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Settlement and Migration Patterns in Afghanistan: A Tentative Statement
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 November 2008
Extract
One must always bemoan the lack of adequate statistics when discussing population problems in Afghanistan.1 Few nations in Asia, however, have adequate data-collecting procedures: only 9 of the 41 Asian nations, encompassing about 8 per cent of Asia's total population, according to a recent UNO survey.
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References
1 Louis, Dupree, ‘Population Review 1970: Afghanistan,’ American Universities Field Staff Reports, South Asia Series, Vol. XV, No. 1, 1971.However, this lack should be at least partly remedied by the current Afghan Demographic Studies project of the Ministry of Planning, Government of Afghanistan, undertaken jointly with the State University of New York (Buffalo) and funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. The project publishes brief progress reports twice a month in Kabul.Google Scholar
2 For example: Firoozi, F., ‘Iranian Censuses of 1956 and 1966: A Comparative Analysis,’ The Middle East Journal, 24 (2), 220–8, 1970;Google Scholar
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3 Bruno, A. Schiro, The Statistical System of Afghanistan: A General Overview with Guidelines for Improvement, mimeographed report to the Ministry of Planning, Royal Government of Afghanistan, Kabul, 1970, p. 20.Google Scholar
4 Among them (not all published): Population Census of Greater Kabul (1965); Household Expenditure Survey of Kabul (1968); Lashkargah Household Expenditure Survey (1965); Socio-Economic Surveys of Housing and Living Conditions (1970); Pilot Census of Agriculture (1965); Nation-wide Agricultural Survey (1966–67); Urban Consumer Price Index of the Ministry of Planning (1961–71); Farm Surveys by Faculty of Agriculture with assistance of University of Wyoming Contract Team (several Bulletins and technical Information Reports published). Two American graduate students (Nigel Allan and Chris L. Jung) have recently completed Ph.D. theses on specific topics relating to the rural-urban scene.Google Scholar
5 For a discussion see Dupree, L., ‘Afghanistan 1968: Part I: Government and Bureaucracy,’ American Universities Field Staff Reports, South Asia Series, Vol. 12, No. 4, 1968.Google Scholar
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7 See Dupree, L.,‘Aq Kupruk: A Town in north Afghanistan, Parts I and II’, American Universities Field Staff Reports, Vol. X, nos. 9–10, 1966.Google Scholar
Also published in Louise Street (ed.), Peoples and Cultures of the Middle East, Vol. II, N.Y., 1970, pp. 344–7.Google Scholar
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13 Dupree, L., ‘“Pushtunistan”: The Problem and its Larger Implications,’ Parts I-III, American Universities Field Staff Reports, South Asia Series, Vol. V, Nos. 2–4, 1961.Google Scholar
14 Processes similar to those described by Charles, P. Loomis in ‘Tentative Types of Directed Social Change Involving Systemic Linkage,’ Rural Sociology 24 (4), 383–90, 1959.Google Scholar
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19 Quoted by Jung, , Rural-Urban Migrations to Kabul, p. 2, from the Gazetteer of Afghanistan, Part IV, Kabul, Government of India, Supt. of Govt. Printing, Calcutta, 1910, p. 230. All six volumes of the Gazetteer of Afghanistan have been published by Akademische Druk-u. Verlagsanstalt, Graz, Austria,Google Scholar
under the editorship of Ludwig, Adamec: Historical and Political Gazetteer of Afghanistan, vols. I (Badakhshan), 2 (Farah), 3 (Herat), 4 (Kandahar), 5 (Northern Provinces), 6 (Kabul).Google Scholar
20 This process (proximity to urban center migration patterns) was long ago recognized by Ravenstein, E. G. in his classic article, ‘The Causes of Migration,’ Journal of the Statistical Society, XLVIII (2), 06, 1885.Google Scholar
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23 The G.K.C. indicates that 127,432 migrants in the Greater Kabul Area (out of a total population of 435,203) divide in the following manner: 19,482 had been in Kabul for less than a year; 43,984, from 1–4 years; 54,312, 5 or more years; 9,654, unknown. Interesting statistics from the unpublished U.N.D.P. Kabul survey include: 70 per cent of the migrants came from rural areas; 85 per cent moved directly to Kabul; 42 per cent, ages between 15–34; migrant males outnumbered females two to one; two-thirds of the males were unmarried (many came to earn bride price); 70 per cent non-literate (probably a gross understatement—L.D.).Google Scholar
24 Dupree, L., ‘Afghanistan: 1968: Part IV: Strikes and Demonstrations,’ American Universities Field Staff Reports, South Asia Series, Vol. XII, No. 7, 1969.Google Scholar
25 Jung, , Rural-Urban Migrations to Kabul, p. 5.Google Scholar
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