The only city in Afghanistan with over 1 million settled residents is the nation's capital, Kabul. According to Afghanistan's National Statistics and Information Authority (NSIA), an estimated 36,435,197 citizens are physically residing in Afghanistan as of September 2025. Over 4 million natives of Afghanistan are temporarily residing in Iran and approximately 2 million in Pakistan, and there are at least a million more among the Afghan diaspora around the world. This makes Afghanistan's population over 40 million people.
List The chart below shows 26 cities of Afghanistan with an estimated population of over 100,000 people, by order of population. The estimates are from September 2025, provided by NSIA.
Capitals of provinces are shown in bold face.
No. City Province Population Citation 1 Kabul (nation's capital) Kabul 5,333,284 2 Kandahar Kandahar 732,629 3 Herat Herat 673,273 4 Mazar-e-Sharif Balkh 568,013 5 Kunduz Kunduz 413,996 6 Jalalabad Nangarhar 318,733 7 Taloqan Takhar 284,990 8 Pul-e-Khumri Baghlan 230,112 9 Charikar Parwan 222,751 10 Baghlan Baghlan 219,073 11 Sheberghan Jowzjan 213,411 12 Ghazni Ghazni 205,965 13 Lashkargah Helmand 191,458 14 Khost Khost 170,615 15 Mihtarlam Laghman 160,123 16 Balkh Balkh 148,972 17 Farah Farah 141,091 18 Sar-e-Pol Sar-e-Pul 134,809 19 Pul-i-Alam Logar 130,793 20 Aybak Samangan 130,409 21 Firozkoh Ghor 129,521 22 Tarinkot Uruzgan 127,095 23 Spin Boldak Kandahar 123,945 24 Maimana Faryab 108,049 25 Gardez Paktia 105,278 26 Bamyan Bamyan 103,909
Ancient names Ancient names of places or cities in Afghanistan: Current city and region Ancient name Kabul Kophene,The Ancient Geography of India by Alexander Cunningham. Gaofū, Kābūrā Ghazni Ghaznīn, Ghazna Balkh Bakhlo, Bactra, Bokhdī Bamyan Bamikan Herat Haraiva, Harī, Aria Laghman Lampaka Jalalabad AdinapurGazetteer of the Peshawar District 1897-98 Page 55 Kandahar Arachosia Lashkargah Bost, Bust Zaranj Zranka, Zarangia, Drangiana Kunduz Drapsaka, Walwalij
See also Demographics of Afghanistan Provinces of Afghanistan Districts of Afghanistan List of places in Afghanistan
Notes
References
External links
Central Statistics Office of Afghanistan Photos of Afghan cities
Wilson, Frederick E. "Transcription of Afghan Placenames to an English-style Romanization." Names 34.2 (1986): 185–197.