Population
1.1.1 Kabul
Kabul City, the capital of Kabul province and Afghanistan, is located in the country’s Central region.2
According to Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN) analyst Fabrizio Foschini, Kabul is by far
Afghanistan’s most populous and influential city. In the absence of a proper census, the number ofpeople living in Kabul City is not known. Estimates on its population vary considerably from 3.5 to
5.5 million3, with the Afghan Central Statistics Organization’s (CSO) figure for 2017-18 at 4 million but
only including 17 city districts out of a total of 22.4 Kabul has become one of the world’s fastest growing
cities, its population increasing fourfold since 2001.5 The expansion of Kabul and also other cities is
exacerbated by internal displacement due to conflict, the ongoing drought, and the search of economic
opportunities.6 Kabul’s urbanised area has tripled since the 1978 master plan of the city, continuously
expanding in almost all directions and on the rocky hills surrounding the city.7 Kabul City consists of 22
administrative districts (nahiya), an expansion from 12 before 2001.8
Kabul has historically been a majority Persian-speaking city with its own distinctive Dari dialect.9 It isan ethnically diverse city with communities of Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras, Uzbeks, Turkmen, Baluch,
Sikhs and Hindus all residing there.10 Foschini describes Kabul City as consisting of three rings, Kabul’s
city centre (the areas of Shahr-e Kohna, Shahr-e Naw, Shash Darak, Wazir Akbar Khan) forming theinner ring. Neighbourhoods popular with young Afghan professionals that were planned anddeveloped between the 1950s and 1980s form the second ring (Taimani, Qala-ye Fathollah, Karte Se,
Karte Chahar, Karte Naw and the Soviet-style microraions or microdistricts). The outer, growing ring of
the city expanded rapidly after 2001, mainly housing Afghans who have migrated to the capital sincethen. Districts in Kabul’s outer rings are ethnically more homogenous than the city centre, for example
northern outskirts and districts, such as Khairkhana, being primarily associated with the Tajiks andwestern outskirts, such as Dasht-e Barchi, primarily with the Hazaras.11 In 2017 the Afghan government
declared a key area of the capital where important government institutions are located along withforeign embassies and some businesses as the green zone and established new check points.12

2 Based on the Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, the classification of provinces into regions is the following:

Central – Kabul, Kapisa, Logar, Panjshir, Parwan, Wardak; South – Ghazni, Khost, Paktika, Paktya; East – Kunar, Laghman,
Nangarhar, Nuristan; Northeast – Badakhshan, Baghlan, Kunduz, Takhar; North – Balkh, Faryab, Jawzjan, Samangan, Sar-e
Pul; West – Badghis, Farah, Herat; Southwest – Helmand, Kandahar, Nimroz, Uruzgan, Zabul; West Central – Bamyan,
Daykundi, Ghor
Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 99
3 Foschini, F., Kabul and the Challenge of Dwindling Foreign Aid, USIP, 10 April 2017, url, pp. 9-10
4 Afghanistan, CSO, Population by Sex and Age Groups 2017-18, 2017, url, p. 4
5 Guardian (The), Kabul - The Fifth Fastest Growing City in the World - Is Bursting at the Seams, 11 December 2014, url
6 UNHCR Afghanistan, email, 9 November 2018. UNHCR made this addition during the review of this report.
7 Foschini, F., Kabul and the Challenge of Dwindling Foreign Aid, USIP, 10 April 2017, url, p. 7; Reuters, Afghan Capital’s Thirsty
Residents Dig Deep to Combat Drought, Overuse, 28 February 2017, url
8 Foschini, F., Kabul and the Challenge of Dwindling Foreign Aid, USIP, 10 April 2017, url, p. 7
9 Foschini, F., Kabul and the Challenge of Dwindling Foreign Aid, USIP, 10 April 2017, url, p. 13
10 Pajhwok Afghan News, Kabul Province Background Profile, n.d., url
11 Foschini, F., Kabul and the Challenge of Dwindling Foreign Aid, USIP, 10 April 2017, url, pp. 6-8
12 Tolo News, Security Check Points Stepped Up In Kabul, 7 February 2018, url

AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT — 13

1.1.2 Herat
Herat City is the provincial capital of Herat province, located in the west of Afghanistan. Herat City’s
population for 2017-18 was estimated by the CSO to be 507 000.13 The city consists of a historical city
centre, suburbs built around it during the 20th century and newly built residential enclaves, shahraks,
that have developed around the city.14
Herat is a Persian-speaking city and the majority of its people are either Sunni or Shia Tajiks/Farsiwans.
There is also a consistent Pashtun minority.15 Jolyon Leslie described Herat City as historically ‘a Tajikdominated enclave in a Pashtun-majority province that includes sizeable Hazara and Aimaq minorities’.
Up to one fourth of the urban population may be Hazaras, many of whom having spent time in exile in
Iran and after their return having settled in neighbourhoods such as Jebrael in the west of the city thatwas estimated to be home to some 60 000 predominantly Hazara residents. According to Leslie, thedegree of ethnic segregation was ‘pronounced’ in Herat, with members of certain ethnic groups
inhabiting specific quarters.16

1.1.3 Mazar-e Sharif
Mazar-e Sharif is the provincial capital of Balkh province, located in the north of Afghanistan. Mazar-e
Sharif’s population for 2017-18 was estimated by the CSO to be 428 000.17 The population of Balkh isheterogeneous with Tajiks and Pashtuns forming the largest groups, followed by Uzbeks, whoconstitute the majority in certain districts of the province and in several neighbouring provinces as
well,18 and also Hazaras, Turkmens, Arabs and Baluchis.19 These communities live partially mixed in thecity.20

1.2 Displacement and returnees
The UN’s Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement define IDPs as ‘persons or groups of persons who
have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular
as a result of, or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalised violence,violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters’.21 This definition was entirely reflectedin Afghanistan’s National IDP Policy adopted in 2013.22
According to estimations by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), there were at least two million IDPs in
Afghanistan in September 2018.23 The number of conflict-induced IDPs almost tripled from 2012 to2017, from 492 000 to nearly 1.3 million. More than 650 000 people were displaced by conflict andviolence in 2016 alone and 474 000 during 2017.24 In 2018, a total of 343 000 people were verified as

13 Afghanistan, CSO, Population by Sex and Age Groups 2017-18, 2017, url, p. 38
14 Leslie, J., Political and Economic Dynamics of Herat, USIP, 2 April 2015, url, pp. 7, 11-12
15 Foschini, F., Back to Stopgap Appointments? The Story behind the Replacement of Herat’s Governor, AAN, 24 July 2013,url
16 Leslie, J., Political and Economic Dynamics of Herat, USIP, 2 April 2015, url, pp. 8, 13
17 Afghanistan, CSO, Population by Sex and Age Groups 2017-18, 2017, url, p. 27
18 Foschini, F., email, 9 November 2018. Fabrizio Foschini made this addition during his review of this report.
19 APPRO, Afghanistan Rights Monitor: Baseline Report, April 2016, url, p. 22
20 Fishstein, P., et al., Balkh’s economy in transition, AREU, August 2013, url, p. 22
21 UN, Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, 2004, url, p. 1
22 Afghanistan, The National Policy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan on Internal Displacement, June 2013, url, p. 16
23 UNHCR, Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees 2018-2019, October 2018, url, p. 5
24 NRC, IDMC and Samuel Hall, Escaping War: Where to Next?, 24 January 2018, url, p. 8; IDMC, Country information Afghanistan, n.d., url14 —AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT

displaced by conflict25 and around 226 000 were displaced by drought in the southern and western
provinces.26
IDPs may include among other groups returnees - returning refugees and migrants deported back to
Afghanistan.27 It happens that returnees to Afghanistan find themselves living in internal displacement
thus becoming ‘returnee-IDPs’, either by being unable to return to their place of origin or by being
displaced after return to their place of origin.28
According to the UNHCR, the return of over 5.2 million Afghan refugees since 2002 assisted by theagency has been the largest voluntary repatriation programme in UNHCR’s history. However,Afghanistan still remained the second largest country of origin of refugees in the world in 2017, withalmost 2.6 million registered refugees. Despite being dispersed across more than 80 countries, themajority (91 %) of them continued to be hosted by Pakistan and Iran. In addition to the registered
Afghan refugees, there were 1.5-2 million undocumented Afghans in Iran and 350 000-550 000 inPakistan. 2016 marked a spike in returns, with more than 370 000 refugees returning to Afghanistanfrom Iran and Pakistan. However, in 2017, refugee returns declined to 58 800 and further to 12 785 asof September 2018. Although significant numbers of undocumented Afghans have returned from Iranand Pakistan, these returns showed some decline as well, with almost 693 000 returns recorded in2016, around 561 000 in 2017 and 562 000 have returned as of September 2018.29 More than 522 000
undocumented Afghans returned from Iran from January until September 2018 due to Iran’s economic
problems that have reduced Afghans’ work opportunities and due to Iran’s strict carrying out ofdeportations.30
The significant numbers of returnees in 2016-18 along with the continued displacement to urban
areas, particularly high return areas such as Kabul and Nangarhar, added pressure on community
services and social infrastructure affecting Afghanistan’s limited absorption capacity.31 According to
Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey (ALCS) data for 2016-17, Kabul province hosted most migrants
and immigrants in Afghanistan, secondary destinations being the provinces of Nangarhar, Balkh andHerat.32 According to a UNHCR study conducted in 2017-18, 38 % of former refugees did not settle intheir province of origin upon return for reasons including insecurity, the presence of non-state armed
groups and lack of services and economic opportunities.33 The study found that especially returnees
and IDPs living in areas that were contested between the government and armed opposition forces
faced challenges, such as being more likely to be forced to skip meals, have children working, girls outof school or have less access to health care, as compared to similar populations in governmentcontrolled areas.34

1.2.1 Kabul
Kabul has been the destination for a large number of Afghans since 2001, when those who had spentyears in Pakistan or Iran began to move back. Many of them settled in Kabul regardless of their placeof origin in Afghanistan.35 Kabul is one of the provinces in Afghanistan with the highest percentage ofreturnees who did not originate there.36 According to ALCS, ‘Kabul province - and more specifically,

25 UNOCHA, Afghanistan Weekly Field Report, 24-31 December 2018, 3 January 2019, url, p. 1
26 UNOCHA, Afghanistan – Overview of Natural Disasters, Natural Disaster events from 2 January to 25 December 2018, n.d.,url
27 NRC, IDMC and Samuel Hall, Escaping War: Where to Next?, 24 January 2018, url, p. 6
28 NRC, IDMC and Samuel Hall, Going “Home” to Displacement - Afghanistan’s Returnee-IDPs, December 2017, url, p. 3
29 UNHCR, Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees 2018-2019, October 2018, url, pp. 4-5
30 IRIN, Why Economic Turmoil in Iran Is Causing Big Problems in Afghanistan, 11 September 2018, url; IOM, Return ofUndocumented Afghans, Weekly Situation Report, 02-08 September 2018, 11 September 2018, url, p. 1
31 UNHCR, Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees 2018-2019, October 2018, url, pp. 5, 21
32 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 39
33 UNHCR, Returnee and Internally Displaced Persons Monitoring Report, May 2018, url, p. 15
34 UNHCR, Returnee and Internally Displaced Persons Monitoring Report, May 2018, url, p. 3
35 Foschini, F., Kabul and the Challenge of Dwindling Foreign Aid, USIP, 10 April 2017, url, pp. 12-13
36 UNHCR, Returnee and Internally Displaced Persons Monitoring Report, May 2018, url, p. 19

AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT — 15

the capital - stands out as the main gravitational centre for migrants in the country, both for thosemoving internally and for those returning from abroad.’37 Many returnees end up in Kabul because of
relatively higher security than in their regions of origin, and because of expectations of more job
opportunities and support facilities for returnees.38
More than one third of the residents of Kabul province were born abroad or elsewhere in
Afghanistan.39 Alongside returnees from abroad, the most sizeable communities are migrants from
Wardak, Parwan, Ghazni, Bamyan, Nangarhar, Panjshir and Kapisa.40 Most returnees live outside thecity centre of Kabul, often in very remote areas, and many of them live in camps.41 According to analyst
Foschini, immigrants mainly end up in Kabul’s peripheral neighbourhoods where recent immigrants
from the same regional or ethnic background perpetuate a village society which often has more directconnections with the province of origin of local residents than with Kabul’s central areas.42
The large number of returnees to Kabul has challenged the absorption capacity of the government andNGOs.43 According to IOM data until June 2018, Kabul province had 178 835 returnees, which was thesecond largest number after Nangarhar.44 In 2016 there were about 60 recognised informal
settlements in Kabul housing 65 000 registered returnees and IDPs. The residents in the settlements
lived in partial or whole mudhouses. Nearly half of these settlements were provided for free by thegovernment, but these small sites were no longer able to expand, driving households arriving after
2010 to rent properties in the host community.45
Kabul saw a surge of displaced people coming in 2016, with informal settlement populations growing.46
Many IDPs without family connections or the ability to rent a house ended up in camps. The numberof settlers and the locations of informal settlements, such as Chaharrah-e Qanbar, Pol-e Charkhi andChaman-e Babrak, were ‘volatile and depend on the season, the attitudes of city officials, income
opportunities and access to services’.47 UNHCR documented 4 099 refugee returnees to Kabul province
in 2018.48

1.2.2 Herat
Herat is a destination for Afghan economic migrants and also a transit route for often young Afghans
migrating out of Afghanistan. Many returnees use Herat as a transit route back to their own
provinces.49 Herat is one of the provinces with the highest percentage of returnees who did not
originate there.50 According to Oxfam, Herat City is considered a relatively secure urban area with
employment and business opportunities. It is a diverse city where people are not tribally connected,
which makes it easier for returnees and IDPs to settle.51
According to a 2016 socio-demographic and economic survey carried out by the United Nations
Population Fund (UNFPA) and CSO, 47 % of Herat City’s population were migrants: 43 % of them camefrom other districts in Herat province, 27.5 % from abroad and the rest from other provinces of
Afghanistan. From those coming from abroad, 93.9 % came from Iran and 5 % from Pakistan.52 Being
37 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. xxx
38 Oxfam, Returning to Fragility - Exploring the Link between Conflict and Returnees in Afghanistan, January 2018, url, p. 23
39 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. xxx
40 Foschini, F., Kabul and the Challenge of Dwindling Foreign Aid, USIP, 10 April 2017, url, p. 13
41 Oxfam, Returning to Fragility - Exploring the Link between Conflict and Returnees in Afghanistan, January 2018, url, p. 23
42 Foschini, F., Kabul and the Challenge of Dwindling Foreign Aid, USIP, 10 April 2017, url, pp. 6-8
43 Oxfam, Returning to Fragility - Exploring the Link between Conflict and Returnees in Afghanistan, January 2018, url, pp. 23-

24
44 IOM, Afghanistan - Baseline Mobility Assessment Summary Results (April - June 2018), 25 September 2018, url, p. 2
45 REACH, Kabul Informal Settlement Profiling, November 2016, url, p. 10
46 REACH, Kabul Informal Settlement Profiling, November 2016, url, p. 7
47 Foschini, F., Kabul and the Challenge of Dwindling Foreign Aid, USIP, 10 April 2017, url, p. 15
48 UNHCR, Refugee Returnees to Afghanistan in 2018, 31 December 2018, url
49 Oxfam, Returning to Fragility - Exploring the Link between Conflict and Returnees in Afghanistan, January 2018, url, p. 20
50 UNHCR, Returnee and Internally Displaced Persons Monitoring Report, May 2018, url , p. 19
51 Oxfam, Returning to Fragility - Exploring the Link between Conflict and Returnees in Afghanistan, January 2018, url, p. 20
52 Afghanistan, CSO, Final Report of Herat Socio-Demographic and Economic Survey, 7 March 2017, url, pp. 29-30

16 —AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT‘the regional magnet of attraction in the west’, Herat province received migrants especially from thewestern provinces of Badghis, Farah and Nimroz.53
Herat province - Herat City and its neighbouring Injil district in particular - has historically been asignificant destination for IDPs. At the end of 2015 Herat was one of the provinces hosting the largest
numbers of IDPs in Afghanistan, some of whom have lived in the province for as long as two decades.54
According to IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) survey, a quarter of all assessed IDPs in
Afghanistan were residing in Herat province.55 Herat City is described as the district ‘most severely
affected’ by IDPs and returnees with IOM adding that it is ‘potentially susceptible to social instability
induced by the large influx of returnees and IDPs, who face inadequate access to basic services andlimited job opportunities, jeopardizing reintegration prospects and fuelling secondary displacement’.56
In 2018, Afghanistan suffered from the worst drought in its recent history hitting the Western region
hardest. As a result, around 60 000 new IDPs were displaced to Herat by September 2018. According
to NRC, the IDPs that fled to Herat have been living in dire conditions in makeshift shelters.57 The
displacement due to conflict and drought has had serious impacts on access to services, land, shelter
and has resulted in negative coping mechanisms including child marriage, using children as collateralfor loans or petty crime for example.58
According to IOM data until June 2018, Herat province had 91 806 returnees, which was the tenthlargest number among the Afghan provinces.59 UNHCR documented 814 refugee returnees to Heratprovince in 2018.60 As many as 20 % of Herat province’s estimated current population were newly
arrived IDPs (544 500). According to IOM’s DTM, Herat City was the district hosting the most returnees
and IDPs in Afghanistan (205 532 in total; around 26 000 returnees and 180 000 IDPs) in June 2018,
while the nearby district Injil also had significant numbers of IDPs. 36 % of Herat’s IDPs were displacedby natural disasters, predominantly the drought.61

1.2.3 Mazar-e Sharif
Mazar-e Sharif has been known as the economic hub of the north, attracting economic migrants fromrural areas with its work opportunities and relative safety.62 Being ‘the regional magnet of attractionin the north’, Balkh province received migrants especially from the northern provinces of Samangan,
Sar-e Pul, Jawzjan and Faryab.63
According to IOM data until June 2018, Balkh had 109 845 returnees, which was the fifth largest
number among the Afghan provinces.64 According to a 2015 CSO survey, about 38 % of Mazar-e Sharif’s
population are migrants, mostly descending from other Afghan provinces and only 17 % are returnees
from abroad.65 According to a 2018 UNHCR field study, the number of returnees from Iran and othercountries was very low in Mazar-e Sharif. Most of those returning from Iran were reported to be
students who returned for a short period to obtain necessary documentation and then went back to

53 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, pp. 40-41
54 UN-Habitat et al., Inter-Agency Durable Solutions Initiative -Profile and Response Plan of Protracted IDP Settlements in
Herat, October 2016, url, p. 1255 IOM, Afghanistan - Baseline Mobility Assessment Summary Results (April - June 2018), 25 September 2018, url, p. 1
56 IOM, Afghanistan - Baseline Mobility Assessment Summary Results (April - June 2018), 25 September 2018, url, p. 5
57 NRC, Millions of Afghans Face Risks of Drought Related Displacement, 7 September 2018, url
58 UNHCR Afghanistan, email, 8 November 2018. UNHCR made this addition during the review of this report.
59 IOM, Afghanistan - Baseline Mobility Assessment Summary Results (April - June 2018), 25 September 2018, url, p. 2
60 UNHCR, Refugee Returnees to Afghanistan in 2018, 31 December 2018, url
61 IOM, Afghanistan - Baseline Mobility Assessment Summary Results (April - June 2018), 25 September 2018, url, p. 5
62 Samuel Hall, Urban Poverty Report - A Study of Poverty, Food Insecurity and Resilience in Afghan Cities, 2014, url, pp. 3132
63 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, pp. 40-41
64 IOM, Afghanistan - Baseline Mobility Assessment Summary Results (April - June 2018), 25 September 2018, url, p. 2
65 Afghanistan, CSO, Socio-Demographic and Economic Survey Balkh, 5 January 2015, url, pp. 28-32

AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT — 17

Iran to continue their education.66 UNHCR documented 466 refugee returnees to Balkh province in2018.67

66 UNHCR, Multi-Purpose Cash and Sectoral Outcomes - Afghanistan Case Study, May 2018, url, p. 5
67 UNHCR, Refugee Returnees to Afghanistan in 2018, 31 December 2018, url

18 —AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT

2. Internal mobility
2.1 Airports and flight connections
According to an overview on Afghan air traffic by Lifos, there are about 25 active airports in the
country, although only a number of those were open for domestic commercial air traffic as of
September 2018. Afghanistan’s four international airports are located in Kabul, Herat, Mazar-e Sharif
and Kandahar. Lifos noted that flight schedules can change often and information about destinations
and departures is not always updated on the websites of airlines. Delays or cancellations at short
notice are common and may be caused by weather conditions, natural disasters, technical problems
or security related incidents, while for some destinations flights are even suspended for months.
However, from Kabul to Herat, Mazar-e Sharif and Kandahar regular flights have ‘more or lessconsistently existed over a longer period of time, whereas departures to smaller destinations, such as
Bamyan, has varied over time’.68
As of September 2018, Kam Air and Ariana Afghan Airlines are the only Afghan companies operating
flights in Afghanistan.69 According to a New York Times article, Kam Air operated 90 % of domestic
flights in Afghanistan before the Taliban attacked the Intercontinental Hotel in January 2018 in Kabul,
killing nine members of Kam Air’s international staff among others. After the attack more than 50 otherforeign Kam Air workers left the country, forcing the airline to suspend its flights to many
destinations.70 Flights to certain domestic destinations that Kam Air used to fly to (Bamiyan, Fayzabad,
Chaghcharan) were still not available by September 2018.71

2.1.1 Kabul
Kabul International Airport, officially named as Hamid Karzai International Airport in 2014 and also
locally known as Khwaja Rawash Airport, is one of Afghanistan’s international airports.72
Based on online flight schedules accessed through a tracking site, the following connections wereavailable from Kabul as of 31 October 201873:


The following international airlines fly to Kabul: Flydubai and Emirates from Dubai, Air Arabia
from Sharjah, Turkish Airlines and Ukrainian Wings from Istanbul, Mahan Air from Tehran and
Mashhad, SpiceJet and Air India from Delhi, Silk Way Airlines from Baku and Pakistan
International Airlines from Islamabad.
Ariana Afghan Airlines operates domestic flights from Kabul to Mazar-e Sharif, Herat, Kandahar
and international flights to Dubai, Delhi and Urumqi.
Kam Air flies from Kabul domestically to Herat, Mazar-e Sharif, Kandahar, Zaranj, Bost andFarah and internationally to Istanbul, Ankara, Delhi, Islamabad, Dushanbe, Tashkent,
Mashhad, Jeddah and Sharjah.

68 Sweden, Lifos, Lifosrapport: Inrikesflyg I Afghanistan (version 3.0), 26 September 2018, url, p. 4
69 Sweden, Lifos, Lifosrapport: Inrikesflyg I Afghanistan (version 3.0), 26 September 2018, url, p. 4
70 New York Times (The), Grounded and Gutted, Main Afghan Airline Struggles after Taliban Attack, 26 January 2018, url
71 Sweden, Lifos, Lifosrapport: Inrikesflyg I Afghanistan (version 3.0), 26 September 2018, url, p. 7
72 Sweden, Lifos, Lifosrapport: Inrikesflyg I Afghanistan (version 3.0), 26 September 2018, url, p. 8; Hamid Karzai International

Airport, n.d., url; LCA, Afghanistan Kabul (Hamid Karzai) International Airport, 5 January 2018, url; ACAA, International
Airfields, 10 January 2018, url
73 Flightradar 24, Kabul International Airport, n.d., url

AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT — 19

2.1.2 Herat
Herat International Airport is one of Afghanistan’s four international airports.74 There are regulardomestic flights from Herat to Kabul, Kandahar, Mazar-e Sharif and international flights to Mashhadin Iran.75
Based on online flight schedules accessed through a tracking site, the following connections wereavailable from Herat as of 31 October 201876:


No international airlines fly to Herat.
Ariana Afghan Airlines operates domestic flights from Herat to Kabul several times a day andinternational flights to Delhi.
Kam Air flies from Herat domestically several times a day to Kabul and internationally to
Mashhad.

2.1.3 Mazar-e Sharif
Mazar-e Sharif International Airport, locally known as Mawlana Jalaluddin Muhammad Balkhi
International Airport, is one of Afghanistan’s international airports.77
Based on online flight schedules accessed through a tracking site, the following connections areavailable from Mazar-e Sharif as of 31 October 201878:




The following international airlines fly to Mazar-e Sharif: Turkish Airlines from Istanbul and ASL
Airlines France to Tbilisi.
Ariana Afghan Airlines operates domestic flights from Mazar-e Sharif to Kabul several times a
day and international flights to Moscow, Istanbul and Ankara.
Kam Air flies from Mazar-e Sharif domestically several times a day to Kabul and internationallyto Tehran, Mashhad and Delhi.

2.2 Travel restrictions and documents
There are no legal restrictions on travel or residence inside Afghanistan. Afghans have theconstitutional right to foreign travel, emigration as well as repatriation.79 The government does not
generally restrict the right of movement of individuals within the borders of the country, but security
forces and insurgents may operate illegal checkpoints and extort money and goods from travellers.80
The Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) observed that ‘appropriate identification is generally
sufficient to permit passage through government-run checkpoints.’81 Sources contacted by the
Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board did not mention any ‘systematic requirement for documents
to travel within Afghanistan’.82
The most important identification document in Afghanistan is called tazkera. Most Afghans hold one,but they are significantly less common among women and displaced people. A tazkera is formallyrequired to access a range of public services, such as education, employment, health care and official
loans provided by a bank. It is also formally required for the issuance of housing, land and property
certificates and title deeds. It is particularly important to have a tazkera in urban or peri-urban areas
74 Sweden, Lifos, Lifosrapport: Inrikesflyg I Afghanistan (version 3.0), 26 September 2018, url, p. 8
75 Tourism Herat, Herat International Airport, n.d., url; ACAA, International Airfields, 10 January 2018, url
76 Flightradar 24, Herat International Airport, n.d., url
77 Sweden, Lifos, Lifosrapport: Inrikesflyg I Afghanistan (version 3.0), 26 September 2018, url, p. 8
78 Flightradar 24, Mazar-I-Sharif International Airport, n.d., url
79 Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2018 – Afghanistan, January 2018, url; USDoS, Country Reports on Human Rights

Practices for 2017 - Afghanistan, 20 April 2018, url
80 USDoS, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2017 - Afghanistan, 20 April 2018, url
81 USDoS, Bureau of Diplomatic Security, Afghanistan 2018 Crime & Safety Report, 16 February 2018, url
82 Canada, IRB, Afghanistan: Documents Required to Travel within Afghanistan, Documents Required to Pass Checkpoints(2013-January 2015), 3 February 2016, url20 —AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT

where the lack of one restricts access to basic services and credit, but it is less necessary in rural areas
where people are known to each other and to community elders.83
As stated in a joint study by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Samuel Hall and the Internal
Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), to obtain a tazkera IDPs are generally required to travel backto their district of origin, which is impossible for many due to transport costs and insecurity. The
government of Afghanistan has recognised the importance of the IDP documentation issue and has
been working with international organisations such as IOM to address it, but it continues to occur that
IDPs have to travel back to their places of origin to receive their documents. Temporary changes arebeing introduced to the system, including the Ministry of Education facilitating enrolment in school
without a tazkera.84
According to a 2016 NRC and Samuel Hall study, possession rates for civil and identification documents
varied significantly by the type of document with the tazkera being the most commonly possessed.85

MEN

WOMEN

Host
community

Refugeereturnee

IDP

IDP returnee

Tazkera

94 %

88 %

87 %

86 %

Passport

15 %

16 %

11 %

9%

Birth certificate

3%

3%

2%

0%

Marriage certificate

16 %

19 %

6%

9%

None of the above

6%

9%

12 %

14 %

Tazkera

44 %

54 %

21 %

43 %

Passport

6%

2%

1%

2%

Birth certificate

0%

2%

0%

2%

Marriage certificate

9%

14 %

3%

7%

None of the above

52 %

43 %

75 %

52 %

Figure 1: Rates of identification and civil documentation possession, by displacement status 86

Having a valid tazkera was also a necessity for accessing other types of documentation such as
passports or marriage certificates.87 While possession rates of identification documents like tazkera
showed an increase, ‘there is still a perception that civil documents such as birth and marriage
certificates are not a necessity.’88 However, the study found that civil documentation, allowing accessto services and rights was ‘crucial’ for social integration.89 The lack of tazkera could increase a person’svulnerability to harassment from the authorities.90 With no civil documentation, women were foundparticularly at risk with regards to the judicial system, inheritance and family disputes.91 The same
study noted that gender was more significant than displacement having an impact on the possession
83 NRC and Samuel Hall, Access to Tazkera and Other Civil Documentation in Afghanistan, November 2016, url, p. 16; NRC,IDMC and Samuel Hall, Escaping War: Where to Next?, 24 January 2018, url, p. 37
84 NRC, IDMC and Samuel Hall, Escaping War: Where to Next?, 24 January 2018, url, p. 37
85 NRC and Samuel Hall, Access to Tazkera and Other Civil Documentation in Afghanistan, November 2016, url, p. 23
86 NRC and Samuel Hall, Access to Tazkera and Other Civil Documentation in Afghanistan, November 2016, url, p. 25
87 NRC and Samuel Hall, Access to Tazkera and Other Civil Documentation in Afghanistan, November 2016, url, p. 21
88 NRC and Samuel Hall, Access to Tazkera and Other Civil Documentation in Afghanistan, November 2016, url, p. 24
89 NRC and Samuel Hall, Access to Tazkera and Other Civil Documentation in Afghanistan, November 2016, url, p. 38
90 NRC and Samuel Hall, Access to Tazkera and Other Civil Documentation in Afghanistan, November 2016, url, p. 39
91 NRC and Samuel Hall, Access to Tazkera and Other Civil Documentation in Afghanistan, November 2016, url, p. 39

AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT — 21

rates of identification documents. Women were considerably less likely to have a tazkera, mostly
because for them it was far more difficult to access documentation and also ‘the perceived need for
documentation is lower’.92 Merely 21 % of IDP women had a tazkera compared to 54 % of returnee
women and 44 % of host community women. For men the impact of displacement on the possessionof a tazkera was less noticeable: 87 % of male IDPs, 88 % of male returnees and 94 % of male hostcommunity members reported having a tazkera.93
ALCS 2016-17 found that 61 % of urban children were registered at birth, compared to only 22 % ofrural children.94 According to UNHCR, very few children have tazkeras.95 Having a tazkera is notcommon among residents of remote rural areas either.96

2.3 Freedom of movement for womenSocial restrictions constrain women’s ability to travel on their own.97 According to social customs,
women’s freedom of movement is limited by the requirement of male consent or male chaperone.98
There is variation in women’s freedom of movement and dress code across the country. For example,
in Kandahar women are rarely seen alone in public, but this is more common in Mazar-e Sharif andKabul. Many sources interviewed during Austria’s Fact finding mission to Afghanistan in 2017 agreed
that it is generally not safe for a woman to travel outside of cities without male company, but it may
be done if the woman has local connections, is wearing a proper attire (for example burqa) and speaks
the local language.99 It also depends on which districts the women travel to; for example women may
travel alone on routes connecting some major cities to the surrounding districts, using public
transportation like other commuters do. This happens around Kabul (especially in the Shomali plateau
north of the city), along the Herat-Islam Qalah highway, and on the main highways leading to and from
Mazar-e Sharif.100
There are no legal obstacles for women to drive cars in Afghanistan, but only a few do because of thethreats they face behind the wheel.101 Kabul is one of the cities where female drivers are increasingly
seen along with Balkh and Herat.102

2.4 Roadway security
The conflict in Afghanistan is causing mass displacement and restricting travel in many parts of thecountry.103 The lack of security is seen as the greatest barrier to movement.104 The Asia Foundation’s
2018 Survey of the Afghan People found that 79.7 % of respondents were afraid of travelling from onepart of Afghanistan to another.105
Kabul’s international airport is located 5 kilometres from the city centre.106 There have been bombings,
attacks and security incidents occurring around the airport by insurgents targeting security apparatus.
On 27 September 2017 suicide bombers and militants firing mortars attacked Kabul airport during the
92 NRC and Samuel Hall, Access to Tazkera and Other Civil Documentation in Afghanistan, November 2016, url, p. 23
93 NRC and Samuel Hall, Access to Tazkera and Other Civil Documentation in Afghanistan, November 2016, url, p. 25
94 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 167
95 UNHCR Afghanistan, email, 9 November 2018. UNHCR made this addition during the review of the report.
96 Foschini, F., email, 9 November 2018. Fabrizio Foschini made this addition during the review of the report.
97 Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2018 – Afghanistan, January 2018, url
98 USDoS, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2017 - Afghanistan, 20 April 2018, url
99 Austria, BFA Staatendokumentation, Fact-finding Mission Report Afghanistan, [source: Representative of an internationalNGO], April 2018, url, p. 28
100 Foschini, F., email, 9 November 2018. Fabrizio Foschini made this addition during the review of the report.
101 Huffington Post, Despite The Backlash, Women Take The Wheel In Afghanistan, 31 August 2017, url
102 Tolo News, Number of Woman Drivers on the Rise in Kabul, 28 September 2018, url
103 Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2018 – Afghanistan, January 2018, url
104 USDoS, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2017 - Afghanistan, 20 April 2018, url
105 Asia Foundation, Survey of the Afghan People 2018, December 2018, url, p. 50
106 LCA, Afghanistan Kabul (Hamid Karzai) International Airport, 5 January 2018, url22 —AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT

visit of US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis. The attack was claimed both by the Taliban and Islamic State
Khorasan Province (ISKP).107 BBC reported on 23 July 2018 that 14 people had died and another 60 had
been injured in a blast at Kabul airport shortly after Afghan Vice-President Abdul Rashid Dostum
returned from self-imposed exile.108
The airports of Mazar-e Sharif and Herat are located outside the cities. The Mazar-e Sharif airport islocated 9 kilometres east of the city centre.109 Herat airport is located 13 kilometres south of Herat
City in the district of Gozara.110 Even though the road connecting Herat to the airport is a major one,routinely controlled by security forces, in recent years it has seen activity by criminal networks. In thispart of the country they are often connected to insurgents as well, who try to intercept potential
targets for kidnap or murder moving to and from the airport.111

107 Reuters, Militants Attack Kabul Airport during Mattis Visit, U.S. Strike Hits Civilians, 27 September 2017, url
108 BBC, Afghan airport blast: VP Gen Dostum unhurt as Kabul bomb kills 14, 23 July 2018, url
109 LCA, Afghanistan Mazar-i-Sharif (Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi) International Airport, 5 January 2018, url;

ACAA, International Airfields, 10 January 2018, url
110 Tourism Herat, Herat International Airport, n.d., url
111 Foschini, F., email, 9 November 2018. Fabrizio Foschini made this addition during the review of the report.

AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT — 23

3. Economic climate
In terms of GDP per capita in USD, Afghanistan was the 6th poorest country in the world in 1960 and it
had only risen 6 ranks by 2016.112 ALCS 2016-17 found that ‘the overall macro-economic and security
context in the country since 2007 can be broken into two distinct phases, before and after the 2014
security transition’. While the phase before the transition showed ‘higher economic growth and a
relatively stable security situation’, after 2014 the growth rate slowed and the security deteriorated.113
Afghanistan continues to stay within the group of low income states, well below the average for othercountries that are fragile and affected by conflicts.114
According to the World Bank, between 2003 and 2013 the average growth rate was 9 %, but in 2014it slowed to 2.7 % and in 2015 to 1.5 %.115 The decline was caused by multiple factors, including
worsening security, decreasing foreign aid accompanied by the downscaling of international forces
and political instability following the 2014 elections.116 Although after 2015 the economy started toshow signs of stabilisation with a 2.3 % growth in 2016, followed by 2.7 % in 2017,117 the World Bank
considered the recovery ‘increasingly vulnerable’.118 Possible disruptions during the presidential andprovincial council elections scheduled for 2019 could have negative impact on confidence, investment
and growth.119
Apart from the challenges described above, ALCS 2016-17 defined other ‘structural factors’ that can
get in the way of Afghanistan’s development including the scope of population growth, difficulties for
women to participate in society and the lack of quality education and investments.120

3.1 Economic growth
As the World Bank stated, economic growth in 2017 was mainly powered by the expanding (2.5 %)services sector and the agricultural sector also grew by 3.8 %. In the first quarter of 2018 export levels
were up almost 50 % compared to the same period of 2017 – a development mostly powered by
setting up new air corridors to India and resolving border issues with Pakistan. Imports showed anincrease as well but mostly due to higher energy prices and greater grain import connected to thedrought.121
Opium production reached a record high in 2017.122 The opiate economy was about the size of thewhole agricultural sector and a vital element of the country’s economy, securing livelihoods for many
Afghans.123 According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the illegal opiate
economy was worth between USD 4.1-6.6 billion – around 20-32 % of GDP in 2017.124 This is asignificant increase compared to 2016, when the opiate economy’s value was approximated at around
15 % of the GDP.125 The UNODC’s 2017 joint village survey with the Ministry of Counter Narcotics(MCN) not only showed links between government control, insecurity and opium poppy cultivation
but also pointed out that a sizeable amount of the opium harvest is taxed by non-state authorities and
112 World Bank (The), Afghanistan Development Update, August 2018, url, p. 25
113 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 2
114 World Bank (The), Afghanistan Development Update, August 2018, url, p. 25
115 World Bank (The), Afghanistan Development Update, August 2018, url, p. 2
116 World Bank (The), Afghanistan Development Update, August 2018, url, p. 2
117 World Bank (The), Afghanistan Development Update, August 2018, url, p. 2
118 World Bank (The), Afghanistan - Overview, 28 October 2018, url
119 World Bank (The), Afghanistan Development Update, August 2018, url, pp. 1, 15
120 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, pp. 1-2
121 World Bank (The), Afghanistan - Overview, 28 October 2018, url
122 UNODC, Afghanistan Opium Survey 2017, May 2018, url, pp. 5-6.
123 UNODC, Afghanistan Opium Survey 2017, May 2018, url, pp. 5-6.
124 UNODC, Afghanistan Opium Survey 2017, May 2018, url, pp. 5-6.
125 World Bank (The), Afghanistan Development Update, August 2018, url, p. 4

24 —AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT

insurgency groups including the Taliban.126 Matthew C. DuPée, a senior analyst for the US Defense
Department noted that the Taliban also exploit mining sites in 14 of the 34 provinces in Afghanistan,
generating an estimated revenue of USD 200-300 million per year.127
While revenues were growing in 2017, the first half of 2018 brought a stop to this, echoing a slowdown
in economic activity and disruptions surrounding elections.128 As a reflection to the slowing growth,
poverty increased considerably: 38.3 % of the population was living below the national poverty line in
2012-2013 and this increased to 54.5 % in 2016-2017.129
The World Bank expects growth around 3.6 % by 2021. However, given the current 2.7 % population
growth rate, a much faster progress would be needed to achieve significant improvement regarding
incomes and livelihoods, not to mention the need for employment for the nearly 400 000 young
Afghans entering the labour market every year. Otherwise Afghanistan is ‘unlikely to make major
progress in reducing poverty’.130

3.2. Business climate
Businesses in Afghanistan face risks created by macroeconomic (e.g. price and exchange rate
volatility), political and security-related uncertainties combined with ‘largely undeveloped financial
markets’.131 The US Department of State identified the still-developing legal environment, the impact
of corruption on administration and the varying interpretations of tax law as the main challenges thebusiness environment had to face apart from the security.132
Even when compared to other countries affected by ‘fragility, conflict and violence (FCV)’, Afghanistan
stands out as an example of weak financial developments. Merely 27.5 % of the firms in the country
reported starting any investment projects and only 3 % of firms used bank loans to finance them while
this was around 40 % for the median country in the FCV sample.133
Expectations of political instability and violence in the context of upcoming elections caused thedeterioration of almost all business indicators during the last quarter of 2017. The number of new
business license applications showed a 20 % decline in 2018 compared to 2016. While new businessregistrations in the service and manufacturing sector were also down by 20 %, registrations in theconstruction sector experienced a 40 % increase.134
The findings of the Business Tendency Survey Report (2018 Q3) by the Afghanistan Chamber ofCommerce and Industries (ACCI) mentioned negative tendencies as well. According to the surveyed
companies, business conditions and level of confidence deteriorated along with their expectations forthe next 6 months. Compared to the previous quarter the business indicator showed a considerable
decline in all surveyed regions (Kabul, Balkh, Nangarhar, Kandahar, Herat) in Q3.135
Corruption was cited frequently both by Afghan and foreign firms as a difficulty when doing business,
specifically in permits and licenses, government procurement, regulatory requirements andtaxation.136
Fabrizio Foschini mentioned the case of Pamir Airways as an example of major businesses paying bribes
when launching any contract or in exchange for government services. Pamir Airways had to pay a bribe
126 UNODC, Afghanistan Opium Survey 2017, May 2018, url, p. 42
127 DuPée, M., Taliban Stones Commission and the Insurgent Windfall from Illegal Mining, CTC Sentinel, Volume 10, Issue 3,

March 2017, url, p. 34
128 World Bank (The), Afghanistan - Overview, 28 October 2018, url
129 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 100
130 World Bank (The), Afghanistan Development Update, August 2018, url, p. 16
131 World Bank (The), Investment under Risks and Uncertainty in Afghanistan, May 2018, url, p. 2
132 USDoS, 2018 Investment Climate Statements – Afghanistan, 19 July 2018, url
133 World Bank (The), Investment under Risks and Uncertainty in Afghanistan, May 2018, url, p. 2
134 World Bank (The), Afghanistan Development Update, August 2018, url, p. 2
135 ACCI, Business Monitor 2018 – Business Tendency Survey 3rd Quarter, 2018, url, pp. 2-4
136 USDoS, 2018 Investment Climate Statements – Afghanistan, 19 July 2018, url

AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT — 25

to the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation for every plane they registered in Afghanistan. Other
businesses – more connected to political networks – enjoyed benefits like the possibility of evading
fiscal or accountability controls or even hindering the work of rivals.137

3.2.1 Business climate in the three cities
The Afghan government was committed to increase private sector investment.138 In Kabul a newlicensing system was initiated in 2016 with the aim of streamlining the business registration process
under the Afghanistan Central Business Registry (ACBR) that also extended the validity of businesslicenses for 3 years.139 Apart from starting business, Kabul was also in a leading position in getting
electricity as a result of the country’s highly centralised administration system.140 Businesses in otherprovinces needed to obtain permission from central authorities in Kabul when getting a new electricity
connection which added more to the procedures and costs they were already facing.141
The lack of cheap and reliable provision of electricity has always been a major setback for all productive
activities in Afghanistan with a heavy weight on the production costs, making Afghan enterprises noncompetitive in the face of foreign goods and companies. This disadvantage hampered significantly thedevelopment of Herat’s industrial parks. These were among the better positioned in the whole country
to yield results due to the relatively permissive security environment of the city and the vibrant local
businessmen community, but paradoxically were dependent for energy on their main competitor,
Iran.142
The World Bank also noted that businesses in Herat had to wait 6 more weeks than in Balkh to get a
new connection due to the limited amount of power available.143
Because of its rapid growth the capital faced large volume of applications for construction permits andproperty transfers.144 In an attempt to reduce backlogs, different municipal offices were brought
together to create a ‘one-stop shop’ for construction permits and to make registering property moreof an administrative procedure instead of one managed by courts.145
While streamlining the licensing process in Kabul reduced the number of procedures needed to starta business, the required time did not drop accordingly. Businesses in Balkh and Herat need to visit
three different agencies when starting a business and this results in twice as many procedures as in
Kabul. However, starting a business still takes the same time in Kabul and Balkh and just a day more in
Herat despite the higher number of procedures required, suggesting that back-office processes stilllack efficiency in the capital.146

3.3. Development Aid
A joint report by Oxfam and the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA) stated that effective aid
delivery was a major challenge given the security situation and level of corruption in Afghanistan.147
According to Oxfam/SCA, international aid provided to Afghanistan declined from nearly
USD 6.5 billion in 2010 to USD 4.2 billion in 2015.148 The World Bank had different estimates for an
137 Foschini, F., Kabul and the Challenge of Dwindling Foreign Aid, USIP, 10 April 2017, url, pp. 42-43
138 USDoS, 2018 Investment Climate Statements – Afghanistan, 19 July 2018, url
139 World Bank (The), Doing Business In Afghanistan 2017, 2017, url, p. 4
140 World Bank (The), Doing Business In Afghanistan 2017, 2017, url, p. 5
141 World Bank (The), Doing Business In Afghanistan 2017, 2017, url, p. 6
142 Foschini, F., email, 9 November 2018. Fabrizio Foschini, made this addition during his review of this report.
143 World Bank (The), Doing Business In Afghanistan 2017, 2017, url, pp. 42-43
144 World Bank (The), Doing Business In Afghanistan 2017, 2017, url, p. 5
145 World Bank (The), Doing Business In Afghanistan 2017, 2017, url, pp. 4, 6
146 World Bank (The), Doing Business In Afghanistan 2017, 2017, url, p. 25
147 Oxfam and SCA, Aid Effectiveness in Afghanistan, March 2018, url, p. 37
148 Oxfam and SCA, Aid Effectiveness in Afghanistan, March 2018, url, p. 7

26 —AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT

annual average of USD 12.5 billion of development aid in 2009-2012 dropping to around
USD 8.8 billion in 2015.149 Despite the decrease, Afghanistan still remains highly dependent on aid:
around 66 % of the budget in the financial year of 1396 (March 2017-Feb 2018) was funded throughinternational donor support.150 As Integrity Watch Afghanistan – an independent civil society
organisation committed to increase transparency – stated, changing Afghanistan’s aid dependency
would require tapping the country’s mineral resources and also introducing a zero tolerance approachon corruption.151
According to the Oxfam/SCA report, social infrastructure and services was the area that received mostfinancial support with over USD 14 billion from 2011 to 2015, followed by economic infrastructure andservices (USD 4 billion), humanitarian aid (USD 2 billion) and production sector support(USD 1.6 billion).152 Even with this significant amount of aid distributed, as AAN pointed out, poverty
is more widespread according to 2016-17 ALCS figures than it was immediately after the Taliban
regime which is ‘nothing but a result of continuing ineffectiveness’.153 There were over 30 different
international donors distributing aid in Afghanistan without effective donor coordination andharmonisation that lead to fragmentation and as a result, ineffectiveness.154 The World Bank – one of
the major donors of agricultural investments in Afghanistan – for example admitted that they did not
engage with other donors sufficiently which lead to the duplication of programs in the agricultural
sector.155
The other issue having a negative impact on Afghanistan’s progress was corruption.156 According to
the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) Afghans were required to pay bribes in almost
every aspect of their daily lives and suffered from the effects of ‘widespread nepotism andpatronage’.157 In 2016 the Anti-Corruption Justice Center (ACJC) was opened to investigate and try
cases related to corruption and has successfully convicted some government officials.158 However,other courts still have to demonstrate their ability to do so and this, combined with the outdated
integrity measures of the justice sector and the weakness of the law enforcement capacity, minimised
the preventive effect of corruption prosecutions.159

149 World Bank (The), Afghanistan Development Update, November 2017, url, p. 2
150 Oxfam and SCA, Aid Effectiveness in Afghanistan, March 2018, url, p. 7
151 Integrity Watch Afghanistan, The Game of Numbers - Analysis of the National Budget 2018, December 2017, url, p. 15
152 Oxfam and SCA, Aid Effectiveness in Afghanistan, March 2018, url, p. 28
153 Bjelica, J. and Ruttig, T., The State of Aid and Poverty in 2018: A new look at aid effectiveness in Afghanistan, AAN, 17 May

2018, url
154 Oxfam and SCA, Aid Effectiveness in Afghanistan, March 2018, url, pp. 7-8
155 Oxfam and SCA, Aid Effectiveness in Afghanistan, March 2018, url, pp. 34-35
156 Oxfam and SCA, Aid Effectiveness in Afghanistan, March 2018, url, pp. 35
157 UNAMA, Afghanistan’s fight against corruption – From Strategies to Implementation, 14 May 2018, url, p. 5
158 USDoS, 2018 Investment Climate Statements – Afghanistan, 19 July 2018, url
159 UNAMA, Afghanistan’s fight against corruption – From Strategies to Implementation, 14 May 2018, url, p. 67

AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT — 27

4. Employment
The Afghan labour market is dominated by agriculture and can be described further by the large shareof self-employed or family workers indicating a high level of informality, the underrepresentation of
women and the lack of opportunities for young people.160 According to the International Labour
Organization (ILO) 54 % of the Afghan population is of legal working age (15-64 years), while 44 % isbelow the age of 15.161 The World Bank stated that nearly three-quarters of the population are younger
than 30 years and around 25 % is between 15-30 years.162 As a result, young Afghans enter the labour
market in large numbers every year, but employment opportunities cannot keep up with the
population growth because of inadequate development resources and poor security.163

4.1 Unemployment
As the World Bank noted ‘employment and labour force participation has fallen between 2013 and2017’. The decline was most noticeable among women in rural areas, where employment to working
age population ratio fell from 21.2 % to 18.3 %, equalling the loss of almost 130 000 jobs. Employmentof men between the ages of 25-50 also showed a decline from 93.4 % in 2011/12 to 84.3 % in 2016/17– this equals a drop in employment by about 176 000 jobs.164
According to ALCS 2016-17, 2 million Afghans – 23.9 % of the total labour force – can be classified as
unemployed, meaning they do not work or seek employment or work less than eight hours per
week.165 The unemployment rate for age shows a U-shape: unemployment levels are very high among
persons under age 25 and over age 50.166 The youth unemployment (age 15-24) rate is 31 %, while
42 % are neither in employment, education or training (NEET).167 The difference between urban andrural youth in the NEET rate is rather small compared to the difference by sex: 80.1 % of the NEET
population is female as a result of women’s low labour force, education and training participation andhigh female unemployment.168
The seasonal effect is a significant factor about unemployment. The unemployment rate is relatively
low during spring and summer months (around 20 %) while in winter time it can reach 32.5 %.169
Although labour-driven migration has been a traditional coping mechanism and many left for Turkey,
Pakistan or Iran in search of employment opportunities, it may have become a less effective option
lately as Iran has increased the number of deportations.170

4.2 Labour opportunities and conditions
The Afghan economy is dominated by agriculture; nearly 45 % of the employed population (2.8 million
people) works in the farming or livestock sub-sectors.171 52.6 % of the rural population is employed in

160 Afghanistan, CSO, Socio-Demographic and Economic Survey - Economically Active Population, Provinces of Kabul, Bamyan,

Daykundi, Ghor, Kapisa and Parwan, 8 Jun 2017, url, p. 35
161 ILO, Afghanistan - Employment and Environmental Sustainability Fact Sheets 2017, 2 April 2018, url, p. 1
162 World Bank (The), Afghanistan - Overview, 28 October 2018, url
163 World Bank (The), Afghanistan Development Update, August 2018, url, p. 29
164 World Bank (The), Afghanistan Development Update, August 2018, url, p. 6
165 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 59
166 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 59
167 World Bank (The), Afghanistan - Overview, 28 October 2018, url
168 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 61
169 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 61
170 Bjelica, J., Less Rain and Snowfall in Afghanistan: High Level Of Food Assistance Needed Until Early 2019, AAN, 30 July
2018, url
171 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 67

28 —AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT

agriculture, while there is more diversity in urban employment where 36.5 % of the working
population is engaged in various services and only 5.5 % in agriculture.172
Access to productive or remunerative employment is limited, 80 % of employment is consideredvulnerable and insecure in the form of self- or own-account employment, day labour or unpaid work.173
ALCS 2016-17 noted that only 19.8 % of all employed persons in Afghanistan are in salaried public andprivate employment or are employers, meaning the majority of workers represent vulnerable
employment.174 According to ILO most of the workers is this category have own-account status, often
within the agriculture sector and they are more likely to face low job and income security and lower
coverage by social protection systems.175 Given that employers form only a small group (2.6 %),salaried workers constitute ‘the only visible category in the labour market that can be considered tohave more or less secure jobs’.176
Poor job quality and insecure employment are widespread and the World Bank noted that ‘neither
education nor employment are a guarantee out of poverty.’177 Holding a salaried job can bring poverty
rates below 50 % while for those households that are headed by day labourers or self-employedpersons, poverty rates are as high as 66 % and 53 % respectively.178

4.2.1 Labour opportunities in the three cities
According to Fabrizio Foschini, Kabul is the major trade and employment hub in Afghanistan which
serves also as a ‘magnet’ for labourers from a wider area reaching Parwan, Logar or Wardak provinces.
People from small villages commute daily or weekly to Kabul to trade agricultural products or work as
guards, household staff or wage labourers. Commuting to Kabul is more common for people living in
the north and south of the city because of the greater travelling times and costs for those living eastof the city.179
Kabul is largely an urban province with its economically active population divided into professions
related to trade, services and elementary occupations.180 The capital has a large share of salaried
workers, while self-employment is less common compared to rural parts of the country.181 The major
employers in Kabul include community, social and personal services as well as the public
administration.182 Foschini noted that while the public sector offers limited salaries, it is more securethan other forms of employment.183 Salaries in Kabul are generally higher than in other provinces,
particularly for those working for foreign organisations (e.g. computer technicians can earn monthly
an average AFN 25 000, nearly USD 375).184
According to Jolyon Leslie, the young age structure of the population in Herat means that theeconomically most productive age group (15-64 years) is rather small and therefore carries the burdenof providing for a large number of people in the dependent ages. In addition, half of the working

172 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 68
173 World Bank (The), Afghanistan Overview, 28 October 2018, url
174 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 63
175 ILO, Afghanistan, Employment and Environmental Sustainability Fact Sheets 2017, 2 April 2018, url, p. 2
176 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 64
177 World Bank (The), Afghanistan Development Update, August 2018, url, p. 30
178 World Bank (The), Poverty in Afghanistan, Results based on ALCS 2016-17, July 2018, url, p. 18
179 Foschini, F., Kabul and the Challenge of Dwindling Foreign Aid, USIP, 10 April 2017, url, pp. 5, 7-8
180 Afghanistan, CSO, Economically Active Population, Provinces of Kabul, Bamyan, Daykundi, Ghor, Kapisa and Parwan, 8 Jun

2017, url, p. 31
181 Foschini, F., Kabul and the Challenge of Dwindling Foreign Aid, USIP, 10 April 2017, url, p. 29
182 Afghanistan, CSO, Economically Active Population, Provinces of Kabul, Bamyan, Daykundi, Ghor, Kapisa and Parwan, 8 Jun
2017, url, p. 31
183 Foschini, F., Kabul and the Challenge of Dwindling Foreign Aid, USIP, 10 April 2017, url, p. 30
184 Foschini, F., Kabul and the Challenge of Dwindling Foreign Aid, USIP, 10 April 2017, url, p. 33

AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT — 29

population in Herat City are day labourers with their income vulnerable to the vagaries of the labour
market.185
Fabrizio Foschini added that Herat’s economy has long provided job opportunities in trade, including
the import and export of goods with neighbouring Iran, mining and manufacturing. Some of the ageold artisanal crafts (carpets, glass, embroidery) have managed to survive, while a set of modern
industrial activities has also developed (e.g. food processing and packaging). However, all theseworkplaces have been threatened by insecurity (particularly the kidnapping of businessmen or theirrelatives by criminal networks with connivance inside the police), by power shortages and the difficultyof competing with Iranian and other foreign imports and rising unemployment.186
Mazar-e Sharif is considered as a regional trading centre for northern Afghanistan and also as anindustrial centre with large-scale manufacturing operations and a huge number of small and medium
enterprises providing handicrafts, rugs and carpets.187 Mazar-e Sharif has been relatively more stablecompared to Herat or Kabul according to analyst Foschini.188 The largest group of workers in the citywere service and sales workers (23.1 %) followed by managers/professionals/technicians and clerks(20.9 %).189
Mazar-e Sharif is also one of the cities in Afghanistan where the Afghanistan New Market Development
Project (ANMDP) is implemented. The project covering Herat, Kabul and Jalalabad as well supports
small and medium enterprises and business associations with access to business development
services. From its start in 2013 to September 2016 it covered 145 organisations in Balkh province,
including a local pasteurization factory in Mazar-e Sharif.190

4.3 Livelihood opportunities for IDPs and returnees
The increased numbers of refugees and undocumented Afghans returning to certain areas in
Afghanistan, especially to Kabul, along with the continued displacement added further pressure on
community services and social infrastructure in the country.191 The World Bank noted that thesuccessful integration of the better educated returnees into productive employment could improve
productivity and growth. Still, the concentration of returnees and IDPs in urban centres has the risk ofoverwhelming services and generating large humanitarian needs.192
Nassim Majidi noted that many return and reintegration programs did not sustain long-term
livelihoods and reliable shelter and also failed to ‘bridge the gap’ between the skills returnees had andthose that were in-demand in the local markets.193 Oxfam stated that the government’s capacity was
limited to address the reception and reintegration of returnees, 30 % of them faced difficulties finding
livelihood opportunities and 18 % had challenges when accessing food.194
According to Oxfam extended family networks were vital for returnees in finding and maintaining
employment and housing, however having a family network did not necessarily remove allvulnerabilities.195 For unaccompanied minors, single women and female-headed households
vulnerabilities were higher even with family support.196 Many returnees, particularly those withoutfamily connections settled in cities assuming that those were safer and livelihood opportunities were
185 Leslie, J., Political and Economic Dynamics of Herat, USIP, 2 April 2015, url, p. 19
186 Foschini, F., email, 9 November 2018. Fabrizio Foschini made this addition during the review of the report.
187 Afghanistan, State of Afghan Cities 2015, Volume One, 2015, url, p. 63.
188 Foschini, F., email, 9 November 2018. Fabrizio Foschini made this addition during the review of the report.
189 Afghanistan, CSO, Socio-Demographic and Economic Survey: Balkh, 5 January 2015, url, p. 42
190 World Bank (The), Thriving Local Businesses Provide Jobs to Thousands in Afghanistan, 18 October 2017, url
191 UNHCR, Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees 2018-2019, October 2018, url, p. 5
192 World Bank (The), Afghanistan Development Update, August 2018, url, p. 6
193 Majidi, N., From Forced Migration to Forced returns in Afghanistan: Policy and Program Implications, MPI, November

2017, url, p. 17
194 Oxfam, Returning to Fragility - Exploring the Link between Conflict and Returnees in Afghanistan, January 2018, url, p. 15
195 Oxfam, Returning to Fragility - Exploring the Link between Conflict and Returnees in Afghanistan, January 2018, url, p. 17
196 Oxfam, Returning to Fragility - Exploring the Link between Conflict and Returnees in Afghanistan, January 2018, url, p. 17

30 —AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT

better.197 While returnees were not perceived as a source of conflict in general, they clearly
represented competition for resources and employment.198 According to UNHCR’s returnee and IDP
monitoring findings in May 2018, nearly 60 % of interviewed returnees and 71 % of interviewed IDPs
reported difficulties with the host communities that were related to the lack of job opportunities
rather than discrimination or inter-tribal tensions.199 For 2016 and 2017 returnees the most common
source of income was unskilled labour. Finding work was reported as an ‘overwhelming difficulty’ bothfor returnees and IDPs: more than 24 % of 2017 returnees and 33 % of 2016 returnees faced difficulties
at finding a job while 21 % of IDPs reported the same.200
According to Oxfam, IDPs were facing more risks and vulnerabilities than returnees in general.201
A joint study by the NRC, Samuel Hall and the IDMC surveyed IDPs and found that Afghanistan was‘struggling to absorb increasingly large numbers of refugees and migrants'. The study showed anincrease in ‘returnee-IDPs’ – those IDPs who reported becoming secondarily displaced after theirreturn to Afghanistan. Three quarters of the returnee-IDP respondents were unable to go back to theirhome as a result of insecurity and 72 % reported having been displaced twice while nearly a third weredisplaced three times. Only 25 % of IDPs received some kind of aid assistance and one in two
respondents reported having difficulties fulfilling their food needs on a regular basis. At the same time,
an increasing number of IDPs adopted harmful coping mechanisms like skipping meals or relying onchild labour.202
71 % of the respondents in the NRC, Samuel Hall, IDMC study mentioned unemployment,
underemployment or lack of marketable skills as one of their three main problems and ‘this wasconsistent across gender, type of IDP, number of displacements and provinces’. The main source ofincome for the majority of IDPs was the informal economy, 59 % of respondents were day labourers
before their displacement and 67 % after that. Female-headed households stood out as particularly
vulnerable with 69 % reporting daily seasonal labour as their main source of income and 72 % after
that. The ‘rural-to-urban trajectory’ is an important limiting factor in employment opportunities during
displacement since urban areas do not offer the same possibilities: 61 % of respondents mentioned
working in agriculture before displacement but only 4 % after that.203

4.3.1 Situation in the three cities
According to Oxfam, Kabul had a total inflow of 628 260 returnees and IDPs by June 2017 with mostreturnees living outside the city centre, often in remote areas and camps. Chaman-e Babrak, a camplocated in urban Kabul has hardly any relationship with the host community. While there were noreports of major tension from the host community here, the people interviewed for Oxfam’s research
perceived the returnees ‘as a source of pressure on the job market and local wages’. Most of the
returnees interviewed stated that they depend on relatives for accommodation and other support.
Those who have been in Kabul for years say that the situation deteriorated with increased local prices,
unemployment, insecurity and crime.204
A survey conducted in 2016 among Afghan youth in Kabul showed that most are either self-employed
or working for a single individual. Those who were forced to return showed lower level of job
satisfaction, with 60 % of deportees expressing satisfaction compared to 85 % of non-migrants. One of

197 Oxfam, Returning to Fragility - Exploring the Link between Conflict and Returnees in Afghanistan, January 2018, url, p. 17
198 Oxfam, Returning to Fragility - Exploring the Link between Conflict and Returnees in Afghanistan, January 2018, url, pp.

17-18
199 UNHCR, Returnee and Internally Displaced Persons Monitoring Report, May 2018, url, p. 4
200 UNHCR, Returnee and Internally Displaced Persons Monitoring Report, May 2018, url, p. 15
201 Oxfam, Returning to Fragility - Exploring the Link between Conflict and Returnees in Afghanistan, January 2018, url, p. 14
202 NRC, IDMC and Samuel Hall, Escaping War: Where to Next?, 24 January 2018, url, p. 10
203 NRC, IDMC and Samuel Hall, Escaping War: Where to Next?, 24 January 2018, url, p. 28
204 Oxfam, Returning to Fragility - Exploring the Link between Conflict and Returnees in Afghanistan, January 2018, url, p. 23

AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT — 31

the factors causing dissatisfaction was the mismatch of skills: 74 % of deportees mentioned theircurrent work as a poor match for their skills.205
Oxfam’s research noted that returnees can generally work only from time to time in Kabul as daily
wage workers and most of them cannot find jobs every day making their earnings unstable. Most
documented returnees received some financial support from UNHCR, while some undocumented
returnees received assistance from IOM. They have not received further support from the governmentor NGOs, although this is perceived as very much needed, particularly in terms of shelter and basicsocial services.206
46 % of the respondents in the NRC, Samuel Hall, IDMC study on IDPs stated that their household’s
access to livelihoods was restricted; this was 67 % in Kunduz, while Kabul seemed to have a better
situation with 33 %.207
According to Oxfam, Herat City is considered relatively safe with employment and business
opportunities which made it attractive for returnees. Herat’s absorption capacity has proven to be highbut is put under pressure by the growing number of returnees and IDPs that seek economic
opportunity within the city and often have their families follow.208
The Afghan government established Shahrak Saadat, a township for returnees in 2010. Although theplan was to distribute land, only one of the intended 13 phases of land distribution was actuallycompleted. Out of around 300 families who received land and built shelters, only 66 stayed leaving
many houses empty or occupied by IDPs. Although Shahrak Saadat has access to water and electricity
and its facilities include a school and a mobile health clinic, few returnees choose to live here as it isfar from Herat City, lacks transportation and beyond day labour and seasonal work, job opportunities
are few.209 Oxfam also mentions another township, Shegofan, which is closer to Herat City andprovided electricity, water, a school and health services by NGOs. It is populated by IDPs and returnees
and their families pushing their integration by sharing a Community Development Council (CDC) withthe local host community. This is a platform that meets on a regular basis to discuss problems and findsolutions for the whole community.210
In October 2016 an inter-agency research found that the majority of IDP families in Herat were
engaged in daily labour or other insecure, seasonal forms of employment with men mostly working inconstruction or loading and unloading goods in marketplaces and women working as cleaners in local
houses or as vendors. A large number of children collected garbage, cleaned vehicles or were hawking
goods at road intersections. Families reported earning AFN 1 000-3 000 (USD 45) per month which
proved insufficient to run the household.211
According to IOM IDPs and returnees in Balkh province mostly work in daily labour if it is available.
Only few of them work in agriculture or own livestock. Markets and small businesses in Mazar-e Sharif
provide employment opportunities but these are often only temporary.212

4.4 Employment opportunities for women
The 2004 Constitution of Afghanistan protects women’s equality before the law, their right toeducation and their right to work.213 Afghanistan’s development framework also made gender equality
205 Majidi, N.,

From Forced Migration to Forced returns in Afghanistan: Policy and Program Implications, MPI, November
2017, url, p. 15
206 Oxfam, Returning to Fragility - Exploring the Link between Conflict and Returnees in Afghanistan, January 2018, url, p. 24
207 NRC, IDMC and Samuel Hall, Escaping War: Where to Next?, 24 January 2018, url, p. 28
208 Oxfam, Returning to Fragility - Exploring the Link between Conflict and Returnees in Afghanistan, January 2018, url, p. 20
209 Oxfam, Returning to Fragility - Exploring the Link between Conflict and Returnees in Afghanistan, January 2018, url, p. 20
210 Oxfam, Returning to Fragility - Exploring the Link between Conflict and Returnees in Afghanistan, January 2018, url, p. 21
211 UN-Habitat et al., Inter-Agency Durable Solutions Initiative - Profile and Response Plan of Protracted IDP Settlements in
Herat, October 2016, url, p. 6
212 IOM, Afghanistan - Baseline Mobility Assessment Summary Results, June 2017, url, p. 23
213 Afghanistan, Afghanistan National Peace and Development Framework 2017-2021, 29 January 2017, url, p. 8

32 —AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT

and women’s empowerment key priorities.214 However, ALCS 2016-17 data showed very low
participation of women in the Afghan economy and also in society in general.215
Asia Foundation’s 2018 survey found that the most frequently cited problem for women after lack of
education/illiteracy was unemployment.216 Even though some progress was made in gender equality
in terms of literacy, the literacy rate of young women is still only 57 % of that of young men.217 The
share of women participating in the Afghan economy was only one third of that of men and at thesame time unemployment and NEET indicators showed women having a very disadvantaged positionon the labour market.218 According to ALCS 2016-17 data, the female unemployment rate was morethan twice as high as that of men: 41 % against 18.3 %.219 ALCS 2016-17 also showed that the overall
percentage of women in vulnerable employment (89.9 %) exceeded the male percentage (77.5 %).220
Women in Afghanistan were often judged for working outside the home and faced multiple economic
and social challenges in Afghanistan’s traditionally conservative culture.221 However, Asia Foundation’ssurvey showed that 70.3 % of Afghans supported women working outside the home, though women(79.8 %) were more likely to hold this view than men (60.8 %).222 The survey also added that women’scontribution to household income decreased slightly from 20.1 % in 2017 to 19.1 % in 2018 overall.223
According to Fabrizio Foschini the participation of women in the workforce varied greatly by sector in
Kabul and was limited mostly to areas like teaching, cleaning, cooking and weaving or other textilerelated industries, although ‘some young educated professionals are hired by the government and byinternational or national companies at many professional levels’. Women working outside their homein Kabul were mostly Hazaras with many returnees from exile in Iran or Pakistan among them.224

4.5 Child labour
48 % of its population being younger than 15 years, Afghanistan is one of the four countries in theworld with the highest proportion of persons under the age of 15.225
Afghanistan ratified all key international conventions concerning child labour and also established its
own laws and regulations.226 Despite improvements, the country’s legal framework still lacks effectivemeans regarding the prevention of child labour. According to the relevant Afghan law, the minimum
age for employment is 18, however children between the ages of 15-17 can work, if ‘the work is notharmful, consists of less than 35 hours per week, and represents a form of vocational training’. Children
aged 14 or younger are not allowed to work.227 The Afghan government established institutional
mechanisms to enforce laws and regulations on child labour but gaps still exist within the authority of
the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs, and Disabled (MoLSAMD) while the Afghan Labor
Inspectorate is not authorised to sanction child labour practices either.228

214 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-2017: Highlights Report, 2018, url, p. 13
215 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-2017: Highlights Report, 2018, url, p. 14
216 Asia Foundation, Survey of the Afghan People 2018, December 2018, url, p. 196
217 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-2017: Highlights Report, 2018, url, p. 13
218 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-2017: Highlights Report, 2018, url, p. 13
219 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 59
220Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 64
221 IWPR, Afghan Women Fight to Stay in Business, 5 April 2018, url
222 Asia Foundation, Survey of the Afghan People 2018, December 2018, url, p. 189
223 Asia Foundation, Survey of the Afghan People 2018, December 2018, url, p. 193
224 Foschini, F., Kabul and the Challenge of Dwindling Foreign Aid, USIP, 10 April 2017, url, p. 30
225 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-2017: Highlights Report, 2018, url, p. 4
226 USDoL, 2017 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor: Afghanistan, 20 September 2018, url, p. 3
227 APPRO, Chronic Conflict, Poverty and Child Labor: Evidence from Kandahar, Bamyan, Herat and Balkh, April 2018, url, p. 7
228 USDoL, 2017 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor: Afghanistan, 20 September 2018, url, pp. 1,3

AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT — 33

According to UNICEF children working on the streets are common throughout Kabul, their number isestimated at 60 000.229 Most of them sell goods, collect garbage or beg instead of going to school.230
The USDoS noted that children were employed ‘as domestic servants, street vendors, peddlers, andshopkeepers. There was child labor in the carpet industry, brick kilns, coalmines, and poppy fields.
Children were also heavily engaged in the worst forms of child labor in mining (especially family-owned
gem mines), commercial sexual exploitation […], transnational drug smuggling, and organized begging
rings. Some forms of child labor exposed children to land mines’.231
UNAMA documented the recruitment and use of 22 boys by parties to the armed conflict along withcredible allegations of the recruitment and use of seven boys.232 Fabrizio Foschini added that underage
recruiting happened on both sides of the conflict, particularly among those local units that were lessdirectly under the control of the central military commands: village self-defence militias and Afghan
Local Police in case of the government, local fronts of fighters co-opted but not established anew by
the Taliban. While both sides theoretically did not condone the practice, they seemed unwilling or
unable to suppress it.233
The 2018 joint study by NRC, Samuel Hall and IDMC found that while child labour is still underreported,
it is more prevalent among the displaced families than it was in 2012. Nearly one in five families
responded relying on child labour to meet their basic needs. 24 % of returnee-IDP households
responded relying on child labour compared to 16 % of IDP families. Child labour is more widespreadamong urban IDPs (21 %) compared to those residing in peri-urban (18 %) and rural areas (15 %) andis particularly prevalent in Kabul. This likely reflects the greater economic vulnerability of IDPs in thecapital and also the demand that Kabul's ‘relatively vibrant’ economy creates for child labour.234
UNHCR added that the scale of problems children were facing was likely much larger, as
underreporting was common due to social stigma and cultural issues.235

229 UNICEF and Samuel Hall, Evaluation of “Improving Street-working Children’s Access to Education and Livelihood Support

for their Families” Kabul, Afghanistan, September 2017, url, p. 6
230 IWPR, No Respite for Kabul's Street Children, 09 December 2016, url
231 USDoS, Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2017 - Afghanistan, 20 April 2018, url
232 UNAMA, Mid-year Update on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict: 1 January to 30 June 2018, 15 July 2018, url, p.
3
233 Foschini, F., email, 9 November 2018. Fabrizio Foschini made this addition during the review of the report.
234 NRC, IDMC and Samuel Hall, Escaping War: Where to Next?, 24 January 2018, url, p. 32
235 UNHCR Afghanistan, email, 9 November 2018. UNHCR made this addition during the review of this report.

34 —AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT

5. Poverty
5.1 General trends
As a reflection to the slowing growth, poverty increased considerably: 38.3 % of the population wasliving below the national poverty line in 2012-2013 and this increased to 54.5 % in 2016-2017.236,
Development assistance did not result in a reduction of poverty while ‘humanitarian assistance has
been used primarily as a “band aid”’, according to the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs.237
The ALCS 2016-17 added that in Afghanistan poverty always had a seasonal character with wintermonths showing deterioration in welfare. This trend is explained by an increase in prices, particularly
in food prices and also a decline in income-generating opportunities in agriculture.238 The survey foundthe largest increase (17-20 %) in poverty between 2011-12 and 2016-17 in the Central, East, North andNortheast regions.239
Poverty rates increase steadily with household size: one third of households with 1-5 members live
below the poverty line compared to 60 % of households with eight members or more.240 About 59 %of the population lives in a household where the head of household holds vulnerable employment,
meaning is self-employed or works on own account or is a day labourer or an unpaid worker.241 Data
showed that poverty also rises when there is an increasing dependency: households with 3 or more
dependents for each working-age member of the household have a 70 % poverty rate.242
One significant aspect of the increase in poverty between 2011 and 2016 has been the shift in the
distribution of the poor towards urban areas; however, 4 out of every 5 poor persons still live in rural
Afghanistan. ALCS 2016-17 added that ‘the Central region, including Kabul, alone accounts for a halfof all urban poor, while the North, Northeast and Southwest regions account for another third’. The
rural poor are more dispersed with the Northeast and Southwest regions each accounting for 17 % of
the rural poor, followed by the North with 15 %.243

5.2 Urban poverty
Afghanistan faced a sharp increase in poverty since 2011-12 with a rise in both urban and rural poverty
rates. Even though the decline in welfare was widespread, urban poverty rates were lower thanrural.244
Kandahar, Kabul, Herat, Balkh and Kunduz are the areas where the increase of urban poverty has been
concentrated since 2011. These provinces together accounted for 80 % of the urban poor in 2016-17
with Kabul alone accounting for nearly half. According to ALCS 2016-17 this trend may be powered by
IDPs and returnees who turn to urban centres in their search for security, employment and services
and if continued, the pressure on these centres could further increase.245

236 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 100
237 Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, Afghanistan: A Political Economy Analysis, December 2017, url, p. 44
238 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 109
239 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 107
240 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 110
241 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 113
242 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 111
243 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 108
244 World Bank (The), Afghanistan, Poverty in Afghanistan, Results based on ALCS 2016-17, July 2018, url, p. 8
245 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 102

AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT — 35

Fabrizio Foschini noted that in the case of Kabul, physical growth has not been accompanied by thedevelopment of industrial and trading facilities. The economy has not taken any specific direction or
specialisation in any sectors while the state of employment is alarming and poverty is increasing.246
Because mostly rural areas are in the focus of humanitarian efforts, data on urban poverty in Kabul arelargely limited to those inhabiting the Kabul Informal Settlements. A 2014 survey – using the criteriaof AFN 1 710 in monthly income – found that 77.6 % of Kabul households lived below the poverty
line.247 The capital may offer a better job market, but the cost of living there is also significantly higher
than in other provinces, particularly for housing but for some food items as well. Residents of Kabul
tend to rely more on credit compared to other urban areas. Given that food expenses can make up
half of a household’s expenditure and rent one third, many households are pushed to find alternative
sources of cash, whether by accessing informal credit or sending a family member abroad.248

5.3 Situation of female-headed households, IDPs and returnees
ALCS 2016-17 found that only 1.2 % of households are headed by women with 212 000 people living
in female-headed households overall.249
UNOCHA noted that displaced female-headed households earn up to 61 % less (AFN 5 687), than theirmale counterparts (AFN 9 298) and are 15 % more likely to have no access to a tazkera. Since accessto documentation is a basic requirement to access humanitarian assistance, the lack of documentation
impedes women’s ability to receive certain services and necessary legal protection.250 In addition,
female-headed households are 67 % more food insecure than those headed by men.251
Human Rights Watch added that insurgent attacks against civilians have devastating impact on thevictim’s family as well, particularly on women who suddenly become dependent on members of theirhusband’s family and face limitations in where they can live and work.252
The joint report by NRC, IDMC and Samuel Hall found that three quarters of IDP households in
Afghanistan do not receive aid, pressuring them towards harmful coping strategies such as relying onchild labour or skipping meals. IDPs are exposed to ongoing risks by lacking access to food, water,
housing and services like education, health care or livelihood opportunities trapping them in‘protracted cycles of endemic poverty’.253

246 Foschini, F., Kabul and the Challenge of Dwindling Foreign Aid, USIP, 10 April 2017, url, p. 27
247 Foschini, F., Kabul and the Challenge of Dwindling Foreign Aid, USIP, 10 April 2017, url, p. 34
248 Foschini, F., Kabul and the Challenge of Dwindling Foreign Aid, USIP, 10 April 2017, url, p. 34
249 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 30
250 UNOCHA, Afghanistan: Humanitarian Response Plan 2018-2021, 1 December 2017, url, p. 16
251 UNOCHA, Afghanistan: Humanitarian Response Plan 2018-2021, 1 December 2017, url, p. 30
252 HRW, "No Safe Place": Insurgent Attacks on Civilians in Afghanistan, May 2018, url, p. 2
253 NRC, IDMC and Samuel Hall, Escaping War: Where to Next?, 24 January 2018, url, p. 10

36 —AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT

6. Food security
6.1 General situation
According to ALCS 2016-17 44.6 % of the Afghan population – 13 million people – are very severely tomoderately food insecure.254 Food insecurity increased from 30.1 % in 2011-12 to 44.6 % in 2016-17
with an increase in all residence population groups, the highest rise being observed in the rural
areas.255 The highest percentage of food insecure people is reported in the Eastern region (59.7 %),followed by the North (54.9 %), North-east (50.5 %) and the Central Highlands (49 %). Jawzjan, Paktya,
Takhar, Badakshan, Nangarhar, Uruzgan, Nuristan, Samangan, Balkh and Laghman showed very highfood insecurity (above 60 %) while high food insecurity (40.1-60 %) was observed in Ghazni, Kunduz,
Zabul, Herat, Daykundi, Badghis, Kandahar, Faryab, Ghor and Sar-e-Pul. The third category – 30.1-40 %food security – included Parwan, Nimroz, Kunarha, Bamyan and Wardak while Panjshir, Khost, Kabul,
Farah, Kapisa, Helmand and Logar were 20.1-30 % food insecure. Only Paktika and Baghlan had lessthan 10 % food-insecure population.256 The employment status of the head of household had asignificant impact on food security: households with an employed head are less food insecure (41.5 %)compared to those where the head of household is underemployed (47.2 %), unemployed (50.8 %) or
inactive (51.5 %).257
Fabrizio Foschini noted that Afghanistan experienced a dramatic increase in food prices between late2007 and early 2008, particularly in the price of flour and bread that almost doubled while salaries
could not keep up with the price rise. Even though flour prices have been more stable since then, they
are still subject to severe seasonal rises during winter.258
A joint report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and World Food
Programme (WFP) stated that food insecurity is driven by the limited food access determined byconflict and insecurity, population displacement and the severe drought conditions.259
Afghanistan experienced an extended period of dryness in the winter planting season during
December 2017 – February 2018. There was a precipitation deficit of more than 70 % in most parts ofthe country which had a devastating impact on crops and livestock with the winter wet season being
considered critical for successful agricultural production. This worsened the situation for the alreadychronically food-insecure population and had a disrupting impact on the country’s main livelihoods.260

6.2 Food security for IDPs and returnees
According to FEWS (Famine Early Warning System), poor food security is increasingly concentrated indrought and conflict-affected areas. Many people displaced from rural areas worked in agriculture
meaning that their crops and small livestock were left unattended or unharvested. For them thedestruction of property and also the disruption of normal livelihoods add to the immediate impact of
displacement making it difficult to recover and meet basic needs in the medium term.261
The joint study on IDPs by NRC, IDMC and Samuel Hall found that 71 % of respondents listed the lackof food and water as one of their three main challenges. The situation was more severe in Kabul,
Kunduz and Herat compared to Kandahar and Nangarhar. The study also found no correlation between
254 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 118
255 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 121
256 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 119
257 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 124
258 Foschini, F., Kabul and the Challenge of Dwindling Foreign Aid, USIP, 10 April 2017, url, p. 34
259 FAO and WFP, Monitoring Food Security in Countries with Conflict Situations, issue no 4, August 2018, url, pp.3-4
260 FAO, Afghanistan – Drought response, 23 November 2018, url, p. 2
261 FEWS, Afghanistan - Food Security Outlook, June 2018, url

AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT — 37

receiving assistance and struggling to access food and water: 47 % of respondents in Kabul mentioned
receiving emergency assistance, while 83 % still reported access to food and water as a major
challenge.262
The study also found that causes for food insecurity for IDPs were structural and according to the
respondents, were connected particularly to their inability to find work which ‘may be down to a lackof skills suitable for their new environment, a lack of knowledge and networks or, in the case of
women, cultural barriers to their economic integration’. Even though WFP and other organisations
provided assistance, the underlying issues were not addressed while most IDPs only ate twice per day
and some of them did not eat every day. 263
According to UNOCHA the drought displaced more than 260 000 people in Badghis, Daykundi, Heratand Ghor provinces during the first half of 2018. Most displaced families stay in displacement sites
either in Herat City, Herat or in displacement sites in and around Qala-e-Naw, the provincial capital of
Badghis. The sites receive daily water trucking and food distributions along with tents and emergency
shelter. Sanitation and nutrition services are also provided together with health services via mobile
health teams. In September 2018 IOM established 6 flow monitoring posts on major highways thatconnect Herat City to the rural areas and the drought affected provinces of Badghis and Ghor to issue
newly displaced families passing by with a registration card and to provide further information on
assistance.264
UNOCHA reported in September 2018 that the availability of food was the most pressing issue thatwas raised by the focal points from all informal sites in Herat City. Both families who received cash forfood or 1-2 in-kind food rations since their arrival in Herat City reported running out of food. Most ofthem were not able to find livelihood opportunities and resorted to sending children to work, begging
or collecting trash while women cleaned or washed clothes for households in the city. They wereunable to buy fruit, vegetables or meat with the money they made and maintained a diet of bread andtea instead. Many who received cash assistance paid debts or health services which left them unable
to buy food.265
According to UNHCR 27 % of 2017 returnees reported skipping a meal or reducing their food intake inthe previous week – a trend which was more common among female respondents (53 %) and urban
returnees (28 %). 2017 returnees who were staying in their intended destination where they weremore likely to have family support were less prone to face hunger. In comparison, IDPs were more
likely to face hunger than 2017 returnees: 55 % of IDPs reported skipping a meal or reducing foodintake which suggests that IDPs are more likely ‘to be exposed to protection risks associated withreliance on negative coping mechanisms, such as child labour and begging’. This trend was also much
more pronounced among female (78 %) and urban (59 %) respondents.266

6.3 Food security in the three cities
According to analyst Foschini,‘Kabul does not rank at the top of the food emergency in Afghanistan, but the city imports
much of its daily subsistence from the surrounding countryside and from foreign countries,and serious alterations to the inflow of goods shortages of certain food items occur. The
government does not have the capacity to store large amount of grain, and has not devised
ways of protecting vulnerable households through price controls or a coupon system […]’.267

262 NRC, IDMC and Samuel Hall, Escaping War: Where to Next?, 24 January 2018, url, p. 11
263 NRC, IDMC and Samuel Hall, Escaping War: Where to Next?, 24 January 2018, url, p. 11
264 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Bulletin – Afghanistan, Issue 78 (1 July – 30 September 2018), 20 October 2018, url, p. 1
265 UNOCHA, Afghanistan: Drought Response Situation Report No. 2 (as of 16 September 2018), 20 September 2018, url, p. 5
266 UNHCR, Returnee and Internally Displaced Persons Monitoring Report, May 2018, url, p. 11
267 Foschini, F., Kabul and the Challenge of Dwindling Foreign Aid, USIP, 10 April 2017, url, p. 34

38 —AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT

UN-Habitat noted in 2016 that the majority of IDP households in Herat were faced with foodinsecurity.268
UNOCHA found that the drought in 2018 has affected more than two thirds of Afghan population,
causing health issues, triggering negative coping mechanisms and reducing incomes by half.269
FEWS labelled both Kabul and Mazar-e Sharif as ‘stressed’ in December 2018 meaning that even withhumanitarian assistance at least one in five households had minimally adequate food consumption but
was ‘unable to afford some essential non-food expenditures without engaging in irreversible coping
strategies’. Herat was found to be in the category of ‘crisis’ meaning that despite any humanitarianassistance at least one in five households had food consumption gaps or above usual acutemalnutrition or was only marginally able to meet minimum food needs.270

268 UN-Habitat et al., Inter-Agency Durable Solutions Initiative - Profile and Response Plan of Protracted IDP Settlements in

Herat, October 2016, url, p. 6
269 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Bulletin – Afghanistan, Issue 79 (1 October – 31 December 2018), 13 January 2019, url, p. 1
270 FEWS, Afghanistan - Food Security Outlook Update, December 2018, url; FEWS, Integrated Phase Classification - IPC 2.0:
A Common Starting Point for Decision Making, n.d., url

AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT — 39

7. Education
Afghanistan has made significant progress in improving access and enrolment in primary schools since2001, but the achieved results have remained limited:271 Afghanistan is still one of the countries thatfall short in providing adequate education to its population. Various education indicators such asattendance and literacy rates, school-life expectancy and gender-equity indicators, showed great
progress in Afghanistan in the first decade after the fall of the Taliban but the improvements slowed
down and even ‘come to a complete halt’ according to ALCS 2016-17.272
One of the most important findings of ALCS 2016-17 was that apart from the quality of education, ‘themain problem of Afghanistan’s education system is not so much retention and drop out, but first andforemost making a start at school. Residence, gender, disability status and poverty status are factorsthat invariably differentiate education outcomes, always strongly and often accumulatively impairing
the outcomes of girls, rural and Kuchi residents, people with disabilities and the poor’.273
Attending formal education, either in public or private schools or Islamic madrasas, is compulsory in
Afghanistan until the 9th grade.274 However, according to the Ministry of Education (MoE), around
3.7 million children were out of school across Afghanistan in 2018 and 60 % of them were girls.275 ALCS
2016-17 found the following overall net attendance rates: 56.1 % for primary education, 35.7 % forsecondary and 9.7 % for tertiary, meaning that 1.9 million primary-school age children and 1.8 million
secondary-school age children missed out on education.276 Most of the out-of-school children lived inrural areas while the attendance rates, particularly for women, were considerably higher in urban
areas than in rural Afghanistan.277 Girls and rural children were disproportionally likely to drop out ofschool.278
In 2015, the MoE recorded 9.2 million Afghan youths and children who were enrolled in school.279 A
World Bank study showed a big gap between school enrolment and attendance: nearly half of theenrolled students did not show up regularly at school. Rural children and youth were 10 % more likely
to be out of school compared to the national average and for Kuchi children being out of school was
six times more likely. Even for those attending school, learning outcomes remained low with teachers
being generally underqualified and the learning environment inadequate. The distribution of teachers
was uneven across regions and did not correlate with the number of students or school population.
Half of all schools lacked buildings.280 The teaching profession is not considered especially attractive in
Afghanistan due to low wages and security risks especially in the provinces.281
A joint study by the Ministry of Education, UNICEF and Samuel Hall found specific groups of
marginalised children who were disproportionately excluded and deprived from access to school.
These included children with disabilities, including children having psychosocial issues, children fromethnic minorities and different linguistic background, children from religious minorities, children living
in urban slums and on the street, children from families who migrate seasonally for work, and refugee

271 World Bank (The), Afghanistan: Promoting Education During Times of Increased Fragility, 15 August 2018, url, pp. 8-9
272 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 139
273 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 139
274 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 141
275 Pajhwok Afghan News, 3.7m Afghan Children, Mostly Girls, Out of School, 11 October 2018, url
276 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 139
277 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, pp. 143, 153-154
278 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 150
279 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 140
280 World Bank (The), Afghanistan: Promoting Education During Times of Increased Fragility, 15 August 2018, url, pp. 9-10
281 World Bank (The), Afghanistan: Promoting Education During Times of Increased Fragility, 15 August 2018, url, pp. 38-39

40 —AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORTand IDP children.282 Additionally, numerous studies have shown that children engaged in labour
experienced considerable drops in their school performance.283
The lack of access to formal education – particularly for girls – during the Taliban rule is still
noticeable.284 According to Asia Foundation’s 2017 survey, almost half of all Afghan adults reported
having no formal schooling, covering 34 % men and 62 % of women. 16 % of the respondents had
attended primary school, 26 % secondary school and 8 % university. On average, respondents had 4.7
years of formal education.285 Over half of the population between the ages of 15 and 24 were
illiterate.286
ALCS 2016-17 put the youth literacy rate at 53.6 %, and for all the population above age 15 the rate
was 34.8 %.287 The literacy rate was considerably higher for people who lived in urban areas than for
those who lived in the rural parts of the country: 75.1 % for urban youth aged 15-24 and 53.7 % for all
the urban population above 15, and respectively 47.9 % and 29.6 % for rural people.288
Education spending in Afghanistan has been reduced since 2014, and it is heavily reliant on donor
funding. Afghanistan’s child and youth population is expected to increase from 11 million to 14 million
between 2015 and 2030, meaning that the Afghan education system will need to make room for 1.5
to 3 million new students depending on the enrolment ratio.289 The share of the private sector in
education is small, with private schools enrolling two percent of general education students and five
percent of technical, vocational, education and training and teacher training students.290

7.1 Gender gap
According to Human Rights Watch, millions of girls who would not have had any schooling under the
Taliban regime received education since 2001 although their actual number is disputed.291 Regardlessof this improvement, ‘even according to the most optimistic statistics, only slightly more than half ofAfghan girls are in school.’292
The gender gap begins to show in early grades and it widens as students move up to higher grades.293
The main reasons why girls are not in school are cultural reasons, insecurity and distance to school.294
Fabrizio Foschini added that in Afghan society it is usually considered inappropriate that girls movearound because of real or perceived insecurity and cultural reasons.295 According to statistics, girls who
do not study are more likely to marry before age 18 than those who do.296
ALCS figures for 2016-17 put the female net attendance rate for primary school at 45.5 % (65.5 % formales), secondary school at 24.1 % (46.8 % for males) and tertiary school at 4.8 % (14.9 % for males).

282 Afghanistan, MoE, UNICEF and Samuel Hall, All in School and Learning: Global Initiative on Out-Of-School Children –Afghanistan Country Study, June 2018, url, p. 75
283 Afghanistan, MoE, UNICEF and Samuel Hall, All in School and Learning: Global Initiative on Out-Of-School Children –Afghanistan Country Study, June 2018, url, p. 47
284 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, pp. 159-160
285 Asia Foundation, Survey of the Afghan People 2017, November 2017, url, pp. 85-86
286 World Bank (The), Afghanistan: Promoting Education During Times of Increased Fragility, 15 August 2018, url, p. 56
287 Afghanistan, NSIA, Afghanistan Provincial Profile 2018, url, p. 1
288 Afghanistan, NSIA, Afghanistan Provincial Profile 2018, url, pp. 3-6
289 World Bank (The), Afghanistan: Promoting Education During Times of Increased Fragility, 15 August 2018, url, pp. 10-12
290 World Bank (The), Afghanistan: Promoting Education During Times of Increased Fragility, 15 August 2018, url, p. 8291 HRW, “I Won’t Be a Doctor, and One Day You’ll Be Sick” - Girls’ Access to Education in Afghanistan, October 2017, url, p.
5292 HRW, “I Won’t Be a Doctor, and One Day You’ll Be Sick” - Girls’ Access to Education in Afghanistan, October 2017, url, p.
39
293 World Bank (The), Afghanistan: Promoting Education During Times of Increased Fragility, 15 August 2018, url, p. 9294 UNHCR, Returnee and Internally Displaced Persons Monitoring Report, May 2018, url, p. 16
295 Foschini, F., email, 9 November 2018. Fabrizio Foschini made this addition during the review of the report.
296 HRW, “I Won’t Be a Doctor, and One Day You’ll Be Sick” - Girls’ Access to Education in Afghanistan, October 2017, url, p.
53

AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT — 41

Female attendance rates on all levels were notably higher in urban areas than rural.297 According to
Human Rights Watch, NGO-operated and donor-funded community-based education programmesthat operate in communities where there are no schools nearby are often an Afghan girl’s only chanceto access education.298
Human Rights Watch added that 30 % of Afghan government schools lack safe drinking water and 60 %do not have toilets. Girls are particularly affected by poor toilet facilities.299 Pashto speakers have lower
enrolment numbers compared to Dari speakers, in the case of girls in particular due to cultural barriers.
A joint study by the MoE, UNICEF and Samuel Hall found the highest prevalence of out-of-school girls
in the southern provinces, most notably Uruzgan 98 %, Zabul 95 %, Paktika 94 % and Kandahar 90 %.
The proportion was lower than average in the central and central highland provinces, such as Bamyan
34 %, Panjshir 38 % and Daykundi 35 %.300

7.2 The impact of conflict on education
The conflict has impeded access to education in some parts of the country.301 In 2018, attacks onschools were reported countrywide, due to their use as voter registration centres and polling places
for the parliamentary elections.302
According to the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA), Afghanistan was one of
the countries ‘heavily affected’ by attacks on education and military use of schools from 2013 to2017.303 GCPEA’s briefing paper on Afghanistan added that attacks on education accelerated again in
2018.304 From 1 April to 30 June 2018 the UN verified 79 attacks against schools and education-related
personnel which is a ‘sharp increase’ compared to 11 such incidents recorded in the previous reporting
period and is connected to the use of schools as voter registration centres.305
However, according to GCPEA the military use of schools in Afghanistan is declining.306 The UN verified
the military use of only one school during the period from 1 April to 30 June 2018.307
According to the Ministry of Education, 1075 schools out of a total of 17 500 were shut in 2017 becauseof violence. The southern parts of Afghanistan have been disproportionately affected by school
closures.308
The Taliban and other armed groups like the ISKP opposed girls’ access to education and targeted their
attacks against girls’ schools, female students and their teachers.309

297 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 143
298 HRW, “I Won’t Be a Doctor, and One Day You’ll Be Sick” - Girls’ Access to Education in Afghanistan, October 2017, url, p.

25
299 HRW, “I Won’t Be a Doctor, and One Day You’ll Be Sick” - Girls’ Access to Education in Afghanistan, October 2017, url, pp.

21-22
300 Afghanistan, MoE, UNICEF and Samuel Hall, All in School and Learning: Global Initiative on Out-Of-School Children –Afghanistan Country Study, June 2018, url, p. 43
301 UNAMA, Afghanistan Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict - Annual Report 2017, March 2018, url, p. 3
302 UNHCR Afghanistan, email, 9 November 2018. UNHCR made this addition during the review of this report.
303 GCPEA, Education under Attack 2018, May 2018, url, pp. 32-33
304 GCPEA, Attacks on Education in Afghanistan, Briefing Paper, November 2018, url, p. 3
305 UN General Assembly, The situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security, 10 September
2018, url, p. 8306 GCPEA, Attacks on Education in Afghanistan, Briefing Paper, November 2018, url, p. 3
307 UN General Assembly, The situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security, 10 September
2018, url, p. 8
308 New York Times (The), A New Push Is On for Afghan Schools, But the Numbers Are Grim, 1 April 2018, url
309 HRW, “I Won’t Be a Doctor, and One Day You’ll Be Sick” - Girls’ Access to Education in Afghanistan, October 2017, url, pp.
17, 66

42 —AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT

7.3 Education opportunities for IDPs and returnees
There have been limitations in the access to education for IDPs and undocumented refugee
returnees.310 Afghanistan’s education system has been described as overwhelmed, particularly due tothe increased displacement, with most schools overcrowded and insufficiently resourced. An NRC
research conducted in 2016 found that over half of all IDPs, refugees and returnees were children or
youths, and a large number of them were out of school. Main reasons for them to not attend school
were lack of capacity of schools to absorb additional students, lack of required documentation,
including birth certificates and previous school records, and inability of families to afford schoolrelated costs.311
IDPs and returnees have been deprived of education and other essential services as a result of lacking
civil documentation in the form of a tazkera.312 Government schools typically have a number of
documentation requirements, such as identification and official transfer letters from previous school,
acquisition of which may present an obstacle to enrolment for IDPs and returnees.313
A study by MoE, UNICEF and Samuel Hall found that the key barriers to displaced children’s school
enrolment were not political or legal but rather financial or related to the lack of appropriate teachingor schooling.314 Another study by NRC, IDMC and Samuel Hall found 26 % of respondents saying that
their lack of documentation hindered their access to education.315 In Herat and Kabul 33 % of
respondents mentioned the lack of tazkera impeding schooling for their family members while inKunduz the figure was 16 %.316
The school attendance figures for recent returnees to Afghanistan are lower than those for the
population as a whole. According to a 2017-18 UNHCR survey, 55 % of returnee boys and 30 % of
returnee girls were in school in 2017 compared to 66 % of returnee boys and 44 % of returnee girls in2016. School attendance for returnees was higher in urban than rural areas. The most commonly cited
reasons for returnee and IDP children to not attend school were distance, the need for children tocontribute to household income and school fees. Households with higher levels of income were more
likely to have all their boys and girls in school. Less returnee girls were attending school in contested
areas than in government-controlled areas: 33 % in government areas and only 23 % in contested
areas.317

7.4 Education opportunities in the three cities
According to Fabrizio Foschini, Kabul has not only been the most educated part of Afghanistan for long
but it also acts as a magnet for educated people from various parts of the country. The quality ofteaching at the universities is higher in the capital than in the provinces and Kabul’s job market, withthe office of the government and national and international companies located there, has a greater
capacity to absorb educated people.318
Kabul province has the highest literacy rate in Afghanistan: for 2016-17 youth literacy rate was at
74.4 % and the literacy rate for all the population above 15 years of age in the province was at
54.2 %.319 Kabul is also among the provinces that have the highest net attendance rates for primary
310 Afghanistan, MoE, UNICEF and Samuel Hall, All in School and Learning: Global Initiative on Out-Of-School Children –Afghanistan Country Study, June 2018, url, p. 49
311 NRC, Broken Promises, Displaced Afghan Girls, February 2017, url, p. 1
312 UNHCR, Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees 2018-2019, October 2018, url, p. 22313 HRW, “I Won’t Be a Doctor, and One Day You’ll Be Sick” - Girls’ Access to Education in Afghanistan, October 2017 url p. 25
314 Afghanistan, MoE, UNICEF and Samuel Hall, All in School and Learning: Global Initiative on Out-Of-School Children –Afghanistan Country Study, June 2018, url p. 75
315 NRC, IDMC and Samuel Hall, Escaping War: Where to Next?, 24 January 2018, url, p. 39
316 NRC, IDMC and Samuel Hall, Escaping War: Where to Next?, 24 January 2018, url, p. 37
317 UNHCR, Returnee and Internally Displaced Persons Monitoring Report, May 2018, url, p. 16
318 Foschini, F., Kabul and the Challenge of Dwindling Foreign Aid, USIP, 10 April 2017, url, p. 30
319 Afghanistan, NSIA, Afghanistan Provincial Profile, 2018, [2018], url, p. 9

AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT — 43

school for boys and girls.320 According to the World Bank, 22 % of all children are out of school in Kabul,and for females the proportion is 30 %.321 A 2018 SIGAR investigation conducted in Kabul province
found problems with student and teacher attendance and staffing at several schools and that many
schools had structural deficiencies that may affect the delivery of education.322
The literacy rate for people aged 15 years and above in Herat City was 57.3 % according to 2016 data:
the rate for males was 66.2 % and for females 48.4 %.323 According to ALCS figures for 2016-17, Heratprovince’s youth literacy rate was 52.5 % and the literacy rate for all the population above 15 in theprovince was 34.5 %, which was almost the same as the national average.324
According to Jolyon Leslie, in 2015 the growth of private education in Herat has been significant with
reportedly 30 000 students enrolled in roughly 70 private schools, who can charge up to USD 1 500 intuition fees per year. Leslie added that these private schools serve the wealthy in the first place andattract increasing numbers of students because of poor standards of tuition in public schools. Skilledteachers are attracted by higher salaries and better working conditions. In 2015, 30 000 students, ofwhich 5 000 were female, attended a madrasa in Herat.325
Net attendance rate in primary school in Herat City was 78 % according to 2016 data: 79.6 % for males
and 76.2 % for females. Attendance rate in secondary school was 42 %: 42.3 % for males and 41.7 %for females.326 According to UNHCR figures, Herat had the lowest returnee male child school enrolment
rate (32 %) in Afghanistan after Samangan and Parwan (31 %).327 A SIGAR investigation conducted in2016 found indications of student and teacher absenteeism in schools, including in Herat City, and alsolack of basic services, such as electricity and clean water.328
The literacy rate for people aged 15 years and above in Mazar-e Sharif was 61.7 % according to 2015
data: the rate for males was 71.8 % and for females 51.4 %.329 According to ALCS figures for 2016-17,
Balkh province’s youth literacy rate was 57.7 % and the literacy rate for all the population above 15 in
the province was 37.9 %, which was slightly above the national average.330
Balkh province has one of the highest female school enrolment rates in the country (48 % as of2014).331 A SIGAR investigation conducted in 2017 found that several schools in Balkh province,
including in Mazar-e Sharif, lacked basic services, such as electricity and clean water.332 Mazar-e Sharif
has approximately 10-20 universities, both private and public.333

320 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 144
321 World Bank (The), Afghanistan: Promoting Education During Times of Increased Fragility, 15 August 2018, url, pp. 9-10
322 SIGAR, Schools in Kabul Province, Afghanistan: Observations from Site Visits at 24 Schools, 6 February 2018, url, p. 2
323 Afghanistan, CSO, Final Report of Herat Socio-Demographic and Economic Survey, 7 March 2017, url, p. 19
324 Afghanistan, NSIA, Afghanistan Provincial Profile 2018, [2018], url, p. 71
325 Leslie, J., Political and Economic Dynamics of Herat, USIP, 2 April 2015, url, pp. 28, 41
326 Afghanistan, CSO, Final Report of Herat Socio-Demographic and Economic Survey, 7 March 2017, url, p. 27
327 UNHCR, Returnee and Internally Displaced Persons Monitoring Report, May 2018, url, p. 17
328 SIGAR, Schools in Herat Province: Observations from Site Visits at 25 Schools, 4 November 2016, url
329 Afghanistan, CSO, Socio-Demographic and Economic Survey: Balkh, 5 January 2015, url, p. 17
330 NSIA, Afghanistan Provincial Profile 2018, [2018], url, p. 9
331 Sahar, Culture of Education in Balkh Province: An Unique Example, 1 June 2017, url
332 SIGAR, Schools in Balkh Province: Observations from Site Visits at 26 Schools, 28 March 2017, url
333 Austria, BFA Staatendokumentation, Fact-Finding Mission Report Afghanistan [source: Representatives of internationalNGOs, Representative of a national NGO], April 2018, url, pp. 51-52

44 —AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT

8. Health care
8.1 Basic data
Life expectancy at birth52.1 years (2018 est., The World Bank
estimated life expectancy at birth was 64
years in 2017334)

Death rate

13.2 deaths/1 000 population (2018 est.)

Maternal mortality rate

396 deaths/100 000 live births (2015 est.)

Infant (under 1) mortality rate

108.5 deaths/1 000 live births (the highest
number in the world) (2018 est.)

Health expenditures

8.2 % of GDP (2014)

Physicians density

0.3/1 000 population (2016)

Hospital bed density

0.5 beds/1 000 population (2014)

Unimproved water sources in urban area

21.8 % of population (2015 est.)

Unimproved sanitation facilities in urban areas

54.9 % of population (2015 est.)

HIV/AIDS – adult prevalence rate

less than 1 % of population (2016 est.)

Figure 2: Basic health and sanitation indicators335

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) warned that ‘[h]ealth statistics from Afghanistan are notoriously
unreliable. Constraints in monitoring – caused in particular by the remote control support of healthfacilities – mean that data from the most insecure areas are often excluded from statistics. This
introduces a persistent bias that is likely to contribute to overly positive country averages.’336 There
has been particularly high variation in the estimates of maternal mortality rate and life expectancy.337

8.1.1 Afghanistan health status
In 2001, Afghanistan had ‘a devastated health system and some of the worst health statistics in theworld’.338 Since then, Afghanistan’s health care has been steadily progressing but continues to rely on
support from the NGOs and the international community. Beginning in 2002, structural changes weremade to improve the health conditions of the Afghan people, starting from the Basic Package of HealthServices (BPHS), implemented by the Ministry of Public Health, which was followed in 2005 by the
Essential Package for Hospital Services (EPHS) as its extension. The BHPS was intended to focus on
those health issues where most progress could be made and focused specifically on rural areas andcare for women and children.339 More recently, the System Enhancement for Health Action (SEHAT)and Sehatmandi programmes were created to support the provision and improvement of BHPS andEPHS.340

334 World Bank (The), Country Profile Afghanistan, n.d., url
335 CIA, World Factbook, Afghanistan - People and Society, 11 December 2018, url
336 MSF, Between Rhetoric and Reality, The Ongoing Struggle to Access Healthcare in Afghanistan, February 2014, url, p. 18
337 New York Times (The), How the U.S. Government Misleads the Public on Afghanistan, 8 September 2018, url
338 WHO, From Trauma to Recovery: Addressing Emergency Care in Afghanistan, April 2018, url
339 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 168
340 World Bank (The), Community Health Care Increases Access to Medical Services in Herat Province, 1 November 2016, url

AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT — 45

According to World Bank data, from 2003 to 2015 the under-five mortality rate dropped from 137 to
91 per 1 000 live births (34 %), and the number of functioning health facilities increased from 496 in
2002 to more than 2 800 in 2018.341
In a 2018 report the World Bank concluded that over 2004-2010 health care services showed major
improvements in Afghanistan, while in the period of 2011-2016 improvements continued at a slower
pace.342 The report added that the provinces with high performing health facilities in 2003–2010 wereBaghlan, Faryab, Herat, Jawzjan, Khost, Kunar, Laghman, Logar, Nuristan and Paktika, whereas in the
period of 2011-2016 health facilities were functioning best in Badakhshan, Balkh, Daykundi, Farah,
Faryab, Helmand, Nangarhar, Paktiya, Saripul and Zabul with Faryab being the only high-performing
province during both periods.343
Despite these improvements, Afghanistan’s public health care system, neglected during the years ofconflict, continues to face challenges, such as damaged infrastructure, a lack of trained health careproviders and under-resourced healthcare facilities. The situation is ‘further complicated by a lack of
security and pervasive poverty’.344 A 2017 study by Integrity Watch Afghanistan (IWA) found 53 % of
health care facilities experiencing structural and maintenance problems and poor hygiene andsanitation conditions were found in 45 % of the facilities.345 IWA also added that the lack of electricity
was another serious deficiency weakening the health sector with 20 % of the facilities having noelectricity supply.346
Compared to other countries, Afghanistan’s health indicators remain poor and the health conditionsof the rural population continue to be a matter of serious concern according to ALCS 2016-17.347 Publichealth services are even more overwhelmed due to large population movements inside the country
and a significant number of returnees heading towards urban centres. Local medical facilities arelargely unable to absorb the additional burden and cannot cope with the increasing needs.348

8.2 Access and availability
Even though the majority of Afghanistan’s population have access to primary health care,349 large
sections of Afghanistan’s rural population still do not have access to essential health care services.350
According to ALCS 2016-17, 93 % of the population lived within a range of two hours from a publicclinic, 82.4 % lived less than two hours from a district or provincial hospital and 94.8 were less than
two hours away from a pharmacy.351 Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Health stated that 60 % of people
had access to health services in April 2018, when access was defined as one hour walking distance tothe nearest clinic.352
Many Afghans seek health care services abroad. According to the Ministry of Public Health, Afghans
spent at least USD 300 million on treatment outside the country in the past few years with 90 % of
these patients suffering from heart diseases.353 Despite improvements in public hospitals and in the

341 World Bank (The), Afghanistan Country Update, October 2018, url, p. 15
342 World Bank (The), Progress in the face of insecurity: Improving health outcomes in Afghanistan, 6 March 2018, url, p. 18
343 World Bank (The), Progress in the face of insecurity: Improving health outcomes in Afghanistan, 6 March 2018, url, p. 21
344 WHO, From Trauma to Recovery: Addressing Emergency Care in Afghanistan, April 2018, url
345 Integrity Watch Afghanistan, Life Matters: Caring For The Country’s Most Precious Resource, August 2017, url, p. 4
346 Integrity Watch Afghanistan, Life Matters: Caring For The Country’s Most Precious Resource, August 2017, url, p. 5
347 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 168
348 UNOCHA, Afghanistan: Humanitarian Response Plan – First Quarter Report (January to March 2017), May 2017, url, p. 18
349 WHO, From Trauma to Recovery: Addressing Emergency Care in Afghanistan, April 2018, url
350 UNICEF, Afghanistan Annual Report 2017, February 2018, url, p. 17
351 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 169
352 Tolo News, 60% of Afghans Now Have Access to Health Services, 4 April 2018, url; Reuters, Worsening Security in

Afghanistan Threatens Health Gains, Minister Says, 17 May 2018, url
353 Tolo News, Afghanistan Imports 40% of Medicine ‘Illegally’, 6 October 2017, url

46 —AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT

health sector for treatment of cardiac diseases, Afghanistan faces lack of medical facilities, medical
equipment and lack of heart specialists.354
The estimated number of patients receiving in-patient care in 2016-17 was 954 000, 64 % of them inpublic hospitals and 27 % in private ones. An estimated 2.5 million people visited health services as
out-patients.355

8.2.1 Impact of conflict on health care
According to UNOCHA, medical workers and health facilities are most affected by security incidents
and direct violence amongst all aid workers and humanitarian infrastructure in Afghanistan. Healthpersonnel are being harassed, detained, kidnapped and killed.356 Many people in Afghanistan lackaccess to health care due to the conflict, and trauma-care is regarded as one of the most critical gaps
remaining in Afghanistan’s public health care.357 Medical facilities are increasingly a target of militaryattacks,358 even in Kabul.359
In 2017, UNAMA documented 75 incidents targeting or impacting health care facilities and workers.
Most of the casualties occurred in the anti-government elements’ attack on the military hospital in
Kabul in March 2017. UNAMA also documented the temporary closure of at least 147 health facilities
in 2017, following threats by anti-government elements. The large majority of the closures occurredin Laghman, Uruzgan and Baghlan.360
In the first six months of 2018, the Afghanistan Health Cluster registered 54 incidents against healthworkers and facilities, which was slightly more than in the same period in 2017. According to arepresentative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Kabul, however, the attacks in 2018 weremore deliberate and violent.361
The Afghanistan Health Cluster noted in December 2018 that there had been 71 attacks on healthworkers and facilities with a trend shifting towards more directed and violent attacks. As a result of
these incidents approximately 5.6 million people have reduced access to health services.362

8.2.2 Cost of treatment
Despite the fact that based on article 52 of the Afghan Constitution health care should be free ofcharge, people have to pay for medications, doctor’s fees, laboratory tests and inpatient care in many
public facilities.363 High treatment costs were the main reason treatment was avoided.364 The payment
for medications, laboratory tests, inpatient care, transportation and consultation fees pushed many
into debt.365
According to a 2014 MSF survey, at least 60 % of the people interviewed live on less than USD 1 per
day and it is often impossible for them to pay medical costs.366 More than half of those interviewed in
Kabul and Kunduz reported having paid about USD 44 just for medications during a previous illness.367

354 Tolo News, 52,000 Patients in a Year; MoPH Says Cardiac Disease on the Rise, 29 September 2018, url
355 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 167
356 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Bulletin - Afghanistan, Issue 77 (1 - 30 June 2018), 24 July 2018, url, p. 4357 WHO, From Trauma to Recovery: Addressing Emergency Care in Afghanistan, April 2018, url
358 UNAMA, Afghanistan Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict - Annual Report 2016, February 2017, url, p. 27; UNAMA,

Afghanistan Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict - Annual Report 2017, March 2018, url, pp. 14-16
359 BBC, IS gunmen dressed as medics kill 30 at Kabul Military Hospital, 8 March 2017, url
360 UNAMA, Afghanistan Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict - Annual Report 2017, March 2018, url, pp. 14-16
361 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Bulletin - Afghanistan, Issue 77 (1 - 30 June 2018), 24 July 2018, url, p. 4
362 WHO, Afghanistan Health Cluster Bulletin, 17 December 2018, url, p. 2
363 Dörner, F. and Langbein, L., Between Rhetoric and Reality: Access to health care and its limitations, AAN, 2 December
2014, url
364 Frost A., et al., An assessment of barriers to accessing the BPHs in Afghanistan, 15 November 2016, url
365 MSF, Between rhetoric and reality, The ongoing struggle to access healthcare in Afghanistan, February 2014, url, p. 8
366 MSF, Between rhetoric and reality, The ongoing struggle to access healthcare in Afghanistan, February 2014, url, p. 31
367 MSF, Between rhetoric and reality, The ongoing struggle to access healthcare in Afghanistan, February 2014, url, p. 33

AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT — 47

When the medications were available at the health facility, patients often could not afford them. 60 %of people interviewed by MSF in Kabul did not get medication because of high costs.368
In a study among urban poor Samuel Hall found in 2014 that ‘[e]ven with access to public healthfacilities, the cost of medication is often too high for urban households to follow the treatmentprescribed by doctors. For serious illnesses, many urban households will prefer travelling abroad to
get treatment, in particular to Pakistan or India, increasing the overall costs of treatment forhouseholds’.369
Thomas Ruttig noted in a 2017 paper that sometimes second year medical students open a clinic on
their own and start caring for people without any control mechanism in place to check the quality ofthe provided services.370 Since the ‘good’ clinics in Kabul, including those run by relief organisations,cannot keep up with the demand, there is a strong medical tourism. Afghans do not rely on their own
doctors, not even for minor medical interventions, and drive to Pakistan instead. The costs for thetravel are not that high, at least for the middle class.371
The bad reputation of the public health system pushed many towards private health care providers
who asked high fees for their services, benefitting from the distrust surrounding the public sector.
However, ‘many reported overprescribing, misdiagnosing and even malpractice by private
practitioners’.372

8.2.3 Availability of medicines
According to a fact sheet by the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), IOM and
ZIRF Counselling from 2017 ‘[a]ny kind of medication is available on the Afghanistan markets now, but
the costs vary based on quality, company names and manufacturers.’373 Most medicines were soldprivately.374
The Ministry of Public Health prepared the National Essential Medicines List of Afghanistan containing
all the medicines recommended for use in BPHS and EPHS.375 These essential medicines were a major
challenge for the health system, both in terms of quality and quantity.376
Availability of medicines and medical equipment is limited due to insecurity, inaccessibility of roads
and disruption of electricity or temperature-controlled supply chains. Often there are no life-saving
medicines, even in referral hospitals.377 Required medicine may not be delivered to hospitals on time,creating temporary medicine shortages. In such instances, medicines are only used in emergency
cases. The remaining patients must buy them from private pharmacies.378
According to WHO, ‘most of the essential medicines are imported from neighbouring countries,
sometimes illegally.’379 Local authorities have no proper testing equipment and quality control
available in Kabul is a lengthy process that ‘costs the trader a lot, so no one wants to import medicine
legally and they resort to smuggling’.380

368 MSF, Between rhetoric and reality, The ongoing struggle to access healthcare in Afghanistan, February 2014, url, p. 35
369 Samuel Hall, Urban Poverty Report - A Study of Poverty, Food Insecurity and Resilience in Afghan Cities, 2014, url, p. 85
370 Ruttig, T., Notiz Afghanistan Alltag in Kabul, SEM, 20 July 2017, url, p. 8
371 Ruttig, T., Notiz Afghanistan Alltag in Kabul, SEM, 20 July 2017, url, p. 8
372 Dörner, F. and Langbein, L., Between Rhetoric and Reality: Access to health care and its limitations, AAN, 2 December

2014, url
373 BAMF, IOM and ZIRF, Country Fact Sheet Afghanistan 2017, 10 January 2017, url, p. 4
374 Frost A., et al., An assessment of barriers to accessing the BPHs in Afghanistan, 15 November 2016 url; Guardian (The),
Killing, not curing: deadly boom in counterfeit medicine in Afghanistan, 7 January 2015, url
375 WHO, Essential Medicines and Health Products Information Portal - National Essential Medicines List, Islamic Republic of
Afghanistan, 2014, url
376 WHO, Afghanistan - Essential medicines and pharmaceutical policies, [2017], url
377 WHO, Health Cluster Strategic Response Plan, 2 February 2017, url, p. 2
378 Pajhwok Afghan News, State-run hospitals in Kabul Faced with medicine shortage, 12 August 2015, url
379 WHO, Afghanistan - Essential medicines and pharmaceutical policies, [2017], url
380 IWPR, Afghans Complain of Substandard Medicines, 11 July 2014, url

48 —AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORTThe whole process of importing medicine is vulnerable to corruption with irregularities in theregistration of companies responsible for import. It is estimated that around 70 % of pharmaceuticals
imported to Afghanistan are produced in neighbouring countries, specifically for the Afghan market.
Many of these pharmaceutical suppliers are not allowed to sell their products on their own market,
but are allowed to export them to Afghanistan.381
According to an article in the Guardian, markets are flooded with low-quality and counterfeit
medicines. A doctor and provincial council member for Nangarhar quoted in the article clarified:‘[i]llicit medicine comes in two types[…]. The first is completely fake. The second contains a small dose,say 20 %, of the stated medicine, and this type can be most harmful. Too small a quantity of an
antibiotic, for example, will not only fail to treat an infection effectively but risks making the bacteria
drug-resistant’.382 The Medicine Importers Union stated that at least 40 % of medicine and medical
equipment enter the Afghan market illegally and many of the pharmaceutical products are low
quality.383
Many people use traditional medicine for health problems as it is less expensive and easily
accessible.384

8.3 Situation for women
Women face specific obstacles when accessing health services including a lack of knowledge of healthproblems and practices due to low literacy rates, restrictions on their movement and limited access tomoney.385 UNOCHA noted that, ‘prohibitions on men providing medical treatment to women’,compromise women’s access to health care, adding that merely 15 % of nurses and 2 % of doctors arefemale.386
A 2016 NRC and Samuel Hall study noted that mobile clinics had a special role in providing medicalcare to women. Mobile clinics had significantly more female patients than male, mostly due to therestricted access women had to other types of health services.387
Before the implementation of the BPHS in 2003, Afghanistan had the second highest maternalmortality rate in the world. According to estimations by the UN, the maternal mortality rate was 1100
per 100 000 live births in 2000 and has fallen by 64 % to 396 per 100 000 live births by 2015. One of
the leading contributing factors to this high mortality rate was that only 14.3 % of births were attended
by a skilled professional with only 12.8 % of births occurring at a health facility..388
According to ALCS 2016-17, progress has been made in maternal and child health, much of it due toenhanced ante-natal care and increased deliverance in specialised institutions with skilledattendants.389 However, almost half of all births in Afghanistan still took place at home without a skilled
health practitioner and there are large differences between urban and rural areas in terms of birthattendance.390 In urban areas, the majority of women giving birth are assisted by a skilled provider,whereas less than half of rural deliveries are supported by a skilled birth attendant. 82.7 % of urban
births are institutional deliveries, compared to 43.4 % of rural births.391 In Nuristan, Paktika,
Badakhshan, Nimroz and Daykundi more than half of pregnant women did not receive any ante-natal
381 Daily Outlook Afghanistan, Low quality medicines, 19 October 2016, url
382 Guardian (The), Killing, not curing: deadly boom in counterfeit medicine in Afghanistan, 7 January 2015, url
383 Tolo News, Afghanistan Imports 40% of Medicine ‘Illegally’, 6 October 2017, url
384 WHO, Afghanistan - Essential medicines and pharmaceutical policies, [2017], url
385 Dörner, F. and Langbein, L., Between Rhetoric and Reality: Access to health care and its limitations, AAN, 2 December

2014, url
386 UNOCHA, Afghanistan: Humanitarian Needs Overview (2019), 6 December 2018, url, p. 15
387 NRC, IDMC and Samuel Hall, Escaping War: Where to Next?, 24 January 2018, url, p. 35
388 Frost A., et al., An assessment of barriers to accessing the BPHs in Afghanistan, 15 November 2016, url
389 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 168
390 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, pp. 167, 190
391 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 190

AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT — 49

care, but in Kabul, Kandahar, Bamyan, Balkh and Kapisa more than 80 % of women had check-ups
during pregnancy.392

8.4 Mental health care
After nearly 40 years of on-off conflict, war-induced mental illness, such as post-traumatic stressdisorder, is widespread in Afghanistan, but facilities to help patients are few. Afghanistan’s national
mental health strategy estimates that half of all Afghans have a mental health problem, but there is
only one public mental health hospital in Afghanistan, located in Kabul.393
There are no accurate figures available on the prevalence of mental disorders in Afghanistan, butaccording to estimates by WHO, more than a million Afghans suffer from depressive disorders andover 1.2 million suffer from anxiety disorders.394 According to another estimate some 42 to 66 % of
Afghans are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, it is uncommon to have aformal diagnosis of PTSD, because some of the symptoms related to it are not considered abnormal as
many people are suffering from them in Afghanistan.395
According to the 2016 study by Samuel Hall ‘the alarming mental health situation of the Afghan youth
should not be considered as a secondary individual health issue anymore, but as an actual threat toany possible social, economic and political development in the country.’ The majority (70 %) of young
Kabulis have experienced traumatic events (one or more shocks that include criminal or terroristrelated issues and not only personal traumas). The study also found that returnees and IDPs findthemselves most vulnerable compared to those with no migration background.396
The information available about the availability of mental health services and amount of mental healthprofessionals in Afghanistan is contradictory.
The Public Health Minister stated in 2017 that the ministry ‘has recently trained over 700 professional
psychological counselors and 101 specialized mental health doctors’. It is also mentioned that thetrained professionals are working in government-run health centres or for different health NGOs.397
Furthermore the minister, quoted in an article by IWPR (Institute for War and Peace Reporting), notedthat there are 300 dedicated mental health clinics in Afghanistan and psychological services areavailable at some 1 500 health centres in total. Also another 200 specialist centres have been planned
to be created by the government.398 According to another article by IWPR ‘the ministry had set up
clinics across the 34 provinces of the country to treat psychological problems’, but ‘there was only one
dedicated mental health hospital in Kabul.’399
According to a scholar with field experience in Afghanistan interviewed by Asylos ‘mental health carein Afghanistan is virtually non-existent’ with one public mental health hospital operating in Kabul anda private one in Mazar-e Sharif.400
The 2016 Samuel Hall study reported that Afghanistan suffers from the lack of trained professionals(psychiatrists, social workers, psychologists), sufficient infrastructure and awareness about mental
health issues with ‘only one tertiary health facility (Kabul Mental Health Hospital), approximately three
trained psychiatrists and ten psychologists “covering” a population of more than 30 million people’.401
392 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, pp. 183-184
393 Guardian (The), ‘My Liver is Bleeding’: Life inside an Afghan Psychiatric Hospital - in Pictures, 5 February 2016, url
394 WHO, Depression a leading cause of ill health and disability among Afghans – fighting stigma is key to recovery, 9 April

2017, url
395 de Rond, M. and Rakita, M., Why there is no PTSD in Afghanistan, Medium, 28 November 2016, url
396 Samuel Hall, Urban displaced youth in Kabul – Part 1. Mental Health Also Matters, 2016, url, p. 11
397 WHO, Depression a leading cause of ill health and disability among Afghans – fighting stigma is key to recovery, 9 April
2017, url
398 IWPR, Depression Rampant Among Afghan Women, 12 February 2017, url
399 IWPR, Afghan Women Hit by Mental Health Crisis, 12 May 2016, url
400 Asylos, Afghanistan: Situation of young male 'Westernised' returnees to Kabul, August 2017, url, p. 111
401 Samuel Hall, Urban displaced youth in Kabul – Part 1. Mental Health Also Matters, 2016, url, p. 12

50 —AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT

According to a MedCOI informant ‘people usually don’t want to keep their mental patients in a public
mental health care hospital because of the harsh and careless interaction with the patients.’ Instead,people ‘who can afford it often choose private health care or travel abroad to Pakistan or India to getbetter treatment. This does not happen only for mental health care, but for other kinds of treatments
as well.’402

8.5 Situation for IDPs and returnees
Afghanistan’s overwhelmed health facilities have struggled to absorb the masses of IDPs and returnees
congregating in urban centres and their outskirts.403 A 2016 NRC and Samuel Hall study noted that
24 % of respondents lacked access to health services. Health issues were widely reported with a thirdof households having at least one member with a chronic illness.404
According to UNHCR, 31 % of 2017 returnees reported that they were unable to access health carewith this trend being more prominent amongst female respondents (34 %). Overall, 2016 returnees
reported slightly better access to health care with 30 % of female respondents stating that they could
not access health care. For returnees the five provinces with the lowest rates of access to health care
were Baghlan (51 % unable to access), Parwan (40 %), Kunduz (40 %), Takhar (39 %) and Kabul (34 %).
For IDPs, the five provinces with the lowest rates of access to health care were Nimruz (59 %), Zabul(57 %), Ghor (52 %), Herat (52 %) and Uruzgan (51 %).405
IDPs experienced more difficulties with 42 % being unable to access health care; however urban IDPs
reported ‘slightly more access’ than those in rural areas. Access to health care was ‘significantly higher’in areas controlled by the government compared to contested areas for both IDPs and returnees. The
main reasons for not being able to access health care for both groups were the cost and the low qualityof the available health care.406
IDPs and returnees might sometimes be deprived of health care and other essential services as a resultof lacking documentation in the form of a tazkera.407

8.6 Situation in the three cities
In a study on urban poverty, Samuel Hall found in 2014 that Kabul benefitted from easier access tohealth facilities than other cities.408 Kabul is among the provinces of Afghanistan where the proportionof women with access to health care is the highest.409
Afghanistan Public Policy Research Organization (APPRO) noted in a 2016 report that ‘[t]hough people
have access to public and private health services in Kabul City, poor quality motivates those who canto seek treatment in India and Pakistan […] Some corruption – in the form of requiring payments forservice at public facilities and doctors receiving kickbacks from pharmacies – is reported and there arewidespread complaints about having to purchase medicines in the market, rather than receive themfor free at the clinic.’410
47 health facilities in Kabul city were included in the Kabul Urban Health Project which aimed to
improve access to health services in the capital.411 Most of the trauma care in Kabul was provided by

402 MedCOI Project, Afghanistan Accessibility Info, BDA-20180417-AF-6802, 25 April 2018
403 WHO, From Trauma to Recovery: Addressing Emergency Care in Afghanistan, April 2018, url
404 NRC, IDMC and Samuel Hall, Escaping War: Where to Next?, 24 January 2018, url, p. 35
405 UNHCR, Returnee and Internally Displaced Persons Monitoring Report, May 2018, url, p. 18
406 UNHCR, Returnee and Internally Displaced Persons Monitoring Report, May 2018, url, p. 18
407 UNHCR, Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees 2018-2019, October 2018, url, p. 22
408 Samuel Hall, Urban Poverty Report - A Study of Poverty, Food Security and Resilience in Afghan Cities, 2014, url, p. 48
409 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, pp. 184, 191, 193
410 APPRO, Afghanistan Rights Monitor: Baseline Report, April 2016, url, pp. 59-60
411 World Bank (The), Kabul's Renovated Hospital Improves Quality of Healthcare for Thousands, 30 September 2018, url

AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT — 51

Emergency, an Italian NGO which offered specialised trauma care that was not available in standard
government facilities, treating both local patients and those from outside of Kabul.412
In Kabul, according to a MedCOI informant, there was no private mental health care institution
providing inpatient treatment but two public institutions offered this kind of treatment for free.
Medication might not be available in the hospitals free of charge but the patient might be asked to pay
for it. Unofficial fees could be also charged for treatment. Outpatient treatment was provided byvarious private specialists who charge a fee of AFN 200 to 500 for a consultation visit. The informant
noted that ‘[i]n case of suicide attempt the patient can be treated for free in public hospitals’, and‘[t]here are also many private practices in Kabul City offering this kind of treatment.’413
German-funded International Psycho-Social Organisation (IPSO) offered psycho-social assistance forthose deported from Germany but also for locals who needed psycho-social help, assisting 400 to 500
people daily. Their services included self-awareness groups, Afghan-life skills training, one-to-one
counselling and other types of psychosocial help.414 A MedCOI informant confirmed that there was
outpatient treatment, psychiatric counselling, and follow up by a psychiatrist or psychologist available
in this institution free of charge.415 However, the director of an organisation providing support for
migrants in Kabul, interviewed by Asylos noted that IPSO had ‘very limited sources and services’ andmight not be able to help someone who had been in a bad mental state for many years.416
The 2014 Samuel Hall study on urban poverty found that Herat benefitted from easier access to healthfacilities than other cities such as Mazar-e Sharif or Kandahar where the average distance to a healthfacility was ‘significantly higher’.417 Herat Regional Hospital, located in the centre of Herat City, wasthe main hospital serving four provinces (Herat, Badghis, Ghor, Farah and Nimroz) with specialised
tertiary level health services, including the treatment of hundreds of conflict wounded referrals fromthe area. The hospital received 1 000-1 500 patients per day on average and had the capacity of 650
beds.418
However, UNOCHA reported in September 2018 that basic and secondary health care facilities in Herat
City had become insufficient to cope with the large numbers of IDPs that had come to Herat City
because of the drought and conflict in their home districts. The occupancy rates of the Regional
Pediatric Hospital, for example, have risen to 150 %.419
Jebrael health centre north-west of Herat City was providing basic health services to about 60 000
people in the densely populated area with an average of 300 visitors a day, most of whom visited theimmunization and general outpatient units.420 According to the provincial director of health, Herat had
65 private health clinics in April 2017. However, Herat residents complained that ‘many private
healthcare centers have changed healthcare services into a business’ and also about the low quality of
medicines, lack of treatment facilities and doctors’ ability to diagnose diseases properly. As a result anumber of Heratis chose to travel abroad for treatment.421
In Herat, according to a MedCOI informant, there was a public hospital providing both outpatient andinpatient treatment by a psychiatrist or psychologist, and it was available free of charge with thepossibility of free medication if available. There was also a private hospital providing these treatments.
The private facility charged AFN 250 to 450 for a consultation visit and AFN 1 500 to 6 000 per night

412 WHO, From Trauma to Recovery: Addressing Emergency Care in Afghanistan, April 2018, url
413 MedCOI Project, Afghanistan Accessibility Info, BDA-20180417-AF-6802, 25 April 2018
414 Bjelica, J. and Ruttig, T., Voluntary and Forced Returns to Afghanistan in 2016/17: Trends, statistics and experiences, AAN,

19 May 2017, url
415 MedCOI Project, Afghanistan Accessibility Info, BDA-20180417-AF-6802, 25 April 2018
416 Asylos, Afghanistan: Situation of young male 'Westernised' returnees to Kabul, August 2017, url, p. 64
417 Samuel Hall, Urban Poverty Report - A Study of Poverty, Food Security and Resilience in Afghan Cities, 2014, url, p. 48
418 WHO, Construction of Triage Area in Herat Regional Hospital, Project Proposal, 29 September 2017, url, p. 2
419 UNOCHA, Afghanistan Drought Response, Situation Report No. 2 (as of 16 September 2018), 20 September 2018, url, p. 3
420 World Bank (The), Community Health Care Increases Access to Medical Services in Herat Province, 1 November 2016, url
421 Tolo News, Herat Residents Criticize ‘Lack of Treatment Facilities’, 7 April 2017, url52 —AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT

for inpatient treatment. The informant mentioned that for a person with low financial means, the costfor inpatient treatment would be below AFN 2 500 per night.422
According to a video report by BBC and an article by National Public Radio there was only one ‘highsecurity psychiatric facility’ in Afghanistan, located in Herat and run by the Red Crescent. The Red
Crescent Secure Psychiatric Institution was meant for patients considered to be the ‘most dangerous’
and who were said to be often chained and sedated. It is noted that many of the 300 patients have tostay in the facility permanently, because there were no adequate outpatient mental health services
available.423
Disabilities, both mental and physical, were pervasive among the IDP population in Herat.424
As stated by the World Bank, the System Enhancement for Health Action in Transition (SEHAT) programaiming to expand the scope, quality and coverage of health services, set up 814 health posts in Balkhprovince. The health services at the 90 health facilities operating in the province were implemented
by the NGO Bakhtar Development Network contracted by MoPH.425
According to the German development agency GIZ, the Abu Ali Sinha Balkhi Regional Hospital in Mazare Sharif served as the central hospital for Balkh province and was the referral hospital for the northern
region, receiving all the accident and emergency cases and acting as a major general hospital for theclinics in the surrounding districts.426
There were approximately 10-15 hospitals in Mazar-e Sharif, most of them private, and 30-50 healthclinics.427 An ICRC orthopedic centre, which has been serving patients for almost three decades, waslocated in Mazar-e Sharif. The centre, which served 19 000 people in 2017, was forced to temporarilyclose for two months when a patient shot dead an ICRC staff member in the end of 2017.428
According to the Guardian, Afghanistan’s first private neuro-psychiatric clinic, Alemi hospital, waslocated in the outskirts of Mazar-e Sharif. In 2016 the hospital saw up to 120 patients a day, six days aweek, some of them travelling long distances to reach the hospital.429 In Mazar-e Sharif, according toa MedCOI informant, there were two facilities providing mental health service. It was mentioned that
Alemi hospital had ‘relatively better staff and service’, but also that the facility was able to provide
treatment only with medication and ‘its expertise and abilities are not sufficient in psychotherapy’.
Moreover, the facility ‘lacks qualified therapists and capacity for taking decision about the approachesof the treatment’.430 Another article about Alemi hospital also stated that the facility was capable toassist 80 to 120 patients a day but was mostly able to provide medication only.431
Balkh was among the provinces of Afghanistan where the proportion of women with access to healthcare was the highest.432

422 MedCOI Project, Afghanistan Accessibility Info, BDA-20180425-AF-6813, 5 June 2018423 BBC, Inside Afghanistan's only high security mental institution, 8 February 2018, url [online video]; NPR, Afghanistan's

Lone Psychiatric Hospital Reveals Mental Health Crisis Fueled By War, 14 February 2018, url
424 UN-Habitat et al., Inter-Agency Durable Solutions Initiative - Profile and Response Plan of Protracted IDP Settlements in
Herat, October 2016, url, p. 6
425 World Bank (The), Afghanistan Residents Benefit from Improved Quality Healthcare in Balkh Province, 23 April 2017, url
426 FFO and GIZ, Securing Basic Medical Care, March 2014, url, p. 1
427 Austria, BFA Staatendokumentation, Fact-Finding Mission Report Afghanistan, [source: Representative of an internationalNGO], April 2018, url, p. 37
428 New York Times (The), He Killed a Red Cross Worker: ‘I Will Go to Hell for What I Did’, 7 April 2018, url
429 Guardian (The), ‘My Liver is Bleeding’: Life inside an Afghan Psychiatric Hospital - in Pictures, 5 February 2016, url
430 MedCOI Project, Afghanistan Availability Info BMA-9776, 24 June 2017431 de Rond, M. and Rakita, M., Why there is no PTSD in Afghanistan, Medium, 28 November 2016, url
432 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 184

AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT — 53

9. Housing, water and sanitation
9.1 Urbanisation
Afghanistan’s annual urban population growth rate is among the highest in the world: estimates vary
between 3.4 and 4.4 %.433 Long-term estimates predict nearly 40 % urban population in 2050 and 50 %in 2060. Kabul has been the centre of the growth, and the rest of the urban population is concentrated
mostly in four other city regions: Herat, Mazar-e Sharif, Kandahar and Jalalabad.434
Despite the growth of the urban population, Afghanistan still remains a predominately rural society
with 20.7 million people living in rural areas, 6.9 million in urban areas and 1.5 million nomadic Kuchis,
meaning an estimated 23.8 % of the population live in the cities.435 The large majority (72 % based on
ALCS figures for 2016-17) of Afghanistan’s urban population lives in slums or inadequate housing, withan average urban household size estimated at 7.3 persons.436
The urban population in Afghanistan grows both due to natural growth and a significant number of
IDPs and returnees. The World Bank attributes much of the urban population growth to natural growthrather than rural-urban migration437 while other publications point at internal migration, displacement
and returns from neighbouring countries as the main contributors to urbanisation.438 The World Bank
also found that between 1999 and 2010, Afghanistan experienced urban areas growing faster than theurban population, ‘suggesting an increasing prevalence of lower-density sprawl’.439
Housing conditions of the Afghan population are described as ‘overall poor’ with almost 44 % living inovercrowded housing with the average number of people per room at 3.2.440 The slum population
living in the cities was estimated at five million people or 72.4 % of the total urban population.441 Most
housing in Afghanistan consists of irregular, detached or semi-detached houses or regular detachedhouses. A large proportion consists of hillside dwellings. There are blocks of flats or apartments but
almost only in Kabul City.442 86 % of urban houses in Afghanistan can be classified as slums, according
to the UN-Habitat definition. The State of Afghan Cities report found that ‘[a]ccess to adequate housing
is a major challenge for the majority of urban Afghans […] poverty and inequality are the harsh reality
for roughly one-third of all urban households. This combined with a lack of affordable housing options
and an oversupply at the top end of the formal housing market results in a difficult housing situation
for low- and even many middle-income Afghans.’443
A 2014 study on Afghanistan’s urban poor found that ‘[i]nformal settlements are considered to be themain recipients of the urban poor, who suffer in particular from a lack of access to basic services aswell as from a lack of security of tenure.’444

433 World Bank (The), Afghanistan Country Profile, n.d., url; Kammeier, H. D. and Issa, Z., Urban Governance in Afghanistan:

Assessing the New Urban Development Programme and Its Implementation, AREU, June 2017 url, pp. 4-5
434 Kammeier, H. D. and Issa, Z., Urban Governance in Afghanistan: Assessing the New Urban Development Programme and
Its Implementation, AREU, June 2017, url, pp. 15-16
435 Afghanistan CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 19
436 Afghanistan CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 26
437 World Bank (The), Leveraging Urbanization in Afghanistan, 2016, url
438 Samuel Hall, Urban Poverty Report - A Study of Poverty, Food Security and Resilience in Afghan Cities, 2014, url, p. 15
439 World Bank (The), Leveraging Urbanization in Afghanistan, 2016, url
440 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 207
441 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 214
442 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, pp. 210-214; Afghanistan, Stateof Afghan Cities 2015, Volume One, 2015, url, p. 86
443 Afghanistan, State of Afghan Cities 2015, Volume One, 2015, url, p. 86
444 Samuel Hall, Urban Poverty Report - A Study of Poverty, Food Security and Resilience in Afghan Cities, 2014, url, p. 47

54 —AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT

9.2 Land and property laws
According to UNAMA ‘the Afghanistan Constitution, passed in 2004, authorizes personal landownership and protects land from state seizure unless the seizure is to secure a public interest and theowner is provided with prior and just compensation.’445 The problem of land tenure in Afghanistan is,nevertheless, very complicated: the land and properties are grabbed by military commanders, ethnic
leaders, wealthy people with illegal revenues, governmental officials and ANP officers.446 There areplenty of conflicts related to inheritance. Many land owners have no official documents. Others claim
the right to property on the basis of forged documents. Many people hold their land on a customarybasis or as a result of an oral agreement. Most returnees cannot claim their property rights because itis occupied by others.447
According to UNAMA, more than 70 % of all serious crimes in Afghanistan have roots in land ownershipdisputes. Most cases, both in formal and informal justice systems, are also related to property
disputes.448 Formal mechanisms include courts and settlement commissions established by local
authorities. Most cases, however, are solved by the informal system of local shuras or jirgas.
Enforcement of their decisions is usually effective but informal in its nature and cannot be registeredwith a formal system. Consequently, most land owners are landless according to the law.449
Governmental institutions lack the capacity to provide control and ensure land management.450
The restoration of land rights and property ownership remains a major challenge for the reintegrationof returning refugees.451 An estimated 70 % of urban dwellings are located in informal settlements.452
The term informal settlement covers a wide range of situations and according to analyst Foschini‘potentially encompasses local language terms such as ghayr-e qanuni (illegal), ghayr-e plani (outside
the plan), be naqsha (without permission), and zorabad (forceful usurpation)’.453
A new Presidential Decree454 on land allocation was enacted in 2018 in order to resolve many of these
problems.455 Arazi, Afghanistan’s independent land authority, is tasked to allocate suitable state land
to the displaced population by creating a land bank, through which suitable land is identified.456 A
process is underway to develop guidelines, criteria and procedures relating to the Presidential
Regulation, involving Arazi, the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation, the Office of the Chief
Executive, UNHCR, IOM and UN-Habitat.457 The Afghan Ministry for Urban Development differentiates
between informal settlements occupied by landless squatters on public land that is habitable and thosebuilt on land owned privately.458
After the adoption of the new presidential decree, the Afghan government has started to issue land
occupancy certificates for all residents of informal urban areas that are on state-owned land in orderto protect the dwellers from the threat of eviction. The aim of the programme is to produce and issue
one million occupancy certificates by 2020. A City for All programme led by the government and445 UNAMA, The Stolen Lands of Afghanistan and its People, August 2014, url, p. 11
446 UNAMA, The Stolen Lands of Afghanistan and its People, August 2014, url, p. 10
447 Bjelica, J., Afghanistan’s Returning Refugees: Why Are So Many Still Landless?, AAN, 29 March 2016, url; Gaston, E. andDang, L., Addressing Land Conflict in Afghanistan, June 2015, url, p. 2
448 UNAMA, The Stolen Lands of Afghanistan and its People, August 2014, url, p. 10
449 UNAMA, The Stolen Lands of Afghanistan and its People, August 2014, url, p. 36
450 UNAMA, The Stolen Lands of Afghanistan and its People, August 2014, url, p. 10451 Bjelica, J., Afghanistan’s Returning Refugees: Why Are So Many Still Landless?, AAN, 29 March 2016, url
452 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 214
453 Foschini, F., Kabul and the Challenge of Dwindling Foreign Aid, USIP, 10 April 2017, url, p. 19
454 Presidential Decree 305 of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan on the Identification and Allocation of Suitable Land for theRe-integration and Construction of Affordable Housing for Returnees, Internally Displaced Persons and Families of Martyrsof the Country’s Security and Defence Forces. This replaced Presidential Decree 104 (2005).
455 UNHCR, Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees 2018-2019, October 2018, url, p. 22
456 UN-Habitat, Improving Access to State Land for Returnees and IDPs in Afghanistan, March 2018, url, p. 18
457 UNHCR Afghanistan, e-mail, 9 November 2018. UNHCR made this addition during review of the report.
458 Guardian (The), Pressure Builds in ‘Powderkeg’ Kabul as Refugees Return Home, 15 March 2018, url

AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT — 55

supported by UN-Habitat surveyed properties in Afghan provincial cities and found only 17 % are inpossession of a formal title deed.459

9.3 Water and sanitation
According to ALCS data from 2007-08 until 2016-17, access to clean water and adequate sanitationand hygiene has improved significantly in terms of access to appropriate services of sanitation andespecially drinking water.460 However, sanitation still continues to be poor compared to othercountries in the region, and access to drinking water still remains a problem for many Afghans.461
Access to basic services, such as water supply and sanitation, were generally better in the cities
compared to the countryside.462 ALCS 2016-17 found that only 36 % of the Afghan population wereusing safely managed drinking water services and rural people had much less facilities (25.1 %)compared to the urban population (75.3 %).463 According to UNICEF, only 12 % of Afghanistan’s
population had access to sanitary toilets.464

9.4 Situation for IDPs and returnees
As stated by ALCS 2016-17, a greater share of migrants lived in urban areas compared to those who
never moved (46.2 % against 19.2 %).465 According to UNHCR, ‘IDPs and returnees have increasingly
chosen to move to urban or semi-urban areas where they often live with host community families, inrented or shared accommodation, or in collective shelters.’466
A UNHCR survey conducted in 2017-18 found that the majority of returnee and IDP populations wererenting their homes: 58 % of 2016-17 returnees and 69 % of IDPs. Around 22 % of 2016-17 returneesand 20 % of IDPs reported living in other arrangements, such as staying with extended family,squatting, or living in an informal settlement. Returnees and IDPs owned their homes less often than
the general population, which is explained by the UNHCR to be related to the lengthy period of theirdisplacement, the high percentage of returnees born outside Afghanistan, and the fact that 38 % offormer refugees do not settle in their province of origin upon return. Returnees were more likely to
own their homes compared to IDPs: around 20 % of 2016-17 returnees report owning their homes
compared to 11 % of IDPs. Returnees and IDPs in rural Afghanistan were more likely to own theirhomes compared to their urban counterparts.467
According to IOM Afghanistan’s DTM Baseline Mobility Assessment conducted in December 2017 in
15 provinces of highest return and displacement, more than 100 000 IDPs and returnees lived in
improvised shelters or tents or without any shelter at all. More than half of those were in Nangarhar
province.468
A 2016 NRC and Samuel Hall study found that IDPs settling in urban and peri-urban areas were more
likely to live in temporary shelters, tents or camp-like settings. 43 % of urban IDPs lived in cramped
conditions and overcrowded spaces compared to 35 % of rural IDPs. While housing conditions could
vary by region, 63 % of the surveyed IDPs rated theirs as poor or very poor.469

459 UN-Habitat, Afghanistan Launches an Innovative Land Management Initiative, 26 February 2018, url
460 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 207
461 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 207; Asia Foundation, Surveyof the Afghan People 2017, November 2017, url, p. 29
462 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, pp. 43-44
463 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 216
464 UNICEF, Afghanistan Annual Report 2017, February 2018, url, p. 47
465 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, pp. 43-44
466 UNHCR, Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees 2018-2019, October 2018, url, p. 22
467 UNHCR, Returnee and Internally Displaced Persons Monitoring Report, May 2018, url, p. 15
468 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Bulletin Afghanistan, Issue 73 (1-28 February 2018), 25 March 2018, url, p. 1
469 NRC, IDMC and Samuel Hall, Escaping War: Where to Next?, 24 January 2018, url, p. 25

56 —AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT

According to a Samuel Hall, NRC and IDMC research, rising rents force households to move again andseek out cheaper housing.470
According to UNHCR data, 65 % of 2016-2017 returnees and 56 % of IDPs reported that they had thesame access to water as the host community. Urban returnees and IDPs were more likely to have equal
access to water compared to rural ones.471
Sanitation conditions were also difficult, although 68 % of respondents could use a traditional covered
latrine, 9 % had no access to toilet facilities at all. The related health consequences could be significant
for women, girls, people with disabilities and the elderly in particular. For those who had to sharefacilities exposure to gender-based violence was also a concern.472

9.5 Situation in the three cities
Kabul is ranked as the fifth fastest growing city in the world with an average annual growth rate of
4.74 %.473 According to an International Growth Centre (IGC) research, an estimated 70 % of Kabul’s
population lived in informal settlements defined as ‘areas of housing either constructed on land towhich the occupants have no legal claim, and/or areas of housing units that do not comply withplanning and building regulations’.474 Most of the new construction in the city falls under thiscategory475 and the density of inhabitants in informal areas can be more than double that of formal
areas.476 According to IGC, ‘informal settlements in Kabul offer crucial low-cost housing to the majorityof residents in the city.’477 Fabrizio Foschini noted that while informal settlements have prevented amajor homelessness crisis, the unmanaged growth worsened existing problems such as lack ofsewerage system and inefficient disposal of waste. Poorly constructed houses in locations with limitedaccessibility ‘have compounded the hardship of the returnees, economic migrants, and internallydisplaced who populate these areas’.478
A City for All programme led by the government and supported by UN-Habitat surveyed properties in
Kabul and found that only 14 % were in possession of a formal title deed, which was less than in otherprovincial cities (17 %).479
The price of formal housing in Kabul was around USD 35 000 – 500 000 when average monthly
household income in Kabul and the Central region was estimated at USD 208 in 2017.480 Renting is on
the increase in the urban areas of Afghanistan, but only in Kabul it is considered a common practice.481
Of Kabul’s households, about 64.9 % own their dwelling and 27.6 % rent the units where they live.482
According to analyst Foschini, there is a tendency for new settlers to settle according to their place oforigin, which allows them to benefit from qawmi support from their social networks to occupy andenclose land.483 Many urban households accommodate extended family members from rural areas
who have come to the city looking for work, and this is particularly frequent in Kabul. Such households
also tend to be multigenerational and to host elderly relations.484

470 NRC, IDMC & Samuel Hall, Escaping War: Where to Next?, 24 January 2018, url, p. 26
471 UNHCR, Returnee and Internally Displaced Persons Monitoring Report, May 2018, url, p. 18
472 NRC, IDMC and Samuel Hall, Escaping War: Where to Next?, 24 January 2018, url, p. 26
473 City Mayors Statistics, The World’s Fastest Growing Cities and Urban Areas from 2006 to 2020, url
474 Collier, P. et al., Policy Options for Kabul’s Informal Settlements, IGC, January 2018, url, p. 3
475 Guardian, Pressure Builds in ‘Powderkeg’ Kabul as Refugees Return Home, 15 March 2018, url
476 Foschini, F., Kabul and the Challenge of Dwindling Foreign Aid, USIP, 10 April 2017, url, p. 20
477 Collier, P. et al., Policy Options for Kabul’s Informal Settlements, IGC, January 2018, url, p. 17
478 Foschini, F., Kabul and the Challenge of Dwindling Foreign Aid, USIP, 10 April 2017, url, p. 20
479 UN-HABITAT, Afghanistan Launches an Innovative Land Management Initiative, 26 February 2018, url
480 Collier, P. et al., Policy Options for Kabul’s Informal Settlements, IGC, January 2018, url, p. 4
481 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 207
482 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 209
483 Foschini, F., Kabul and the Challenge of Dwindling Foreign Aid, USIP, 10 April 2017, url, p. 20
484 Foschini, F., Kabul and the Challenge of Dwindling Foreign Aid, USIP, 10 April 2017, url, p. 12

AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT — 57

Providing basic services, such as water, sanitation and electricity, has been difficult to the growing
informal settlements that have emerged on the centrally located hills of Kabul.485 According to Asia
Foundation’s 2017 Survey of the Afghan People, significant proportions of Afghans living in Kabul andother central areas (23.7 %) reported issues with drinking water as one of the biggest local problems.486
Kabul City remains one of the world’s few national capitals without a central sewerage system. As aresult, it has seen related human pollution and health problems compounded by the large increase in
its population and by other types of pollution, mainly vehicle traffic.487 Instead of a sewage system,
individual septic tanks are used that are often situated close to water wells. The leakage of sewage
into groundwater is considered a main cause of water contamination in the city.488
Kabul is regarded as one of the world’s most water-stressed cities.489 The groundwater level has
declined sharply in recent years due to increased demand for water and excess pumping.490 The
majority of the shared water points and wells in the capital are contaminated by domestic andindustrial wastewater released into the Kabul River, posing grave health concerns.491 ALCS 2016-17
found that almost half of the population in Kabul had basic sanitation services, meaning a facility thatis not shared and where excreta are either safely disposed or removed.492
The consumption of water in Kabul has increased unsustainably, causing a striking imbalance between
availability and demand of water.493 The quality of ground water has decreased, making access toclean water increasingly difficult.494 The yearly demand for water is estimated to be more than
32 million cubic metres a year, while the groundwater recharge in the Kabul river basin, upon which
the city is wholly reliant for its water supply, has dwindled to less than 28 million cubic metres.495 The
Urban Water Supply and Sewerage Corporation (AUWSSC) of Afghanistan estimates that just 32 % of
Kabul’s population has access to running water, and only 10 % of residents receive potable water.496
The city’s inadequate water system forces those people who can afford it to drill their own wells.497
Many poor residents of Kabul living in the suburbs and on the rocky hills of the city depend on public
taps often far from their homes. It is usually the job of young children, often girls, to fetch the water.498
According to AUWSSC, there were around 72 private companies illegally supplying water to thousandsof families across Kabul City in 2018.499
According to Jolyon Leslie a number of residential enclaves (shahrak) have appeared around Herat inrecent years. Most buildings in Herat have been built after 2001. Property prices increased till 2011,
accelerating the property boom, which was also fuelled by money from the drugs trade. After 2014,
prices fell about 20-30 %. The urban density is very high and the settlements pattern quite regularalthough most buildings do not conform to a master plan. There were cases of land-grabbing in Heratcity by officials and other powerful individuals that operated with impunity.500
61.3 % of respondents to a 2016 survey on Herat reported owning their own house. 23.4 % of thehouseholds are reportedly renting their housing unit. 92.1 % of households in Herat had improved

485 Collier, P. et al., Policy Options for Kabul’s Informal Settlements, IGC, January 2018, url, p. 12
486 Asia Foundation, Survey of the Afghan People 2017, November 2017, url, p. 29
487 Foschini, F., Kabul and the Challenge of Dwindling Foreign Aid, USIP, 10 April 2017, url p. 18
488 Kazemi, S.R., The Quest for Household Water in Kabul City, AAN, 30 August 2018, url
489 Amin, M. and Adeh, E.H., Water Crisis in Kabul Could Be Severe if Not Addressed, SAIS Review, 22 August 2017, url
490 Asia Foundation, As Kabul Grows, Clean Water a Step Toward State Legitimacy in Afghanistan, 28 March 2018, url
491 Asia Foundation, As Kabul Grows, Clean Water a Step Toward State Legitimacy in Afghanistan, 28 March 2018, url
492 Afghanistan, CSO, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-17, 23 September 2018, url, p. 226
493 Kazemi, S.R., The Quest for Household Water in Kabul City, AAN, 30 August 2018, url
494 Kazemi, S.R., The Quest for Household Water in Kabul City, AAN, 30 August 2018, url
495 Amin, M. and Adeh, E.H., Water Crisis in Kabul Could Be Severe if Not Addressed, SAIS Review, 22 August 2017, url
496 Amin, M. and Adeh, E.H., Water Crisis in Kabul Could Be Severe if Not Addressed, SAIS Review, 22 August 2017, url
497 Reuters, Afghan Capital’s Thirsty Residents Dig Deep to Combat Drought, Overuse, 28 February 2017, url
498 Kazemi, S.R., The Quest for Household Water in Kabul City, AAN, 30 August 2018, url
499 Kazemi, S.R., The Quest for Household Water in Kabul City, AAN, 30 August 2018, url
500 Leslie, J., Political and Economic Dynamics of Herat, USIP, 2015, url, pp. 8-10

58 —AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT

sanitation facilities and 42.8 % were staying in houses with roofs made of cement.501 In Herat City, anestimated 5 % of the population is living in soft structures or tents.502
Of the urban population in Herat, 81.2 % has access to improved water sources, 90.7 % used electricity
as a source for lighting and 92.1 % has an improved sanitation facility.503 APPRO found in April 2016that 80 % of the residents in Herat City have access to grid power, 70 % to water, and 30 % to sewage
services.504 In 2016, the Salma Hydro Power Project was opened. The new dam is believed to improveaccess to electricity and water in Herat and its surroundings.505
Herat City lacks a central sewage system. The leakage of sewage into groundwater is considered a maincause of water contamination in the city: groundwater has gone down some 7–12 metres and beenpolluted.506 The majority of residents in Herat City drew their drinking water from pipes or wells.507
With regards to seven protracted IDP settlements within Herat municipal boundaries UNHCR foundthat the majority of dwellings were single room mud brick that did not offer sufficient protection fromthe elements. A large number of families lived in makeshift dwelling and tents which offered even lessprotection from weather events. The status of ownership for most of the land was unclear: themajority was contested by local Herati residents and families in Minaret, Naw Abad, Police Station andShaidayee received multiple eviction threats.508 Water and sanitation were found to be a serious issue
in all the settlements surveyed by UNHCR. A large number of families had no access to latrines andmany relied on communal water points with issues of congestion and water quality.509
The north-western provinces of Afghanistan were particularly affected by the drought in 2018.510 Herat
has been the destination for about 60 000 people who have been displaced from their homes due todrought.511 These people reside in overcrowded camps in and around Herat City. The 7 400 displaced
families, according to NRC assessment, resided in 174 sites on the outskirts of Herat city on the roadto Badghis. They suffered from malnutrition and none of the children in the displacement sites
attended school.512 UNOCHA reported sanitation gaps in September 2018 as a result of the arrival oflarge numbers of drought and conflict-affected IDPs.513
According to a 2015 survey, the majority inhabitants in Mazar-e Sharif own their houses (66.5 %) while
24.5 % rent their accommodation. More than half of the houses in the city are constructed from mudor soil with wood logs, the rest from lime with bricks and metal, cement or other materials. Most haveearth (70 %) or cement (26 %) floor. With 99.7 %, Shortepa had the highest proportion of households
owning their housing units at the district level, while Mazar-e Sharif had only 66.5 %.514 Most people
have access to improved sources of drinking water (76 %), usually piped or from the wells. 92 % ofhouseholds have improved sanitation facility.515

501 Afghanistan, CSO, Final Report of Herat Socio-Demographic and Economic Survey, 7 March 2017, url, pp. 83, 86-87
502 APPRO, Afghanistan Rights Monitor: Baseline Report, April 2016, url, pp. 50-51
503 Afghanistan, CSO, Final Report of Herat Socio-Demographic and Economic Survey, 7 March 2017, url, pp. 74, 76, 88
504 APPRO, Afghanistan Rights Monitor: Baseline Report, April 2016, url, p. 50
505 Afghanistan Times, Modi, Ghani inaugurate long-awaited Salma Dam project, 4 June 2016, url
506 Kazemi, S.R., The Quest for Household Water in Kabul City, AAN, 30 August 2018, url
507 Afghanistan, CSO, Final Report of Herat Socio-Demographic and Economic Survey, 7 March 2017, url, p. 77
508 UNHCR, Profile and Response Plan of Protracted IDP Settlements in Herat, October 2016, url, p. 6
509 UNHCR, Profile and Response Plan of Protracted IDP Settlements in Herat, October 2016, url, p. 6
510 Bjelica, J., Less Rain and Snowfall in Afghanistan: High Level Of Food Assistance Needed Until Early 2019, AAN, 30 July

2018, url
511 NRC, Millions of Afghans Face Risks of Drought Related Displacement, 7 September 2018, url
512 Bjelica, J., Less Rain and Snowfall in Afghanistan: High Level Of Food Assistance Needed Until Early 2019, AAN, 30 July
2018, url
513 UNOCHA, Afghanistan Drought Response, Situation Report No. 2 (as of 16 September 2018), 20 September 2018, url, p. 2
514 Afghanistan, CSO, Socio-Demographic and Economic Survey Balkh, 5 January 2015, url, pp. 79-83
515 Afghanistan, CSO, Socio-Demographic and Economic Survey Balkh, 5 January 2015, url, pp. 70, 84

AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT — 59

Annex I: Bibliography
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60 —AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT

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AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT — 61

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72 —AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT

Annex II: Terms of ReferenceoSocio-economic indicatorso Business environmento Employmento Poverty
o Food securityo Housingo Educationo Medical careoMobility and internal travelo Legal requirements to travel within Afghanistano Situation of and access to airports in the cities of Kabul, Herat and Mazar-e Sharifo Operational international and domestic flightsoSituation of vulnerable groups, in relation to the above topics
o Internally Displaced Persons
o Returnees
o Womeno Children

AFGHANISTAN: KEY SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT — 5

doi: 10.2847/781331