Afghanistan 13

Afghanistan
Geography
Total area: 647,500 km2; land area: 647,500 km2

Comparative area: slightly smaller than Texas

Land boundaries: 5,826 km total; China 76 km, Iran 936 km,
Pakistan 2,430 km, USSR 2,384 km

Coastline: none--landlocked

Maritime claims: none--landlocked

Disputes: Pashtun question with Pakistan; Baloch question with Iran
and Pakistan; periodic disputes with Iran over Helmand water rights;
insurgency with Iranian and Pakistani involvement; traditional tribal
rivalries

Climate: arid to semiarid; cold winters and hot summers

Terrain: mostly rugged mountains; plains in north and southwest

Natural resources: natural gas, crude oil, coal, copper, talc, barites,
sulphur, lead, zinc, iron ore, salt, precious and semiprecious stones

Land use: 12% arable land; NEGL% permanent crops; 46% meadows and
pastures; 3% forest and woodland; 39% other; includes NEGL% irrigated

Environment: damaging earthquakes occur in Hindu Kush mountains;
soil degradation, desertification, overgrazing, deforestation, pollution

Note: landlocked

People
Population: 15,862,293 (July 1990), growth rate 7.7% (1990)

Birth rate: 44 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate: 18 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

Net migration rate: 51 migrants/1,000 population (1990);
note--there are flows across the border in both directions, but data are
fragmentary and unreliable

Infant mortality rate: 154 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth: 47 years male, 46 years female (1990)

Total fertility rate: 6.4 children born/woman (1990)

Nationality: noun--Afghan(s); adjective--Afghan

Ethnic divisions: 50% Pashtun, 25% Tajik, 9% Uzbek, 12-15% Hazara; minor
ethnic groups include Chahar Aimaks, Turkmen, Baloch, and others

Religion: 74% Sunni Muslim, 15% Shia Muslim, 11% other

Language: 50% Pashtu, 35% Afghan Persian (Dari), 11% Turkic languages
(primarily Uzbek and Turkmen), 4% thirty minor languages (primarily
Balochi... [continues]

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