Largest Cities and Towns by Population in Afghanistan

49 cities and towns in Afghanistan with 10,000 or more inhabitants, ranked by population projections for September 21, 2020 (by Central Statistics Office, Afghanistan).

Rank	City or Town	Also Known As	Native Name	Population
1	Kabul	-	کابل	4,434,600
2	Herat	-	هرات	574,300
3	Kandahar	-	کندهار	523,300
4	Mazar-i-Sharif	Mazār-e Sharīf	مزار شریف	484,500
5	Jalalabad	-	جلال‌آباد	271,900
6	Kunduz	-	کندز	189,300
7	Pul-e Khumri	-	پلخمری	123,700
8	Maymana	Meymaneh	میمنه	96,000
9	Sheberghan	-	شبرغان	93,600
10	Lashkargah	-	لشکرگاه	89,300
11	Taluqan	-	تالقان	83,900
12	Baghlan	-	بغلان	79,600
13	Ghazni	-	غزنی	69,000
14	Charikar	-	چاریکار	65,900
15	Khulm	-	خلم	57,800
16	Khan Abad	-	خان‌آباد	47,600
17	Farah	-	فراه	42,800
18	Imam Sahib	Ḥazrat-e Imām Ṣāḥib	حضرت امام صاحب	40,700
19	Ghorian	Ghurian	غوریان	40,100
20	Fayzabad	-	فیض‌آباد	38,600
21	Andkhoy	-	اندخوی	37,900
22	Sar-e Pul	-	سرپل	35,200
23	Haibak	Aībak	ایبک	33,900
24	Zaranj	-	زرنج	30,400
25	Gardez	-	گردیز	28,300
26	Aqcha	Āqchah	آقچه	28,000
27	Chahab	-	چاه‌آب	27,600
28	Paghman	-	پغمان	24,900
29	Qal'ah-ye Zal	-	قلعه ذال	21,800
30	Kushk	-	کشک	19,800
31	Balkh	-	بلخ	18,000
32	Qal'ah-ye Now	-	قلعه نو	17,000
33	Asadabad	Asad Ābād	اسعد آباد	15,900
34	Rustaq	-	رستاق	14,900
35	Bamyan	-	بامیان	14,700
36	Sancharak	-	سانچارک	14,700
37	Khost	-	خوست	13,400
38	Qalat	-	قلات	13,000
39	Dowlat Abad	-	دولت‌آباد	12,500
40	Shulgareh	Shōlgarah	شولگره	12,100
41	Gereshk	Girishk	گرشک	11,100
42	Yangi Qal'ah	-	ینگی قلعه	11,100
43	Chaghcharan	-	چغچران	8,100
44	Tarinkot	-	ترینکوت	7,800
45	Pul-i-Alam	Pul-e 'Alam	پل علم	6,300
46	Mehtarlam	-	مهترلام	5,900
47	Sharana	Sharan	شرن	5,100
48	Maidan Shahr	-	میدان‌شهر	3,500
49	Mahmud-i-Raqi	Maḥmūd-e Rāqī	محمود راقی	1,800

Source: Central Statistics Office, Afghanistan (2020 projection), via City Population by Thomas Brinkhoff.

Why don't these match official city populations?Official figures typically count only the population within administrative boundaries. UN urban area figures cover the entire built-up area, which can include multiple cities and towns.Show moreShow less

Tokyo

33,338,852

Urban area

9,953,160

23 wards

Essen

2,709,375

Urban area

573,618

City of Essen

Ankara

3,630,865

Urban area

5,186,002

Metropolitan municipality

What counts as an urban area? The UN uses satellite imagery to map built-up land, and treats each continuous stretch of built-up land as an urban area. This means that urban areas can extend beyond official city boundaries, and may include multiple cities and towns within a single urban area.

Can an urban area be smaller than its city? Yes. While most cities have urban areas larger than their administrative boundaries, some cities have extensive administrative limits that include sparsely populated areas.

85 urban areas in Afghanistan with 50,000 or more inhabitants, ranked by the UN's population estimates for 2026.

Rank	Urban Area	Population Estimate (2026)	Yearly Change	Land Area (km²)	Density (P/km²)	World Rank	Projections (2030)	Projections (2050)
1	Kābul (Kabul)	5,759,569	+2.15%	396	14,559	68	6,254,899	8,003,002
2	Herat	1,281,769	+1.74%	101	12,691	403	1,371,143	1,768,419
3	Kandahar	811,675	+1.56%	91	8,920	658	862,317	1,150,851
4	Mazar i sharif	662,560	+1.70%	50	13,198	824	707,652	848,758
5	Jalalabad	603,281	+2.61%	128	4,706	908	666,374	910,276
6	Taloqan	296,881	+2.31%	40	7,385	1,976	324,291	478,276
7	Kunduz	295,427	+2.75%	42	6,968	1,986	327,957	456,840
8	Maymana	235,028	+2.41%	26	9,110	2,527	257,718	375,062
9	Puli Khumri	234,761	+2.76%	29	8,040	2,530	260,720	379,692
10	Charikar	232,443	+2.32%	20	11,507	2,555	253,999	395,906
11	Shindand	219,197	+2.56%	25	8,630	2,729	241,599	370,361
12	Firozkoh	215,278	+4.89%	27	7,915	2,780	257,379	434,339
13	Fayzabad	199,534	+2.20%	27	7,282	3,032	217,079	322,694
14	Toraghundi	195,252	+2.41%	9.20	21,223	3,105	214,089	304,783
15	Lashkar Gah	191,392	+1.28%	40	4,785	3,180	201,216	251,822
16	Khost	191,148	+1.34%	68	2,828	3,183	201,425	280,948
17	Sheberghan	185,302	+2.13%	28	6,571	3,293	201,117	272,177
18	Guzarah	181,961	+2.92%	24	7,519	3,353	203,178	310,575
19	Mihtarlam	170,252	+4.64%	27	6,259	3,605	201,876	400,692
20	Nao Deh	163,665	+2.20%	24	6,935	3,738	178,093	243,630
21	Girishk	151,511	+1.84%	14	10,822	4,060	162,689	233,334
22	Farah	149,091	+2.54%	22	6,716	4,118	164,258	232,603
23	Samangan	141,495	+2.51%	22	6,317	4,355	155,700	239,398
24	Andkhoy	140,704	+3.43%	39	3,589	4,381	160,020	252,297
25	Bai Ghesi	136,537	+2.57%	15	9,102	4,509	150,573	280,830
26	Sar-e Pol	132,399	+2.30%	17	7,788	4,663	144,597	242,763
27	Koh-i-Sayad	131,576	+2.64%	24	5,482	4,699	145,445	236,089
28	Lal	131,174	+10.34%	8.00	16,397	4,720	185,403	348,838
29	Golbahar	126,100	+7.39%	30	4,232	4,908	163,379	407,674
30	Ghurian	125,017	+2.81%	18	6,869	4,969	139,050	220,409
31	Qala i Naw	124,813	+2.62%	14	8,668	4,979	137,904	223,266
32	Bagram	124,546	+3.63%	18	6,919	4,989	142,607	229,589
33	Baghlan	122,350	+10.61%	17	7,197	5,081	174,208	316,829
34	Qeysar	117,113	+4.03%	11	11,048	5,319	135,974	326,866
35	Rustaq	115,950	+2.66%	17	6,664	5,370	128,269	194,702
36	Bamian	111,967	+3.44%	11	10,563	5,581	127,389	219,586
37	Chayab	111,816	+2.12%	10	11,182	5,585	121,314	170,956
38	Ghazni	109,954	+0.80%	21	5,236	5,694	113,452	132,556
39	Tarinkot	109,414	+2.44%	12	8,824	5,719	120,104	188,599
40	Sange Shanda	105,740	+4.65%	3.80	27,826	5,917	125,388	179,925
41	Qarabagh	105,384	+2.81%	25	4,215	5,938	117,236	258,478
42	Bandabad	101,714	+3.08%	25	4,036	6,147	114,260	217,887
43	Kishim	100,465	+2.24%	16	6,279	6,229	109,459	172,746
44	خان آباد	98,584	+2.25%	15	6,486	6,350	107,437	188,600
45	Muslem Abad	98,111	+2.43%	19	5,057	6,378	107,652	165,284
46	Imam Sahib	98,055	+2.16%	14	6,809	6,383	106,544	159,101
47	Qurbagheh Khaneh	93,625	+3.29%	38	2,477	6,690	105,959	177,271
48	Tulak	87,196	+4.68%	11	7,927	7,220	103,520	213,667
49	Kaza	83,592	+10.55%	28	3,029	7,548	118,846	296,420
50	Orlamish	83,469	+2.70%	7.00	11,924	7,562	92,469	143,491
51	Baraki Rijan	82,760	+5.63%	33	2,539	7,638	101,401	205,834
52	Jabal us Saraj	80,233	+2.89%	16	5,015	7,870	89,498	164,456
53	Shinkot	79,939	+5.10%	11	7,267	7,907	96,256	198,877
54	Nejrab	79,880	+4.11%	31	2,577	7,914	92,997	161,212
55	Pol-E-Charkhi	79,627	+2.64%	19	4,105	7,934	88,033	131,777
56	Mahmud-e Raqi	79,319	+3.12%	19	4,131	7,970	89,228	231,465
57	Pasab	77,565	+1.96%	6.00	12,928	8,151	83,638	138,108
58	Bed-i-Kalan	77,210	+2.00%	4.00	19,302	8,188	83,401	114,352
59	Siyahgird	75,680	+3.19%	12	6,203	8,328	85,334	193,780
60	Qal`ah-ye Sang-e Takht	73,241	+4.73%	8.00	9,155	8,602	87,109	171,988
61	Darzab	70,450	+2.32%	5.00	14,090	8,912	77,000	162,937
62	Shahrak	69,830	+11.33%	5.00	13,966	8,990	101,432	192,213
63	Bala Murghab	69,308	+2.55%	10	6,931	9,051	76,384	134,380
64	Nahrin	68,408	+2.13%	13	5,262	9,172	74,230	125,280
65	Zaranj	66,172	+1.52%	18	3,636	9,491	70,203	94,788
66	Muḩammad Khwājah	65,767	+4.88%	8.00	8,221	9,550	78,596	148,757
67	Qarabāg	65,634	+2.33%	3.00	21,878	9,568	71,751	105,549
68	Bomay	61,736	+3.77%	5.80	10,644	10,169	71,051	179,131
69	Deh Rawud	61,517	+2.14%	10	6,152	10,201	66,780	106,026
70	Khaṟsmīdu	61,434	+5.82%	2.40	25,598	10,215	75,723	109,318
71	Tukzar	61,123	+2.25%	10	6,112	10,267	66,634	104,788
72	Mirzay	60,124	+2.68%	9.00	6,680	10,411	66,566	108,725
73	Shāghāsī	60,067	+2.58%	13	4,483	10,421	66,269	108,836
74	‘Aynak	59,526	+1.98%	4.00	14,882	10,508	64,246	177,513
75	Ishkamish	59,091	+3.10%	17	3,396	10,583	66,421	106,316
76	Obe	57,912	+2.51%	8.00	7,239	10,764	63,734	100,098
77	Khand Khil	57,721	+2.25%	20	2,829	10,802	62,914	81,472
78	Mir Bachah Kot	57,628	+4.07%	9.40	6,131	10,824	67,018	167,471
79	Qal‘ah-ye Fārsī	57,582	+13.14%	7.00	8,226	10,829	87,793	186,568
80	Sayad	57,305	+2.36%	5.00	11,461	10,887	62,711	108,245
81	Islam Qala	57,289	+2.42%	10	5,729	10,892	62,844	101,017
82	Khulm	54,640	+2.67%	15	3,643	11,391	60,470	97,952
83	Darwēsh	54,208	+4.65%	7.60	7,133	11,492	64,288	116,365
84	Qal‘ah	53,601	+2.72%	7.20	7,445	11,607	59,436	130,768
85	Istalef	53,558	+2.60%	10	5,251	11,613	59,124	101,217

Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2025). World Urbanization Prospects: The 2025 Revision, Online Edition.

Data topics

Reference

Tools

Largest Cities and Towns by Population in Afghanistan

See also