Table Of ContentIslamic Republic of Afghanistan
Central Statistics Organization
AFGHANISTAN LIVING
CONDITIONS SURVEY
2016 - 17
Analysis report
This project is funded by the European Union
The Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey 2016-2017 was implemented by the Central Statistics
Organization (CSO) of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan with technical assistance
from ICON-Institute Public Sector Gmbh.
This publication was produced with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole
responsibility of CSO and ICON-INSTITUTE and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European
Union.
For further information, please contact:
CSO
www.cso.gov.af
E-mail:
FOREWORD
The present Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey (ALCS), conducted
by the Central Statistic s Organization (CSO) and financially supported
by the European Commission, is the sixth round of data collection since
the start of the survey in 2003. The history of the ALCS has seen an
enlargement of coverage of development themes that are crucial for th e
development planning of Afghanistan, while maintaining a balance in
the details and periodicity of reporting that are relevant for the large
number of stakeholders involved in and benefiting from the survey. At
the same time, the ALCS has been able to acommodate international
standards and methodologies to produce internationally comparable
indicators and to improve the quality and speed of reporting. The release
of the ALCS 2016-17 report almost exactly one year after the
completion of the data collectoi n is an achievement that is hardly ever
met by surveys of similar coverage and complexity. In addition, the
history of the ALCS is also the account of building CSO’s capacity in
data collection, survey management, data processing and analysis, and I am proud of the efforts and skills
demonstrated by the staff of CSO involved in the present survey.
The ALCS is the flagship of the Central Statistics Organization. Several features make the ALCS a unique
instrument for policy makers and all the national and international organisations investing in the future of
the country. These features include the coverage of the nomadic Kuchi population, the ability to capture
seasonal variation in relevant development indicators, the ability to produce statistics at provincial level, the
continuity of the survey that allows making trend analyses of key development indicators, the large number
of stakeholders benefitting from the survey results and the survey’s flexibility to adapt to Afghanistan’s
needs.
The present report is the most comprehensive in the history of the survey, covering detailed analyses on
population and households, labour market, agriculture, health, education, housing, gender and the challenges
faced by Afghanistan’s households, their coping strategies and people’s priorities for development. Next to
the standard set of indicators produced in each survey round, the present ALCS report moreover focuses
again on poverty and food-security analysis, and in addition provides detailed information about disability
in the population. As Director General of the Central Statistics Organization, I am also very pleased
that with this report, Afghanistan is one of the first countries in the world to produce official
Sustainable Development Goals indicators. The present round of the ALCS produced no less than 20
indicators for 12 of the 17 SDGs. In this respect, the ALCS also provided the platform to implement the
new drinking water quality test on the basis of which Afghanistan is one of the first countries in the world
to produce the SDG indicator on safely managed drinking water services. Furthermore, I am appreciative
that the present ALCS was partially conducted with mobile data entry in the field, thereby further
expanding CSO’s proficiency in applying new technologies for statistical data collection.
iii
I am convinced that the results of the ALCS 2016-17 presented here, as well as the micro data that are
available for further analysis, will be instrumental for development planning and programming for a wide
range of data users. I sincerely hope that this report will be an interesting source of information and
knowledge for the readers.
Ahmad Jawed Rasuli
Director General of the Central statistics Organization
iv
KEY INDICATORS
SDG /MDG a
Indicator Sub-groups National
indicator
Population and households
Percentage of population under age 15 U 42.9; R 49.0; K 52.2 47.7
Percentage of population aged 65 and over U 3.0; R 2.6; K 1.6 2.7
Sex ratio U 102; R 104; K 108 104
Dependency ratio U 85; R 107; K 117 101
Child dependency ratio U 79; R 101; K 113 96
Old-age dependency ratio U 6; R 5; K 4 5
Average household size U 7.3; R 7.8; K 7.6 7.7
Mean age at first marriage, women aged 20-24 U 18.0; R 17.5; K 17.4 17.6
Median age at first marriage, women aged 20-24 U 18; R 18; K 18 18
Percentage of women aged 20-24 married at age 16 SDG 5.3.1 U 2.1; R 5.0; K 4.8 4.2
Percentage of women aged 20-24 married at age 18 SDG 5.3.1 U 18.4; R 31.9; K 36.3 28.3
Percentage of married women living in a polygamous
8.2
marriage
Labour force (national definition)
M 80.6; F 26.8
Labour force participation rate 53.9
U 48.0; R 54.9; K 72.4
M 65.8; F 15.8
Employment-to-population ratio MDG 1.5 41.0
U 35.3; R 41.7; K 63.5
M 34.4; F 55.1
Percentage not-gainfully employed population 39.5
U 35.3; R 41.2; K 35.3
M 19.7; F 23.9
Underemployment rate, as percentage of the employed 20.5
U 11.9; R 22.6; K 26.3
M 16.1; F 14.1
Underemployment rate, as percentage of the labour force 15.6
U 8.7; R 17.2; K 23.0
M 18.3; F 41.0
Unemployment rate SDG 8.5.2 U 26.5; R 24.0; K 12.3 23.9
D 37.7; ND 23.3
M 24.3; F 47.4
Youth unemployment rate 30.7
U 39.1; R 29.6; K 13.3
v
SDG /MDG
a
Indicator Sub-groups National
indicator
Youth unemployment as percentage of total M 44.8; F 46.4
45.5
unemployment U 48.4; R 44.5; K 44.0
M 16.6; F 67.9
Share of youth (aged 15-24 years) not in education,
SDG 8.6.1 U 37.9; 44.1; 33.6 42.0
employment or training (NEET)
D 56.6; 41.7
Proportion of informal employment in non-agriculture
SDG 8.5.3 M: 66.7; F: 71.3 66.7
employment (in percentages) (proxy)
Proportion of jobs in sustainable tourism industries out
SDG 8.9.2 M 8.5; F 0.3 6.7
of total tourism jobs (in percentages) (proxy)
Proportion of own-account and contributing family M 77.5; F 89.9
MDG 1.7 80.2
workers in total employment (in percentages) U 60.9; R 85.8; K 90.0
Manufacturing employment as a proportion of total
SDG 9.2.2 M 16.4; F 24.0 18.1
employment (in percentages)
M 9.5; F 1.1
Proportion of adults (15 years and older) with an account
at a bank or other financial institution or with a mobile- SDG 8.10.2 U 9.9; R 4.0; K 0.1 5.4
money-service provider
D 4.7; ND 5.4
M: 51.2; F 50.0
Proportion of employed persons living in a household
whose members are estimated to be below the poverty U 38.0; R 54.2; 59.3 50.9
line
D 50.4; ND 51.0
Agriculture and livestock
Percentage of households owning irrigated land 37.9
Percentage of households owning rain-fed land 19.4
Percentage of households owning or having access to a
13.1
garden plot
Percentage of households having access to irrigated land 41.4
Percentage of households having access to rain-fed land 20.5
b
Mean size of owned irrigated land (in jeribs) 4.9
b
Mean size of owned rain-fed land (in jeribs ) 12.1
b
Mean size of owned or accessed garden plot (in jeribs ) 1.9
b
Mean size of accessed irrigated land (in jeribs) 5.1
b
Mean size of accessed rain-fed land (in jeribs ) 12.4
Number of cattle (in thousands) 3,371
Number of goats (in thousands) 9,754
Number of sheep (in thousands) 21,813
vi
SDG /MDG
a
Indicator Sub-groups National
indicator
Number of chickens (in thousands) 10,341
Poverty
Proportion of population living below the national
SDG 1.2.1 U 41.6; RK 58.5 54.5
poverty line (in percentages)
Poverty gap MDG 1.2 U 10.3; RK 16.4 15.0
Squared poverty gap U 3.6; RK 6.2 5.6
Gini Index U 0.29; RK 0.25 0.31
Food security
Percentage of food-insecure population MDG 1.9 U 42.1; R 46.2; K 32.3 44.6
Percentage of severely or very severely food insecure
U 25.0; R 28.9; K 18.3 27.5
population
Percentage of population with protein deficiency U 27.1; R; 31.7; K 22.7 30.1
Diet Diversity Score (mean) U: 5.8; R: 4.9; K: 5.0 5.1
Education
M 49.4; F 19.9
Adult literacy rate (15 years of age and over) 34.8
U 53.7; R 29.6; K 5.8
M 68.2; F 38.7
Youth literacy rate (15-24 years of age) MDG 2.3 53.6
U 75.1; R 47.9; K 7.0
M 53.6; F 42.9
Gross intake ratio in primary education 48.5
U 77.4; RK 41.1
M 65.5; F 45.5
Net attendance rate in primary education MDG 2.1 56.1
U 74.3; R 54.0; K 6.6
M 46.8; F 24.1
Net attendance rate in secondary education 35.7
U 51.6; R 31.7; K: 1.8
M 14.9; F 4.8
Net attendance rate in tertiary education 9.7
U 18.1; R 6.9; K 0.2
Adjusted net attendance rate in primary education M 73.2; F 50.1 62.4
Adjusted net attendance rate in secondary education M 47.3; F 25.7 36.9
M 84.4; F 58.9
Gross attendance ratio in primary education 72.5
U 95.5 R 69.9; K 8.9
SDG /MDG
a
Indicator Sub-groups National
indicator
vii
M 63.0; F 32.2
Gross attendance ratio in secondary education 48.0
U 69.2; R 42.5; K 2.6
M 20.6; F 8.0
Gross attendance ratio in tertiary education 14.1
U 27.3; R 9.6; K 0.2
Percentage of pupils starting grade one who reach grade M 88.9 F 86.3
MDG 2.2 87.9
5 of primary education U 90.2 R+K 86.9
Percentage of pupils starting grade one who reach last M 86.5 F 82.6
MDG 2.2 85.1
grade of primary education U 88.3 R+K 83.7
Percentage of school starters who drop out before M 12.3 F 15.7
13.6
reaching grade six U 10.2 RK 15.0
M 51.9 F 33.2
Primary completion rate 56.6
U 74.6 RK 33.7
M 96.2 F 93.2
Transition rate to secondary schoo l 95.2
U 96.6 RK 94.2
M 61.2 F 54.8
The transition rate to tertiary school 58.9
U 67.5 RK 51.1
M 9.7; F 5.6
School life expectancy (in years ) 7.8
U 11.1; RK 6.7
M 864; F 1,272
Primary-school-age children out-of-school (in thousands) 2,136
U 206; RK 1,930
Secondary-school-age children out-of-school (in M 803; F 1,298
2,101
thousands) U 336; RK 1,765
M 1,036; F 1,346
Tertiary-school-age youth out-of-school (in thousands) 2,382
U 583; RK 1,799
M: 39.9; F 17.2;
Participation rate of youth in formal and non-formal
SDG 4.3.1 U 42.2; R 24.6; K 1.9 28.5
education and training in the previous 12 month s
D 17.9; ND 28.7
Health
Percentage of population within two hours travel time
U 95.8; R 92.5; K 90.4 93.2
from public clinic
Percentage of pregnant women who received tetanus
U 35.6; R 36.4; K 23.5 35.6
injection during pregnancy
Antenatal care coverage (at least one visit ) MDG 5.5 U 87.7; R 66.8; K 46.3 70.2
Antenatal care coverage (at least four visits) MDG 5.5 U 33.5; R 12.7; K 5.4 16.3
SDG /MDG
a
Indicator Sub-groups National
indicator
viii
SDG 3.1.2
Percentage of births attended by skilled health personnel U 86.8; R 46.0; K 18.5 53.4
MDG 5.2
Percentage of deliveries in institutional facilities U 82.7; R 43.4; K 16.4 50.5
Percentage of children aged 0-59 months who received
U 64.7; R 48.8; K 33.7 51.2
Vitamin A tablet or capsule in the last six months
Proportion of children under 5 years of age whose births
have been registered with a civil authority (in SDG 16.9.1 U 60.9; R 29.5; K 10.4 29.5
percentages)
U 3.2; R 4.3; K 2.8
Disability prevalence rate (in percentages) 3.2
M 3.2; F 3.1
Percentage of people with a disability who have multiple
M 33.4; F 32.2 33.1
disabilities
Housing and amenities
Proportion of the rural population who live within 2 km
63.1
of an all-season road (in percentages)
Percentage of households owning their dwelling U 66.9; R 94.2; K 88.4 87.1
Average number of persons per room U 3.1; R 3.1; K 5.2 3.2
Percentage of households living in overcrowded
U 42.7; R 41.5; K 83.3 43.9
dwellings
Proportion of urban population living in slums, informal MDG 7.10
72.4
settlements or inadequate housing (in percentages) SDG 11.1.1
Proportion of population with access to electricity (in
SDG 7.1.1 U 99.5; R 97.8; K 86.1 97.7
percentages)
Percentage of population using improved drinking water
MDG 7.8 U 91.5; R 56.6; K 35.8 63.9
c
sources
Proportion of population using safely managed drinking
SDG 6.1.1 U 75.3; R 25.1; K 3.0 36.0
d
water services (in percentages) (proxy indicator)
Proportion of population using safely managed drinking
SDG 6.1.1 (U 36.7; RK 10.1) (21.0)
e
water services (in percentages)
Percentage of households with E. coli in household
(U 67.1; RK 84.2) (76.9)
e
drinking water
Percentage of population using an improved sanitation
MDG 7.9 U 83.2; R 46.1; K 7.4 53.0
facility (limited and basic services)
Proportion of population using safely managed sanitation
SDG 6.2.1 U 56.5; R 38.8; K 6.7 41.4
f
services (in percentages) (proxy indicator)
SDG /MDG
a
Indicator Sub-groups National
indicator
ix
Proportion of population with primary reliance on clean
SDG 7.1.2 U 79.1; R 9.0; K 1.1 25.2
fuels and technology (in percentages) – for cooking
Proportion of population with primary reliance on clean
SDG 7.1.2 U 11.9; R: 1.9; K 0.6 4.2
fuels and technology (in percentages) – for heating
Proportion of population with primary reliance on clean
SDG 7.1.2 U 99.8; R 98.2; 87.7 98.1
fuels and technology (in percentages) – for lighting
Proportion of individuals who own a mobile telephone
SDG 5.b.1 U 60.2; R 38.4; K 24.8 43.3
(in percentages)
MDG 8.16 U 10.8; R 1.5; K 0.2
Internet users per 100 population 3.9
SDG 17.8.1 M 6.4; F 1.3
Share of women in wage employment in the non-
MDG 3.2 13.2
agricultural sector (in percentages)
Proportion of women in managerial positions (in
SDG 5.5.2 U 4.4; R 3.8; K - 4.3
percentages)
Adult literacy gender parity index (age 15 and over) U 0.61; R 0.29; K 0.07 0.40
Youth literacy gender parity index (age 15-24) U 0.81; R 0.44; K 0.10 0.57
Gender parity index of gross primary attendance ratios MDG 3.1 U 0.90; R 0.62; K 0.30 0.71
Gender parity index of gross secondary attendance ratios MDG 3.1 U 0.74; R 0.38; K 0.00 0.51
Gender parity index of gross tertiary attendance ratios MDG 3.1 U 0.58; R 0.21; K 0.00 0.39
a
U: urban, R: rural, K: Kuchi, M: male, F: female, D: disabled, ND: non-disabled
b 2
One jerib is 0.2 hectare (2,000 m )
c
Including water supplied by tanker trucks
d
Proxy indicator not considering eventual water contamination assessed prior to its use by households
e
Based on a non-representative sample from ten selected provinces
f
Proxy indicator not considering procedures for excreta disposal; the indicator corresponds to ‘basic sanitation
services’ according to the sanitation ladder.
( ) Indicators between brackets are considered less reliable and are indicative only.
x
