Migration trends in Afghanistan
Asia
7.5M people from Afghanistan have built lives abroad. That's 17.7% of the country population, spread across 66 different countries
42.6M
Population
72.9K
Immigrants
7.5M
Emigrants
−7.5M
Outflow
Every 7th person born in Afghanistan now lives abroad
The #9 largest source of emigrants worldwide
Top corridors
The largest migration routes in Afghanistan
Key moments
How migration has changed since 1990
1990
50.7K immigrants · 7.5M emigrants
1995
- The exodus eased — the diaspora abroad shrank by 45%
- Slipped out of the 3 biggest countries by emigrants in Asia
- Emigration to Pakistan declined sharply — 2.1M fewer migrants there
2005
- Pakistan overtook Tajikistan as the largest source of new arrivals
2010
- The diaspora abroad passed 5M people
2015
- A surge of arrivals — the foreign-born population jumped 288%
- Surge of immigrants from Pakistan — 220.4K new arrivals
- The foreign-born population passed 100K residents
2020
- Surge of departures to Türkiye — 169.7K people left
- Surge of departures to Germany — 163.7K people left
Today
- Immigration contracted — the foreign-born population fell 32%
- Since 1990: roughly the same number of foreign-born residents and 51.9K more citizens living abroad