Country · Asia
Afghanistan
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
Afghanistan is a country in Southern Asia. Its capital city is Kabul. About 37.2 million people live there, in an area of 652 230 square kilometres.
Picture credit: Mark Ray (Public domain) · Julian-G. Albert (CC BY 2.0) · Vladimir Lysenko (I.) (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Sven Dirks, Wien (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Hogai Aryoubi (Public domain) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Afghanistan?
Afghanistan lies in Southern Asia, on the continent of Asia.
It sits in the northern half of the world, roughly 3 674 km from the equator.
Afghanistan is landlocked: it has no coast at all, so you cannot reach the sea without crossing another country.
It shares a border with 6 countries: Iran, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and China.
How big is Afghanistan?
Afghanistan covers 652 230 square kilometres.
That is about 6.3 times the size of Iceland.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 40th largest.
If everybody spread out evenly, there would be about 57 people on every square kilometre.
Who lives in Afghanistan?
About 37.2 million people live in Afghanistan.
That is the 38th biggest population in the world.
People here speak Dari, Pashto and Turkmen.
They pay with the Afghan afghani (؋).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 46 years.
The land of Afghanistan
Because it is landlocked, everything that arrives by ship has to cross one of its 6 neighbours first.
It lies between the tropics and the poles, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Afghanistan different?
A dish the country is known for: Kabuli Palaw.
Websites from here often end in .af.
Afghanistan and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about 5 live in Afghanistan.
It takes up about 0.49 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Asia it is the 11th largest of 46 countries, and the 15th most populated.
That is close to the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Afghanistan and its neighbours
China, its largest neighbour, is about 14.9 times bigger.
China has more people: 1.4 billion against 37.2 million.
Where this country lands in the record lists
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Afghanistan?
The capital of Afghanistan is Kabul. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Afghanistan?
About 37.2 million people live in Afghanistan, which makes it the 38th most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border Afghanistan?
Afghanistan borders Iran, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and China — 6 neighbours in total.
How big is Afghanistan?
Afghanistan covers 652 230 square kilometres, making it the 40th largest country in the world. That is about 6.3 times the size of Iceland.
Which continent is Afghanistan in?
Afghanistan is in Asia, in the part called Southern Asia.
Where these numbers come from
Borders and outlines: Natural Earth. Names, capitals, areas, languages and currencies: ISO 3166 data (world-countries). Population: World Bank, 2018. Every derived figure on this page (ranks, density, distance from the equator) is calculated from those values.
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