Economy - overview:
Despite improvements in life expectancy, incomes, and literacy since 2001, Afghanistan is extremely poor, landlocked, and highly dependent on foreign aid. Much of the population continues to suffer from shortages of housing, clean water, electricity, medical care, and jobs. Corruption, insecurity, weak governance, lack of infrastructure, and the Afghan Government's difficulty in extending rule of law to all parts of the country pose challenges to future economic growth. Afghanistan's living standards are among the lowest in the world. Since 2014, the economy has slowed, in large part because of the withdrawal of nearly 100,000 foreign troops that had artificially inflated the country’s economic growth.
The international community remains committed to Afghanistan's development, pledging over $83 billion at ten donors' conferences between 2003 and 2016. In October 2016, the donors at the Brussels conference pledged an additional $3.8 billion in development aid annually from 2017 to 2020. Even with this help, Government of Afghanistan still faces number of challenges, including low revenue collection, anemic job creation, high levels of corruption, weak government capacity, and poor public infrastructure.
In 2017 Afghanistan's growth rate was only marginally above that of the 2014-2016 average. The drawdown of international security forces that started in 2012 has negatively affected economic growth, as a substantial portion of commerce, especially in the services sector, has catered to the ongoing international troop presence in the country. Afghan President Ashraf GHANI Ahmadzai is dedicated to instituting economic reforms to include improving revenue collection and fighting corruption. The government has implemented reforms to the budget process and in some other areas. However, many other reforms will take time to implement and Afghanistan will remain dependent on international donor support over the next several years.
GDP (purchasing power parity): GDP (official exchange rate): GDP - real growth rate: GDP - per capita (PPP): Gross national saving: GDP - composition, by end use: GDP - composition, by sector of origin: Agriculture - products: Industries: Industrial production growth rate: Labor force: Labor force - by occupation: Unemployment rate: Population below poverty line: Household income or consumption by percentage share: Distribution of family income - Gini index: Budget: Taxes and other revenues: Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-): Public debt: Fiscal year: Inflation rate (consumer prices): Commercial bank prime lending rate: Stock of narrow money: Stock of broad money: Stock of domestic credit: Market value of publicly traded shares: Current account balance: Exports: Exports - partners: Exports - commodities: Imports: Imports - commodities: Imports - partners: Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: Debt - external: Exchange rates:
$69.45 billion
(2017 est.)
$67.65 billion
(2016 est.)
$66.21 billion
(2015 est.)
note: data are in 2017 dollars
country comparison to the world:
101
[see also: GDP country ranks ]
$20.24 billion
(2017 est.)
[see also: GDP (official exchange rate) country ranks ]
2.7%
(2017 est.)
2.2%
(2016 est.)
1%
(2015 est.)
country comparison to the world:
124
[see also: GDP - real growth rate country ranks ]
$2,000
(2017 est.)
$2,000
(2016 est.)
$2,000
(2015 est.)
note: data are in 2017 dollars
country comparison to the world:
209
[see also: GDP - per capita country ranks ]
22.7% of GDP
(2017 est.)
25.8% of GDP
(2016 est.)
21.4% of GDP
(2015 est.)
country comparison to the world:
78
[see also: Gross national saving country ranks ]
household consumption: 81.6%
(2016 est.)
[see also: GDP - composition, by end use - household consumption country ranks ]
government consumption: 12%
(2016 est.)
[see also: GDP - composition, by end use - government consumption country ranks ]
investment in fixed capital: 17.2%
(2016 est.)
[see also: GDP - composition, by end use - investment in fixed capital country ranks ]
investment in inventories: 30%
(2016 est.)
[see also: GDP - composition, by end use - investment in inventories country ranks ]
exports of goods and services: 6.7%
(2016 est.)
[see also: GDP - composition, by end use - exports of goods and services country ranks ]
imports of goods and services: -47.6%
(2016 est.)
[see also: GDP - composition, by end use - imports of goods and services country ranks ]
agriculture: 23%
(2016 est.)
[see also: GDP - composition, by sector of origin - agriculture country ranks ]
industry: 21.1%
(2016 est.)
[see also: GDP - composition, by sector of origin - industry country ranks ]
services: 55.9%
(2016 est.)
note: data exclude opium production
opium, wheat, fruits, nuts, wool, mutton, sheepskins, lambskins, poppies
small-scale production of bricks, textiles, soap, furniture, shoes, fertilizer, apparel, food products, non-alcoholic beverages, mineral water, cement; handwoven carpets; natural gas, coal, copper
-1.9%
(2016 est.)
country comparison to the world:
181
[see also: Industrial production growth rate country ranks ]
8.478 million
(2017 est.)
country comparison to the world:
61
[see also: Labor force country ranks ]
agriculture: 44.3%
[see also: Labor force - by occupation - agriculture country ranks ]
industry: 18.1%
[see also: Labor force - by occupation - industry country ranks ]
services: 37.6%
(2017 est.)
[see also: Labor force - by occupation - services country ranks ]
23.9%
(2017 est.)
22.6%
(2016 est.)
country comparison to the world:
194
[see also: Unemployment rate country ranks ]
54.5%
(2017 est.)
[see also: Population below poverty line country ranks ]
lowest 10%: 3.8%
[see also: Household income or consumption by percentage share - lowest 10% country ranks ]
highest 10%: 24%
(2008)
[see also: Household income or consumption by percentage share - highest 10% country ranks ]
29.4
(2008)
country comparison to the world:
136
[see also: Distribution of family income - Gini index country ranks ]
revenues: 2.276 billion
(2017 est.)
[see also: Budget - revenues country ranks ]
expenditures: 5.328 billion
(2017 est.)
[see also: Budget - expenditures country ranks ]
11.2% (of GDP)
(2017 est.)
country comparison to the world:
210
[see also: Taxes and other revenues country ranks ]
-15.1% (of GDP)
(2017 est.)
country comparison to the world:
217
[see also: Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-) country ranks ]
7% of GDP
(2017 est.)
7.8% of GDP
(2016 est.)
country comparison to the world:
202
[see also: Public debt country ranks ]
21 December - 20 December
5%
(2017 est.)
4.4%
(2016 est.)
country comparison to the world:
171
[see also: Inflation rate (consumer prices) country ranks ]
15%
(31 December 2016 est.)
15%
(31 December 2015 est.)
country comparison to the world:
37
[see also: Commercial bank prime lending rate country ranks ]
$6.644 billion
(31 December 2014 est.)
$6.192 billion
(31 December 2013 est.)
country comparison to the world:
94
[see also: Stock of narrow money country ranks ]
$6.945 billion
(31 December 2014 est.)
$6.544 billion
(31 December 2013 est.)
country comparison to the world:
95
[see also: Stock of broad money country ranks ]
-$240.6 million
(31 December 2016 est.)
country comparison to the world:
192
[see also: Stock of domestic credit country ranks ]
NA
[see also: Market value of publicly traded shares country ranks ]
$1.014 billion
(2017 est.)
$1.409 billion
(2016 est.)
country comparison to the world:
48
[see also: Current account balance country ranks ]
$784 million
(2017 est.)
$614.2 million
(2016 est.)
note: not including illicit exports or reexports
country comparison to the world:
171
[see also: Exports country ranks ]
India 56.5%, Pakistan 29.6%
(2017)
opium, fruits and nuts, handwoven carpets, wool, cotton, hides and pelts, precious and semi-precious gems, and medical herbs
$7.616 billion
(2017 est.)
$6.16 billion
(2016 est.)
country comparison to the world:
114
[see also: Imports country ranks ]
machinery and other capital goods, food, textiles, petroleum products
China 21%, Iran 20.5%, Pakistan 11.8%, Kazakhstan 11%, Uzbekistan 6.8%, Malaysia 5.3%
(2017)
$7.187 billion
(31 December 2017 est.)
$6.901 billion
(31 December 2015 est.)
country comparison to the world:
85
[see also: Reserves of foreign exchange and gold country ranks ]
$2.84 billion
(FY/)
country comparison to the world:
144
[see also: Debt - external country ranks ]
afghanis (AFA) per US dollar -
7.87
(2017 est.)
68.03
(2016 est.)
67.87
(2015)
61.14
(2014 est.)
57.25
(2013 est.)
