Editing Kabul (section)

==Demographics==
{{Further|Demographics of Afghanistan|Afghan diaspora}}
[[File:2011 SCF Kabul-3.jpg|thumb|left|Young Afghan men and women at a rock music festival inside the ''[[Bagh-e Babur|Gardens of Babur]]'']]
Kabul's population was estimated in 2023 at about 4.95&nbsp;million.<ref name="nsia">{{Cite web|date=10 July 2023|title=Estimated Population of Afghanistan 2023-24|url=http://nsia.gov.af:8080/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%AF-%D9%86%D9%81%D9%88%D8%B3-%DA%A9%D8%B4%D9%88%D8%B1-%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%84-1402-04.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230911065759/http://nsia.gov.af:8080/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%AF-%D9%86%D9%81%D9%88%D8%B3-%DA%A9%D8%B4%D9%88%D8%B1-%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%84-1402-04.pdf|archive-date=11 September 2023|access-date=11 September 2023|website=nsia.gov.af}}</ref> The city's population has long fluctuated due to the wars. The lack of an up-to-date [[census]] means that there are various estimates of the population.

Kabul's population was estimated to have been about 10,000 in 1700, 65,000 by 1878, and 120,000 by 1940.<ref name="pdf.usaid.gov" /> More recently, the population was around 500,000 in 1979, whilst another source claims 337,715 as of 1976.<ref name="spvd.cz">{{cite web|title=Trolleybuses in Kabul|url=http://www.spvd.cz/index.php/component/content/article/181-clanky/svet/af/217-afghanistan-en|website=www.spvd.cz|access-date=8 January 2017|archive-date=14 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170114233944/http://www.spvd.cz/index.php/component/content/article/181-clanky/svet/af/217-afghanistan-en|url-status=live}}</ref> This figure rose to about 1.5&nbsp;million by 1988, before dramatically dropping in the 1990s. Kabul became one of the fastest-growing cities in the world, with its population growing fourfold from 2001 to 2014. This was partly due to the return of refugees after the fall of the [[Taliban]] regime, and partly due to Afghans moving from other provinces mainly due to war between Taliban insurgents and Afghan government forces in their native areas as well as looking for labor. This resulting rapid [[urbanisation]] means that many residents today live in informal settlements.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/dec/11/kabul-afghanistan-fifth-fastest-growing-city-world-rapid-urbanisation|title=Kabul – the fifth fastest growing city in the world – is bursting at the seams|first=Sune Engel|last=Rasmussen|date=11 December 2014|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=8 January 2017|archive-date=9 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170109115432/https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/dec/11/kabul-afghanistan-fifth-fastest-growing-city-world-rapid-urbanisation|url-status=live}}</ref> Shanty mud-brick homes on the mountainsides and steep hills have been built by them and these are usually poverty-stricken, not connected to the water and electricity grid. Although the settlements are illegal, they have been tolerated by authorities. In 2017 Kabul Municipality started a project to paint the homes in these settlements in bright colors in an effort to "cheer up" residents.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Wellman|first1=Phillip Walter|title=Homes in Kabul painted bright colors to cheer up war weary residents|url=https://www.stripes.com/news/homes-in-kabul-painted-bright-colors-to-cheer-up-war-weary-residents-1.474759|website=Stars and Stripes|access-date=20 January 2018|archive-date=20 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180120124728/https://www.stripes.com/news/homes-in-kabul-painted-bright-colors-to-cheer-up-war-weary-residents-1.474759|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Abed|first1=Fahim|last2=Mashal|first2=Mujib|title=Urban Sprawl Up Kabul's Mountainsides, With Splashes of Color|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/30/world/asia/kabul-urban-sprawl.html|website=The New York Times|date=30 May 2017|access-date=20 January 2018|archive-date=20 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180120124621/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/30/world/asia/kabul-urban-sprawl.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Houses upon houses, Kabul Afghanistan.jpg|thumb|Houses built on mountains]]
Kabul is and has historically been the most ethnically diverse city in the country, with the population including Afghans from all over the country.<ref>''Women of Afghanistan in the Post-Taliban Era: How Lives Have Changed and Where They Stand Today'' by Rosemarie Skaine, 2009.</ref> Approximately 45% of [[#Demographics|Kabul's population]] is Tajik, 25% Hazara, another 25% is Pashtun, and minority ethnic groups include Qizilbash (counted to Tajiks), 1% Baloch, 2% Uzbek, 1% Turkmen, and 1% Afghan Hindu.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0311/feature2/images/mp_download.2.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080227220328/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0311/feature2/images/mp_download.2.pdf|archive-date=27 February 2008|title=National Geographic Magazine}}</ref> Almost three-quarters of the population of Kabul follow Sunni Islam, and around Twenty-five percent of residents are Shiites. Other religions in the city include Sikhism and Hinduism.

In 1525, [[Babur]] described the region in [[baburnama|his memoirs]] by writing that:

{{Blockquote|Eleven or twelve tongues are spoken in Kābul—[[Arabic language|‘Arabī]], [[Persian language|Persian]], [[Turkic language|Turkī]], [[Mogholi|Mughūlī]], [[Hindustani language|Hindī]], [[Pashto language|Afghānī]], [[Pashai language|Pashāī]], [[Parachi language|Parājī]], [[Gawar-Bati language|Gibrī]], [[Ormuri|Bīrkī]], and [[Lambadi language|Lamghānī]]. If there be another country with so many differing tribes and such a diversity of tongues, it is not known.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/44608/44608-h/44608-h.htm|title=Description of Kābul|access-date=June 21, 2021|author=[[Babur|Zahir ud-Din Mohammad Babur]]|work=[[Baburnama|Memoirs of Babur]]|year=1525|archive-date=June 30, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200630231822/http://www.gutenberg.org/files/44608/44608-h/44608-h.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>|[[Baburnama]]|1525}}

[[File:Afghan girls in September 2012.jpg|thumb|left|Afghan girls in Kabul in 2012]]

Along with [[Pashtun]], [[Tajiks|Tajik]] and [[Hazaras|Hazara]] communities, who make up the majority of the population of the city, there was a significant population of [[Uzbeks|Uzbek]], [[Turkmens|Turkmen]], [[Kuchi people|Kuchi]], [[Qizilbash]], [[Hindu people|Hindu]], [[Sikh people|Sikh]] and other groups. The broader province of Kabul however, is dominated by [[Pashtun]] and [[Tajiks|Tajik]] groups.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/4f1029c92.pdf|title=Afghanistan – AFG38731 –Tajiks in Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif – Taliban|work=Country Advice: Afghanistan|publisher=[[Refugee Review Tribunal]], Australia|date=2 June 2011|via=www.refworld.org|access-date=25 November 2019|archive-date=2 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802190948/https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/4f1029c92.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Brit-Kabul">{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/309320/Kabul|title=Kabul|publisher=Online [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|access-date=18 September 2010|archive-date=26 July 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100726224554/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/309320/Kabul|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Dari language|Dari]] (Persian) and [[Pashto language|Pashto]] languages are widely used in the region, although Dari serves as the [[lingua franca]]. [[Multilingualism]] is common throughout the area, particularly among the Pashtun people.

The term "Kabuli" (کابلی) is referred to the urbanites of the city. They were ethnic-neutral, typically speak Dari (Persian), were generally secularly educated, and favor Western fashion. Many Kabulites (especially elites and the upper class) left the country during the civil war and are now outnumbered by rural people who moved in from the countryside, mostly refugees but also labor-seekers.<ref>{{cite web|title=Kabul – Naval Postgraduate School|url=https://my.nps.edu/web/ccs/kabul|website=my.nps.edu|access-date=11 January 2018|archive-date=11 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180111165313/https://my.nps.edu/web/ccs/kabul|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="afghanistan-analysts.org">{{cite web|first1=Fabrizio|last1=Foschini|title=Striking at Kabul, now and then {{!}} Afghanistan Analysts Network|url=https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/striking-at-kabul-now-and-then/|website=www.afghanistan-analysts.org|date=17 January 2012|access-date=11 January 2018|archive-date=11 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180111172004/https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/striking-at-kabul-now-and-then/|url-status=live}}</ref>

About 68% of the city's population follow [[Sunni Islam]] while 30% are [[Shia Islam in Afghanistan|Shiites]] (mainly the Hazaras and Qizilbash). The remaining 2% are followers of [[Sikhism in Afghanistan|Sikhism]] and [[Hinduism in Afghanistan|Hinduism]], as well as one known [[Christians|Christian]] resident (First Lady [[Rula Ghani]]) and one [[Jewish]] resident ([[Zablon Simintov]]) in the 2010s. It is estimated that there were 500–8,000 Afghan Christians in the country as a whole; due to restrictions on religious freedom, they often worship in secret, rendering it difficult to estimate the number of Christians in Kabul specifically.<ref>{{cite web|title=International Religious Freedom Report 2009|url=http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2009/127362.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091130031916/http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2009/127362.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=30 November 2009|publisher=Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, U.S. Department of State|year=2009|access-date=6 March 2010}}</ref> Hundreds of non-Muslims still remain after the Taliban retakeover Afghanistan.<ref>{{cite web|title=Afghan Sikhs, Hindus meet Taliban officials, are assured of safety|url=https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/newsindia/afghan-sikhs-hindus-meet-taliban-officials-are-assured-of-safety/ar-AANoqBh|website=The Indian Express|access-date=1 February 2022|archive-date=29 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220129162610/https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/newsindia/afghan-sikhs-hindus-meet-taliban-officials-are-assured-of-safety/ar-AANoqBh|url-status=live}}</ref> Kabul also has small [[Sindhis|Sindhi]] and [[Punjabis|Punjabi]] merchant community (which most of the [[Sikhs]] and Hindus belong to)<ref>{{Cite web|date=2022-04-21|title=Hinduism in ancient and modern Afghanistan|url=https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2022/04/21/hinduism-in-ancient-and-modern-afghanistan/|access-date=2024-07-25|language=en-US}}</ref> and [[Turks in Afghanistan|Turkish]] communities (mostly business-owners and investors), and in the 1980s had a sizable [[Russians in Afghanistan|Russian]] community during the Soviet campaign in the country.