Editing Demographics of Afghanistan (section)

=== Historical ===
[[File:Afghans at Ghazi Stadium in 2011.jpg|thumb|[[Sport in Afghanistan|Sport]] fans inside the [[Ghazi Stadium]] in the capital of [[Kabul]], which is [[multiethnic society|multi-ethnic]] and the largest city of Afghanistan.]]
The first and only nationwide census of Afghanistan was carried out in 1979. It revealed a population of 13,051,358 (rural 11,037,231, urban 2,014,127).<ref>https://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic-social/products/dyb/dybsets/1983%20DYB.pdf</ref> Previously there had been scattered attempts to conduct censuses in individual cities.<ref>[http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/census-ii CENSUS ii. In Afghanistan] [[Encyclopædia Iranica]]</ref> According to the 1876 census, [[Kabul]] had a population of 140,700 people.<ref>(Gazetteer of Afghanistan VI, p. 333).</ref> In [[Kandahar]] in 1891 a population census was carried out, according to which 31,514 people lived in the city, of which 16,064 were men and 15,450 were women.<ref>Kandahar Newsletter, 10 August 1891, IOR L/P & S/7/63/1295</ref>

From 1979 until the end of 1983, some 5 million people left the country to take shelter in neighbouring northwestern Pakistan and eastern Iran. This exodus was largely unchecked by any government. The Afghan government in 1983 reported a population of 15.96&nbsp;million, which presumably included the exodus.<ref name="U.S. Library of Congress">{{cite web |url=https://countrystudies.us/afghanistan/36.htm |title=Population |publisher=U.S. Library of Congress |year=2008 |access-date=12 October 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20110719220830/https://countrystudies.us/afghanistan/36.htm |archive-date=19 July 2011 }}</ref>

It is assumed that roughly 600,000 to as high as 2 million Afghans may have been killed during the various 1979–2001 wars.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://necrometrics.com/20c1m.htm#Afghanistan |title=Afghanistan (1979–2001) |access-date=12 October 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110305175626/https://necrometrics.com/20c1m.htm#Afghanistan |archive-date=5 March 2011 }}</ref> These figures are questionable and no attempt has ever been made to verify if they were actually killed or had moved to neighbouring countries as refugees.<ref name="U.S. Library of Congress"/>

As no census has been performed after 1979 and millions of people may have left the country, the current population of Afghanistan can only be guessed.