Socioeconomics of Afghanistan Myungjin (Helena) Jung Honors English II / Block 3 10/17/12

What is Socioeconomics? Socioeconomics - social and economic factors of a certain country Socioeconomics is the competition of the country using the resources and dealing with how the culture, society, and economy impacts the population (SASE). (scielosp) “8 out of the 60th unstable country is Afghanistan” (SASE), and so it is a very unstable country.

Demographics: Climate Afghanistan is the 49th largest country by landmass but only 12% is arable (Central Intelligence Agency) Climate very extreme Mountains and valleys (Climatemps)(Pain and Goodhand 10) Cold in winter, Hot in summer Bad place to farm.

Demographics: Population Population: almost 32 million people 21 Different Ethnicities (Pashtuns, biggest) all with different settlement patterns and linguistics (History Army Brochure)History Army Brochure) (Breede 3) A lot of the workers are young because population mostly had young people.

Social Status Infant mortality rate (reported in June 2002): 220 per 1000 live births (ICARDA) Average Afghan woman gives birth: almost 7 children, compared to average of 1.7 children per woman in the ‘high human development countries’ (ICARDA) “In the USA, seven or eight women per 100,000 die in childbirth. In Afghanistan, it is likely to be around 1,700 per 100,000” (ICARDA). “The average estimated daily caloric intake of 1745 calories is about 17% below the estimated minimum daily need of rural Afghans. Only 6% of the population was estimated to have access to safe drinking water in 1998” (ICARDA). (eatpress) Poor countries have more childbirths in order to have more support for the family but not all of the offsprings survive. Old people in Kabul (most populous city) usually consume only Naan (bread) and water (Breede 3). There still aren’t enough hospitals in Afghanistan that are well facilitated (ICARDA).

People and Society Birth Rate: 39.3 births/1,000 population (2012 est.) {13th in the world} Death Rate:14.59 deaths/1,000 population (July 2012 est.) {8th in the world} Risk high for major infectious disease Literacy Rate:definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 28.1% male: 43.1% female: 12.6% (2000 est.) School Life Expectancy: male: 11 years old female: 7 years old (CIA) Not good medical facilities Because of the many different ethnicities and rocky climate, communication amongst others are difficult. The security of Afghanistan is really unstable. (International Educational Media, Afghanistan)

Economy - GDP: $21.5 billion but $700 per person 221st in the world = bad (Breede 10) - Unemployment rate: 35% (CIA) - Illegal marketing like: opium (Breede 16) (bbc Afghan food) GDP - amount of money all the goods made (market value) After the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001, the economy improved significantly. Many global assistance was also the cause of a better economy. But even after the progress, Afghanistan is still a poor country, needing foreign help for security, food, ad housing. The Afghan Government must become organized and help its people (CIA). (Breede 7)

Culture Afghanistan is made up of many tribal regions all added up together. Family ties are robust and said to be “the only stable social unit in the society.” The traditional political culture deals with hierarchy, accepted behavior, kinship an beliefs (Breede 4). (Breede 4)

More on Culture The tribal system started the unstable chain of the Afghan government. Because of the different ethnicities, there are different opinions about different matters. People of their own tribes were comfortable with each other while different members of tribes were always tense. Pashtuns, the largest tribe group, have many sub-tribal groups that don’t receive equal voting rights when deciding over a conflict. With ideological extremism for some and a long history of anarchy and war, the Afghan culture brought the economy of the country (Breede 5-8). (Breede 8)

Religion Most people in Afghanistan follow Islam. Many of them are Sunni while the minority are Shia (Breede 15). Christian and Muslim tensions from other countries also affect Afghanistan. Sunni - Muslims who believe their leader as someone appointed to the people Shia - Muslims who believe their leader must be a descendant from Mohammad (World History Notes) Religion is important with socioeconomics because it ties in with politics as who would be the next successor of the country (Breede 15). (Al-Fatiha Yolasite Quran)

For a better society and economy Afghanistan must... focus on educating their children for the future. find better ways to farm since 40% of the population depend on farming on only 12% arable soil. respect other religions especially in a country with the majority people being Muslim. have a well sophisticated government (Breede 17). (Asia News Afghan Schools)

Works Cited "AFGHANISTAN SEED AND CROP IMPROVEMENT SITUATION." AFGHANISTAN SEED AND CROP IMPROVEMENT SITUATION. ICARDA, n.d. Web. 10 Oct Breede, Christian H. A SOCIO-ECONOMIC PROFILE OF AFGHANISTAN. Massachusetts: n.p., PDF. "Central Intelligence Agency." CIA. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct Pain, Adam, and Jonathan Goodhand. Afghanistan: Current Employment and Socio-economic Situation and Prospects. Switzerland: InFocus, Crisis, Mar PDF.