Afghanistan Cities by Population 2024

Afghanistan is a large and mountainous, although mainly rural, country. This means that there are only few major cities in the country, and these are widely spaced apart. Kabul is the capital and largest city, and is located along the Kabul River south of the Hindu Kush mountain range. It has a population of around 4.6 million residents. Kabul is one of the highest cities in the world, at an elevation of almost 1800 meters. The city has 22 separate districts, and is also the most diverse area of the country, with a number of different ethnic groups represented in the city.

Kabul is the only city in Afghanistan with a population in excess of a million, and it is now one of the fastest growing cities in the world. The other key cities in the country include Kandahar, Herat, Mazar-e Sharif, and Jalalabad – each of these have populations ranging from around 300,000 (Jalalabad) to 500,000 (Kandahar). However, given the geography of the country, only around twenty percent of the Afghan population lives in cities, with the rest of the population living in the more rural areas of the country. Afghanistan's cities have also been significantly affected by the ongoing political conflicts in the country, with city populations, demographics and amenities fluctuating as a result of the wars.