The Page That Counts :: Winter 2002

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posted Nov 05, 2001

Population of Afghanistan: 25.8 million1
Number of Afghanis living in poverty and substandard conditions: 22.1 million
Percentage of Afghan population with access to safe water: 17%
With access to sanitation: 10%
Life expectancy of Afghanis: 46 years2
Life expectancy of Americans: 77 years3
Average weight of newborns at Kabul's Indira Gandhi Children's Hospital:
2.0–2.5 kg (4.4–5.5 lbs.)4
Afghan infant mortality rate: 165 deaths per 1,000 live births
Mortality rate of Afghani children under age five: 257 per 1,000 live births
Number of children under age five who die each year: 309,0005
US infant mortality rate: 7.2 deaths per 1,000 live births6
Estimated percentage of Afghan population below age 18: 48%
Estimated number of landmines left planted in Afghanistan: 10 million7
Estimated number of Afghanis killed by landmines in the late 90's: 400,000
(10–12 casualties per day)
Percentage of Afghani population that is disabled: 17%8
Estimated percentage of Afghani school-age boys attending school: 60%
School-age girls attending school: 5%9
Literacy rate of adult Afghani men: 51.9%
Literacy rate of adult Afghani women: 21.9%10
Numbers of Afghanis who die from tuberculosis each year: 16,000
Cholera cases per year: 5,000
Number of Afghani women who die each day from pregnancy-related causes: 45
Lashings given to punish a woman convicted of adultery: 10011
Percentage of world's raw opium produced in Afghanistan in 1999: 75% (5,000 tons)12
Afghani refugees in Pakistan: 2.2 million
Afghani refugees in Iran: 1.5 million13

1. http://rawa.fancymarketing.net/afg-info.htm 2. Population Research Bureau, 2000, www/prb.org/wf/quickfacts_mortality.html 3. National Center for Health Statistics, www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/lifexpec.htm 4. World Health Organization, September 2001 www/reliefweb.int/ 5. ibid., UNICEF January 2000 6. National Center for Health Statistics, 1998 http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/infmort.htm 7. Voice of America report, 15 January 1998, http://www.voa.gov/childsurvival/afgh.htm www.voa.gov/childsurvival/afgh.htm 8. Statement made to UN Coordinator reported by Associated Frontier Press, 4 December 1998, rawa.fancymarketing.net 9. Report to the United Nations General Assembly, 2001, www/reliefweb.int/ 10. UNESCO, 2000, www.un.org/depts/unsd/social/literacy.htm 11. Reuters report, Kabul, 27 February 1998 12. Associated Press report, 16 April 1999 13. Office of UN Coordinator for Afghanistan, UNHCR Afghanistan/Pakistan, June 2001