Wardak province demographic profile

Wardak

A Socio-Economic and Demographic
Profile

With the financial and technical assistance of UNFPA

Notes

Some of the information contained in this rep ort, in p articular that related to crop s and
economic activities, as well as the build in g stock may not be as accurate as on e would
wish. However, they are the best estimates available at the time of the Household listing
exercise. The most logical exp lanation is that the sources of the information—local
informants—may not have been as knowled geab le as they were assumed to be.

Province of

Wardak
A Socio-Economic and Demographic Profile
Household Listing—2003

Acknowledgements
The Socio-Economic and Demo grap hic Profiles were a collaborative effort of UNFPA,
the Central Statistics Office, and nu merous stakeholders, who made su ggestions for the
imp rovement of the final p roduct while it was still bein g written.

UNFPA wishes to recognize the contributions of M r. David Saunders, its former
rep resentative in Afghanistan, who shared the various drafts of the model Profile with a
number of donors, embassies, and other stakeholders stationed in Kabul and collected
their suggestions as to how to imp rove on it.

The p rofiles could not have been comp leted without the commitment, enthusiasm and
energetic efforts of many CSO staff members. Mr. M ohammad Haroon Aman, M r.
Waheed Ibrah imi, and M rs Fazila Miri of the Database section produced all the tables
and graphics for all 34 p rovinces. M r. Tamim Ahmad Sh akeb, head of the GIS section,
and his colleagues, M essrs Zabiullah Aseel and Abdul Ahmad Sherzai, together p roduced
all the thematic map s included in the body of the text as well as in the annexes—a total of
more than 1,300 maps. M essrs Nasratullah Ramzi, Saifrahman Azizi, Say ed Yousuf
Hashimi, and Zabiullah Omari of Database section were resp onsible for editing the
profiles and p utting the last touches before p rinting.

UNFPA also wishes to extend its ap preciation to M r. Abdul Rashid Fakhri, head of CSO,
and his colleagues in the CSO review team—M essrs Esmatuallah Ramzi, Mohamed Sami
Nabi, Azizullah Faqiri, and Ghulam M ustapha, who read the drafts and made v aluab le
comments and suggestions, in p articular with regards to the information on economic
activities.

-iv-

Introduction by the
Acting General President of the Central Statistics Office of Afghanistan

Designing p rograms aimed at increasin g socio-economic dev elopment and economic
growth to ensure better livin g cond itions for pop ulation requires accurate, up -to-date, and
comp rehensive data. It has been 27 years since Afghan istan’s first attempt to conduct a
national p op ulation census. For reasons known to all, such an attempt had to be aborted.
In those 27 y ears, a number of ch an ges took place, that were related to natural population
growth, p op ulation movement, and redrawing of the boundaries of the country ’s
administrative units, amon g others. Such changes n eed to be ap p rised and documented, in
order to resp ond to the need for accurate information that is v ital for d evelop ment and
reconstruction programs.

Both the Bonn agreement and the emergency Loya Jirga called for the conduct of a
second national p op ulation and housing census. Jointly with UNFPA, CSO mobilized the
required funds from the international donor community , and took charge of the comp lex
task of p lanning for the census and up grad ing the technical skills of the CSO staff that
will be resp onsible for its conduct.

In sp ite of difficulties of various sorts, and at an enormous cost in terms of staff
mobilization, CSO, with the financial and technical assistance of UNFPA, undertook the
first p hase of the p op ulation and housing census. The op eration, includin g door
numberin g, househo ld listin g, up dating the enumeration area map s, data entry , cleanin g,
and p rocessing took less than four y ears. For the first time, digital map s were p roduced
for all provinces, districts, and village locations.

CSO has the great p leasure of p roducin g this p ublication, which presents the results of
the first p hase of the census. It p rovides such valuable information as p op ulation size and
sp atial distribution, age and sex comp osition, as well availability of certain facilities to
the village populations. We hop e that such information will be useful for the widest
audience, in p articular p lanners, researchers, and any one with an interest in p opulation
data.

Abdul Rashid Fakhri,
Acting General President
Central Statistics Office,
Islamic Rep ublic of Afgh anistan.

-v-

Introduction by the
Representative of UNFPA

Under the Bonn Agreement, the United Nations agreed to assist the Government of
Afghanistan in conductin g a Pop ulation and Housing Census, the first Census in
Afghanistan since 1979. As a leader in p opulation and develop ment issues, the United
Nations Pop ulation Fund (UNFPA) has been entrusted with this task for its decades of
exp erience and exp ertise in providing technical and financial assistance in conductin g
pop ulation and housing censuses.
For the p ast few y ears, Afghanistan has been making serious attemp ts at rebuildin g and
rehabilitating the nation and its institutions after more than two decades of war, conflict,
and civil strife. Effective p lannin g for comp rehensive social and economic dev elop ment
requires ev idence based and reliable data. Data for economic and social develop ment can
come from v arious sources: samp le survey s, administrative records, and various other
sources. However, no data source other than a Pop ulation and Housing Census will
provide p rimary information about the number and characteristics of Afghanistan’s
pop ulation. Likewise, the Census 2008 will allow for co mprehensive gender analy sis of
pop ulation based indicators and will provide the baseline for p op ulation and any related
functional p rojections that are crucial for p lannin g.
The p resent p ublication deals with Phase I of the Afghanistan census—the Household
Listing, condu cted and the results analy zed between 2002 and 2005. The data collected
during this exercise p rovides a wealth of information on b asic p op ulation variables in the
country — size of the p op ulation, age structure and sex comp osition, and household size.
The household listin g has also p roduced much socio-economic data on economic
activities, health and edu cation facilities, housing facilities and so on. All such
information will b e essential in the p rocess of socio-economic reconstruction in
Afghanistan. However, it must be noted that the household listing p hase unfortunately
could not be conducted in a small number of d istricts due to the security situation that
prevailed then. It is hop ed that the census prop er, scheduled for the summer 2008 and
bein g a benchmark under the London Comp act, will encounter more favorable
circumstances and fill the gap s left by the Household Listing exercise. UNFPA will
extend all p ossible assistance to the Government of Afghanistan in order to make the
census op eration in 2008 a successful on e. There are a number of positive asp ects, which
are important to note in the context of conductin g the househo ld listing, p articularly
noteworthy is the cooperation, which the Central Statistical Office has receiv ed from the
Provincial Administrations, and the assistance, which has been extended to the C SO staff
in all of the p rovinces. The enthusiasm of all of the staff to undertake very difficu lt work
in exceptionally difficult conditions is equally noteworthy and app reciated, as is the
quality of the work. At this p oint, I would like to extend my gratitude and recognition to
Dr. Hamadi B etbout, UNFPA’s senior advisor who led the exercise of man agin g the
household listing d atabase and p ublication of the p rovincial profiles.

Alain Sibenaler
Rep resentative a.i.
UNFPA Kabul

-vi-

Contents
Acknowledgments................................................................................................................. iii
Introduction by the Acting General President of the Central Statistics Office .................................... iv
Introduction by the Representative of UNFPA............................................................................ v
Map of Wardak ..................................................................................................................... vi

Settlement patterns................................................................................................................ 1

Demographic ch aracteristics.................................................................................................... 8
Age distribution.............................................................................................................. 8
Household size and sex ratio............................................................................................. 11
Special age groups .......................................................................................................... 12
Main languages spoken.................................................................................................... 12

Living conditions .................................................................................................................. 15
Educational services ........................................................................................................ 16
Health services ............................................................................................................... 19
Post offices and public phones........................................................................................... 19
Mills............................................................................................................................. 20
Radio & Television.......................................................................................................... 20

Economic activities ............................................................................................................... 29
Agriculture .................................................................................................................... 29
Industrial crops, small industries, and handicrafts................................................................. 30

Physical & social infrastructure............................................................................................... 33
Housing units................................................................................................................. 33
Schools and educational institutions ................................................................................... 34
Health infrastructure....................................................................................................... 34
Factories and workshops.................................................................................................. 35
Bakeries and mills........................................................................................................... 36
Hotels and restaurants..................................................................................................... 36
Shopping places.............................................................................................................. 37
Mosques ........................................................................................................................ 37
Other places................................................................................................................... 37

Annexes ............................................................................................................................... 42
Annex 1— Population Estimates as of 1 July 2004, by province..................................................... 43
Annex 2—Total and urban populations (as of mid-July 2004) by province, ranked according to their
percent with respect to their shares of the total urban population of Afghanistan......................... 44
Annex 3— Total and urban populations (as of mid-July 2004) by province, ranked according to their
percent with respect to their shares of the total urban population of Afghanistan......................... 45
Annex 4— Procedure for adjusting the reported age distribution.................................................... 46
Annex 5—Comparison of the reported and adjusted age distributions, Wardak, 2003......................... 47
Annex 6—Compositional analysis—economic activities, Wardak, 2003 ........................................... 48
Annex 7—Villages producing wheat, Wardak, 2003..................................................................... 59
Annex 8—Villages producing corn, Wardak, 2003....................................................................... 60
Annex 9—Villages producing rice, Wardak, 2003........................................................................ 61
Annex 10—Villages producing potatoes, Wardak, 2003................................................................ 62
Annex 11—Villages producing onion, Wardak, 2003.................................................................... 63
Annex 12—Villages producing tomatoes, Wardak, 2003 ............................................................... 64
Annex 13—Villages producing carrots, Wardak, 2003.................................................................. 65
Annex 14—Villages producing grapes, Wardak, 2003 .................................................................. 66
Annex 15—Villages producing melon & water melon, Wardak, 2003 .............................................. 67
Annex 16—Villages producing walnuts, Wardak, 2003................................................................. 68
Annex 17—Villages producing licorice, Wardak, 2003................................................................. 69

-viii-

Annex 18—Villages producing eggs, Wardak, 2003 ..................................................................... 70
Annex 19—Villages producing dried yoghurt, Wardak, 2003......................................................... 71
Annex 20—Villages producing cotton, Wardak, 2003................................................................... 72
Annex 21—Villages producing sesame, Wardak, 2003.................................................................. 73
Annex 22—Villages producing olives, Wardak, 2003.................................................................... 74
Annex 23—Villages producing sharsham, Wardak, 2003 .............................................................. 75
Annex 24—Villages producing honey, Wardak, 2003 ................................................................... 76
Annex 25—Villages producing karakul skin, Wardak, 2003........................................................... 77
Annex 26—Villages producing carpets, Wardak, 2003.................................................................. 78
Annex 27—Villages producing rugs, Wardak, 2003 ..................................................................... 79
Annex 28—Villages producing pottery, Wardak, 2003.................................................................. 80
Annex 29—Villages producing wool, Wardak, 2003..................................................................... 81

-ix-

Tables
Table 1—Population, sex, sex ratios, by district, province of Wardak, 2003...................................... 2
Table 2—Reported population estimates by age in 5-year groups and sex, Wardak, 2003.................... 9
Table 3—Adjusted population estimates by age in 5-year groups and sex, Wardak, 2003 .................... 10
Table 4—Special age groups by sex, in absolute numbers and percents, Wardak, 2003....................... 12
Table 5—Agricultural and industrial products, handicrafts and small industries, Wardak, 2003............ 29
Table 6—Number of buildings, and population per building, by type, Wardak, 2003.......................... 39

-x-

Figures

Figure 1—Population Spatial Distribution, Wardak, 2003 ............................................................. 4
Figure 2—Distribution of the population settlements by size-class, Wardak, 2003............................. 5
Figure 3—Population pyramid, Wardak, 2003—reported, Wardak, 2003......................................... 9
Figure 4—Population pyramid, Wardak, 2003—Adjusted, Wardak, 2003........................................ 10
Figure 5—sex ratio, by district, Wardak, 2003, Wardak, 2003........................................................ 11
Figure 6—Population by villages, by main languages spoken, Wardak, 2003.................................... 13
Figure 7—Population and villages, by distance from the district center, Wardak, 2003 ....................... 16
Figure 8—Population and villages, by topography of the village, Wardak, 2003................................ 17
Figure 9—Population and villages, by type of road, Wardak, 2003 ................................................. 17
Figure 10—Population and villages by distance from certain facilities, Wardak, 2003 ........................ 18
Figure 11—Population living in villages where there radios or Tvs, Wardak, 2003............................ 20
Figure 12—Population by source of irrigation water, Wardak, 2003................................................ 31
Figure 13—Economic activities, Wardak, 2003, Wardak, 2003...................................................... 32
Figure 14—Physical infrastructure, Wardak, 2003....................................................................... 40

-xi-

M aps
Map 1—Rural settlements by Size –Class, Wardak, 2003 ............................................................. 7
Map 2—Villages by Main language spoken, Wardak, 2003........................................................... 14
Map 3—Topography of Wardak, 2003 ...................................................................................... 21
Map 4—Villages accessibility by Road, Wardak, 2003................................................................. 22
Map 5—Villages with primary schools, Wardak, 2003................................................................. 23
Map 6—Villages with secondary schools, Wardak, 2003 .............................................................. 24
Map 7—Villages with High schools, Wardak, 2003..................................................................... 25
Map 8—Health infrastructure –Health cent ers, Dispensaries, and Drugstores, Wardak, 2003 ............... 26
Map 9—Villages with post offices and public phones, Wardak, 2003.............................................. 27
Map 10—Villages with mills, Wardak, 2003 .............................................................................. 28

-xii-

Settlement
Patterns

Located in the Central region, Wardak is bordered by the p rovinces of Parwan in the
North-East, Kabul and Logar in the East, Bamy an in the West, and Ghazni in the South.
It covers a land area of 10,348 squared kilometers, rep resenting 1.59 p ercent of the total
Afghan territory. The p rovince is divided into nine districts—Provincial center, May dan
Shahr, Jalrez, Hissa-I-Awali Bihsud, M arkazi Bihsud, Day mirdad, Jaghatu, Chaki
Wardak, Say y id Abad, and Nirkh.

Wardak is home to 2.3 p ercent of the total pop ulation of Afghanistan. With its 529,343
th
inhabitants, it is the 16 most p op ulous p rovince in the country (see Annex 1).

1
The p opulation is distributed among the nine districts as shown in table 1 and figure 1 .
The largest share of the p op ulation—more than one fifth—lives in the district of Sayy id
Abad, while the p rovincial cap ital, May dan Shahr houses less than seven p ercent. It is
worth noting that the latter ranks only seventh in the p rovince, before Daimirdad and
Hissa-i-Awali-Bihsud.

1
Figure 1 is comprised of two panels; in addition to panel A which shows the distribution of the
population by district, panel B shows the population density of each district. T he latter information was
included for conventional purpos es only, as in the abs ence o f qu anti fied in form ation on proportion o f
inhabitable land, density figures can b e very misleading. Panel B should therefo re b e interpreted with
caution.
-1 -

Provincial Profile—Wardak Settlement Pa tterns

The large majority of the p opulation—99.7%—lives in rural areas. M ay dan Shahr, the
2
only urban center , houses a mere 1,593 p op ulation, which rep resents only about 0.67
percent of the total urban p op ulation of Afghanistan.

3
Table 1—Population, sex, and sex ratio, by district, province of Wardak, 2003
Total
District Number Percent Males Females Sex ratio
Markazi Wardak—Maydan Shahr 35,008 6.6 17,659 17,659 101. 8
Jalrez 44,873 8.5 22,680 22,193 102. 2
Hissa-I-Awali-Bihsud 25,079 4.7 12,537 12,542 100
Daimirdad 28,865 5.5 14,593 14,272 102. 2
Jaghatu 46,667 8.8 23,699 22,968 103. 2
Chaki Wardak 83,376 15.8 42,733 40,643 105. 1
Sayyid Abad 114,793 21.7 58,752 56,041 104. 8
Markazi-Bihsud 94,328 17.8 47,387 46,941 101
Nirkh 56,354 10.6 29,066 27,288 106. 5
Total 529,343 100 269,106 260,237 103. 4

Wardak’s rural p op ulation of 527,750 inh abitants is distributed over 1,989 settlements of
extremely vary ing sizes. The smallest settlement counts as few as four (4) peop le and the
4
largest as many as 2,689 .

Figure 2 shows the distribution of the village p op ulation by size-class in the total
province (p anel A) and in each individu al district (p anel B).

At p rovince level, the distribution is heavily skewed towards villages of very small sizes.
Out of the total 1989 villages, more than a third—35 percent—have less than 100
inhabitants, and more than h alf less than 200. Together, they account for close to three
villages out of five.

2
Urbanity in Afghanistan is not based on population size. According to the Ministry of the Interior, are
considered u rban those pl aces whose administrative stru ctures includ e a municipality, regardless o f
their population sizes. In the case of A fghanistan all provincial capitals are urban, with the exception of
Panjsher and Nooristan, as well as the capitals of some districts.
3
Enumeration started 26 September 2003 and ended on 19 October of the same year.
4
T here are five villages with zero population. Apparently such villages exist all over the country.
According to CSO, this is due to a variety of reasons:
1. During the household operation, some villages were unoccupied because o f the draught which
caused the inhabitants to relocate in other places where more water was av ailable;
2. Some of the villages were comprised solely of shops, serving the neighboring villages;
3. In some areas, remoteness as well as economic and other types of problems forced the villagers to
relocat e to other places;
4. In some cases, the villages are mere district centers with no other types of buildings than
government o ffices and shops.
5. Some villages had been partially demolished, which drove the inhabitants away.

- 2-


The distribution by district also exhibits substantial variation (p anel B and M ap 1). The
most outstanding feature of such distribution is the large p rop ortion of small-size villages
(less than 100 inhabitants) in Markazi Bihsud and Hissa-I-Awali Bihsud. Resp ectively 55
percent and 68 p ercent of the villages in these two districts are small-sized. This is
particularly striking in the case of M arkazi Bihsud which numbers 777 villages,
rep resenting close to two fifths of the total number of v illages in the province. It is
perhaps worth noting in add ition that in both districts, none of the villages belon gs to the
600 or higher size-classes. At the other extreme, Say y id Abad and, to a lesser extent,
May dan Shahr count resp ectively more than a fifth and more than nine p ercent of villages
with more than 1,000 p op ulation, even though, in the case of M ay dan Shahr, the total
number of such villages is only 6, whereas in Say y id Abad, it is 35.

- 3-


Figure 1—Population settlements, Wardak, 2003

A—Percent district population with respect to provincial total

2
B—Density: population per km

- 4-


Figure 2—Distribution of the rural population settlements by size-class, Wardak, 2003
A—Province

=>1000 75
Popu la tion size -class 900−999 31
800−899 36
700−799 41
600−699 54
500−599 79
400−499 112
300−399 134
200−299 252
100−199 467
<=100 708
0 10 0 20 0 30 0 4 00 5 00 6 00 700 800 900 100 0

Number of Villages

B—Districts
Maydan Jalrez

=>1000 6 <1000 9
900-999 3 900-999 2
P opula tion size-class

P opula tion size-class
800-899 3 800-899 2
700-799 7 700-799 7
600-699 6 600-699 5
500-599 4 500-599 6
400-499 11 400-499 10
300-399 6 300-399 12 5
200-299 8 200-299 18
100-199 5 100-199 37
<=100 5 <=100 16

0 4 8 12 16 20 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Num ber of Villages Number of Villages

Hissa-I-Awali Bihsud Markazi-Bihsud

=>1000 0 =>1000 0
900-999 0 900-999 1
P opu lati on si ze -cla ss

P opu lati on si ze -cla ss

800-899 0 800-899 0
700-799 0
700-799 3
600-699 0
600-699 6
500-599 0
500-599 11
400-499 1
400-499 28
300-399 5
200-299 10 300-399 81
100-199 73 200-299 221
<=100 193 <=100 426

0 50 100 150 200 0 100 200 300 400 500
Number of Villages Number of V illages

Daym ir Dad Jaghatu

=>1000 0 =>1000 7
900-999 1 900-999 4
Po pulat ion size-class

Po pulat ion size-class

800-899 4 800-899 6
700-799 2 700-799 6
600-699 2 600-699 7
500-599 4 500-599 7
400-499 6 400-499 7
300-399 9 300-399 16
200-299 26 200-299 20
100-199 38 100-199 17
<=100 23 <=100 9

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Num ber of Villages Number of Villages

- 5-


Figure 2 (Cont'd)—Distribution of the rural population settlements by size-class, Wardak, 2003
Chaki Wardak Sayyid Abad

=>1000 12 =>1000 35
900-999 8 900-999 10
P opu lat ion si ze -cl ass

P opu lat ion si ze -c l ass
800-899 8 800-899 11
700-799 4 700-799 12
600-699 10 600-699 13
500-599 16 500-599 18
400-499 26 400-499 22
300-399 26 300-399 13
200-299 38 200-299 14
100-199 34 100-199 17
<=100 18 <=100 8

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Num ber of Villages N umber of Villages

Nirkh

=>1000 6
900-999 3
Populat ion si ze-cl ass

800-899 1
700-799 3
600-699 8
500-599 18
400-499 18
300-399 19
200-299 37
100-199 25
<=100 10
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
N umber of Villages

- 6-


Map 1

- 7-

Demographic
Characteristics

Age distribution

The distribution by age and sex of the p opulation of Wardak is shown in table 2 and
figure 3. As the latter clearly shows, the distribution is highly irregular. The ov erall shap e
of the age-p y ramid is typ ical of a pre-transition society —characterized by stable high
fertility , but certain age groups are noticeably below the expected size. For instance, it is
not readily understandable why the prop ortion of males of the 0-4 age group should be
that much lower than the p roportion of males of the 5-9 age group, or why it should be
11.5% smaller than the corresp onding one for females. Whereas a deficit in the
prop ortion of children below 5 could be a d irect result of war casualties—women married
to soldiers having given birth to fewer children than in normal circu mstances, it is
difficult to account for the sex-selectiveness of such deficit. In the same way , why should
the p roportions of males in the 55-59 and 65-69 age group s be much lower than exp ected,
while the 70-74 is substantially higher? The same anomalies hold true for females.

Clearly , the age data need to be ad justed before they can be used for p lanning p urposes.

“Errors in the tabulated data on age may arise from three different sources:
• inadequate coverag e,
• failure to record age, and
• misreporting of age.
Coverage errors are of two types. Individuals of a given age may ha ve been missed by the census
or erroneously included in it (e.g. counted twice). The first type of coverage error represents gross
under-enum eration at this age and the second gross-over-enumeration. The balance of the two
1
types of coverage errors represents net under-enum eration at this age .”

1
Because under-enum eration commonly exceeds over-enumeration; the balance is typically designated
as under-enumeration.
- 8-

Provincial Profile—Wardak Demographic Characteristics

Table 2—Population estimate, by age in 5-year groups and sex, Wardak, 20032
Male Female Both sexes
Age Group Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent
0-4 42,167 15.67 48, 963 18. 81 91,130 17.22
9-May 50,316 18.70 46, 314 17. 80 96,630 18.25
10-14 42,004 15.61 36, 913 14. 18 78,917 14.91
15-19 28,766 10.69 25, 692 9.87 54,458 10.29
20-24 20,588 7.65 25, 207 9.69 45,795 8.65
25-29 20,312 7.55 19, 224 7.39 39,536 7.47
30-34 13,475 5.01 12, 826 4.93 26,301 4.97
35-39 11,975 4.45 13, 325 5.12 25,300 4.78
40-44 11,048 4.11 11, 006 4.23 22,054 4.17
45-49 8,954 3.33 7, 431 2.86 16,385 3.10
50-54 7,628 2.83 5, 388 2.07 13,016 2.46
55-59 3,261 1.21 3, 086 1.19 6,347 1.20
60-64 4,265 1.58 2, 786 1.07 7,051 1.33
65-69 1,575 0.59 1, 138 0.44 2,713 0.51
70-74 2,032 0.76 545 0.21 2,577 0.49
75-79 311 0.12 150 0.06 461 0.09
80+ 429 0.16 243 0.09 672 0.13
Total 269,106 100. 00 260,237 100.00 529,343 100.00

Figure 3—Population pyramid, Wardak, 2003—Reported

80+ 0.16 0.09

75-79 0.12 0.06

70-74 0.76 0.21

65-69 0.59 0.44

60-64 1.58 1.07

55-59 1.21 1.19

50-54 2.83 2.07
Males
45-49 3.33 2.86 Females
40-44 4.11 4.23

35-39 4.45 5.12

30-34 5.01 4.93

25-29 7.55 7.39

20-24 7.65 9.69

15-19 10.69 9.87

10-14 15.61 14.18

5-9 18.70 17.80

0-4 15.67 18.81

In addition, the ages of so me individuals in cluded in th e census ma y not ha ve been reported, or
may have b een erron eously reported by the respond ent, erroneously estimated by the enu merator,
or erroneously allocated by the census office. Such errors are referred to as response bias.

2
T he age distribution is based on 1/200 sample of the total households.
- 9-


Correction of the age distribution of the 2003 household listing p oses certain challen ges.
In addition to the difficulties described above, one must take into account two additional
factors:
1. excess mortality among certain age group s due war, and
2. the waves of war refugees that left for neighborin g countries.
Table 3—Adj usted population estimate, by age in 5-year groups and sex, Wardak, 2003
Male Female Both sexes
Age Group Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent
0-4 51,281 19.06 49, 495 19. 02 100,776 19.04
9-May 44,096 16.39 42, 579 16. 36 86,675 16.37
10-14 37,079 13.78 35, 758 13. 74 72,838 13.76
15-19 30,725 11.42 29, 595 11. 37 60,319 11.40
20-24 23,182 8.61 24, 198 9.30 47,381 8.95
25-29 18,074 6.72 19, 693 7.57 37,767 7.13
30-34 13,943 5.18 14, 304 5.50 28,247 5.34
35-39 11,729 4.36 11, 529 4.43 23,258 4.39
40-44 11,083 4.12 10, 244 3.94 21,327 4.03
45-49 9,093 3.38 7, 969 3.06 17,062 3.22
50-54 6,299 2.34 4, 970 1.91 11,270 2.13
55-59 4,685 1.74 3, 401 1.31 8,085 1.53
60-64 3,452 1.28 2, 391 0.92 5,843 1.10
65-69 2,316 0.86 2, 111 0.81 4,427 0.84
70-74 2,069 0.77 1, 999 0.77 4,068 0.77
Total 269,106 100. 00 260,237 100.00 529,343 100.00

Figure 4—Population pyramid, Wardak, 2003—Adj usted

70+ 0.77 0.77
65-69 0.86 0.81
60-64 1.28 0.92
55-59 1.74 1.31
50-54 2.34 1.91
45-49 3.38 3.06
40-44 M ales 4.12 3.94 Females
35-39 4.36 4.43
30-34 5.18 5.50
25-29 6.72 7.57
20-24 8.61 9.30
15-19 11.42 11.37
10-14 13.78 13.74
5-9 16.39 16.36
0-4 19.06 19.02

It follows that, in any attempt to correct for the anomalies, care must be taken not to
remove the true fluctuations that resulted from such factors.

- 10 -


3
To correct for these irregularities, we ap p lied a multi-stage p rocedure that y ielded the
4
distribution shown in table 3 and figure 4 .

Household size and sex ratio

The sex ratio (number of males p er 100 females) varies between 101.8 in May dan Shahr,
the p rovincial cap ital, and 106.5 in Nirkh, the average for the province being 103.4
(figure 5 below and the last column of table 1). No information is available which could
exp lain why the sex ratio is high in Nirkh, Chaki Wardak or Say y id Abad.

Figure 5. Sex ratio, by district, Wardak, 2003

A typ ical household in Wardak h as 6.3 p ersons, which is about the national average.
Such a size is an indicator of a high fertility regime.

3
T he complete account of the various stages is shown in Annex 2.
4
For a comparison of the reported and adjusted age-distribution, see annex 3.
- 11 -


Special age groups

Planners attach sp ecial interest to certain age groups. For fertility analy sis for instance,
the total number of women 15 to 49 y ears of age—the childb earin g ages—is more
significant than others. The pop ulation 6 to 12—p rimary school ages—is imp ortant in
educational research and p lannin g. Table 4 p resents data for the above age group s as well
5
as for others, based on an interp olation of the adjusted five-year age distribution .

Table 4—Special age groups by sex, in absolute numbers and percents, Wardak, 2003
Male Femal e Both sex
Age Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent
School age Popul ation
Primary ― 6-12 55,933 21.2 56,254 22. 0 112,188 21. 6
Secondary ― 13-18 39,682 15.0 36,607 14. 3 76,289 14. 7
College ― 20-24 22,632 8.6 23,718 9. 3 46,350 8. 9
Population in the labor force
Children ― 8-14 45,564 39.2 42,938 39. 2 88,502 39. 2
Earlier working ages ― 15-44 107,770 40.8 106,512 41. 7 214,282 41. 3
Later working ages ― 45-59 19,992 7.6 16,063 6. 3 36,055 6. 9
Retirement ― 60+ 8,133 3.1 4,507 1. 8 12,640 2. 4
Voters ― 18+ 116,102 44.0 109,423 42. 8 225,525 43. 4
Reproductive ages ― 15-49 — — 114,441 44. 8 — —
* = Women in the childbearing ages

Main languages spoken

The household listing exercise did not collect any information on the ethnic background
of the pop ulation. However, it included a question on the languages sp oken by the
majority of the p op ulation. Of the eight languages listed (figure 6), two—Pashto and
Dari—are sp oken by 96 p ercent of the p op ulation and 93 p ercent of the villages.

5
T he breakdown of the fiv e-year age distribution into single years of age w as obtained using the Karrup-
King T hird-Difference formula.
- 12 -


Figure 6—Population and villages, by main language spoken, Wardak, 2003

365 Pop ulat io n
in 0 0 0s

145

3 0 0 0 0 16

Dari Pas tu Uzbak i Turk mani Baloc hi Pas haie Noor is tani Ot her

0 1 0 0 0
134

779
1065 V il lag es

- 13 -


Map 2

- 14 -

Living
Conditions

Other useful information collected durin g the Household Listin g exercise con cerned the
locations of the villages with resp ect to their resp ective district centers, the typ es of roads,
and the top ograp hy .

Even though no information was obtained on the social situation of the pop ulation, the
data collected at village-lev el mak e it p ossible to draw inferences on the av ailability
and/or accessibility of such essential social services as literacy courses; rural schools;
primary, secondary , and high schools; health centers and/or dispensaries; drugstores;
public phones, mills, as well as radio and television.

Figure 7 shows the numbers of villages by the distances sep arating them from their
resp ective district centers. Figures 8 and 9 show resp ectively the typ es of p redominant
top ography and the types of roads.

The distribution by distances from the district centers clearly shows a high degree of
inaccessibility with resp ect to those services that can only be provided by a district
center. More than half of the pop ulation is located at between 15 and 19 kilo meters from
their resp ective district centers. At the other end of the distribution, a good 10 p ercent of
the p op ulation lives more than 50 kilometers away , includin g 2.3 p ercent situated at more
than 100 kilometers. Even thou gh those villages that are situated at excessively lon g
distances from their district centers may be closer to one or more urban centers outside
the jurisdiction of Wardak, there exists a real in accessibility p roblem for a significant
number of the pop ulation. It goes without say ing that the nature of the terrain can only

- 15 -

Provincial Profile—Wardak Living Conditions

comp ound the p roblem, in particular for those who live in mountainous or semi-
mountainous areas. As figure 8 shows, of the 1,989 villages, 1,262, rep resenting more
than three out of five settlements and close to 45 p ercent of the p opulation are located in
mountainous areas; those located in flat or semi-flat areas rep resent less than one third of
the settlements and less than half of the p opulation (see also map 1 at the end of this
section).

Figure 7—Population and villages, by distance from the district center,
Wardak, 2003

Po pulati on (0 00 )
98

79
75

42 42 43
38
23
16 13 12
9
3 3 2 2 4 4 4 4
2 2

0 1- 4 5- 9 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 65-69 70-74 75-79 80-84 85-89 90-94 95- 99 100+

4
16 13 22 17
32 35 34 37 29
65
81 87
96 93
111

156 155
171
191

2 72 245 V i ll ag es

This is further reflected in the typ es of roads available (figure 9). Of the 1,989 villages,
only slightly more than a fourth have ro ads that are accessible by car at all seasons.
Another 56 p ercent are accessible by car in some seasons, whereas 317 (nine p ercent of
the p op ulation) don’t have any roads at all.

Figure 10 p resents information on the distances sep arating villages from certain social
services: schools, health centers, drugstores, post offices, p ublic p hones, and mills.

Educational services

With regard to educational services, accessibility app ears to be most problematic for
literacy courses, high schools, and rural schools in that order (p anels A, E, and B). All
three typ es of educational services are located more than 10 kilo meters away for large

- 16 -


majorities of the villages they are supp osed to serve—76 p ercent for literacy courses, 64
for high schools, and 54 p ercent for rural schools. Very few p eop le don’t have to travel
outside their villages to go to a literacy course, a rural school, or a high school—
resp ectively 1.8 p ercent, 10.5 percent, and 2.4 p ercent of the total p op ulation.
Figure 8. Population and v illages, by topography of the v illage, Wardak, 2003

2 37 Po p u atio n (0 00 )
l

153

104

31
1 1 2

Fl at M o un a nous
t i Semi-fl at Semi-mo untaino us Other No t Rep or ted M issing

24 5 156 171
2 72
4
191

96 V il lages

Figure 9—Population and villages, by type of road,
Wardak, 2003

C a --all
r
No R oad s sesons
9% 39 %
( 31 vil lag e
7 s) (53 0 vil lag es)

C a --Some
r
sea ns
so
51 %
( 1 25
,1
vil lag es)

The situation is substantially better as concerns p rimary and secondary schools, since the
majority of the p op ulation doesn’t have to travel more than fiv e kilometers to reach
them—more than half the p opulation (52 p ercent) for p rimary schools and 41 p ercent for
secondary schools. However, even though the number of villages with p rimary and
secondary schools located within their boundaries is larger than for literacy courses, rural
schools, or high schools, the p rop ortions of the pop ulation that don’t have to travel

- 17 -


outside their villages to go school are still less than 10 p ercent for p rimary schools and
four p ercent for secondary schools.
Figure 10―Population and villages by distances from certain facilities, Wardak, 2003
A. Literacy courses B. Rural School

Population 374, 352 Population 269, 520

103,309
74, 196 55,696 59, 132
35,921 35,424 41,686
9,450

In village <5km away 5-10 km away >10 km away Not stated In village <5km away 5-10 km away >10 km away Not stated

19 95 80
181 138
290 273
317

1, 506
Villa ges V illages 1,081

C. Primary school D. Secondary school

P opulation 278,623 Population 217,233
154, 383
129, 300 131, 097
50, 720
64,487 21,616
6,213 5,014


28 26
173 66
244
501

1, 044 529 728
Villa ges Vil lages 641

E. High School F. Health Center

P opulation 249, 774 Population 224, 952
152, 550
130,326
128, 504 132, 760

12, 875 5,430 16,690 4,825


31 -21 42 20
297 365 343
468
Vill ages

Villag es 1,276 1,117

G . Dispensary H. Drugstore

P opulation 225, 928 Population 199, 850
153, 898 140,980 149, 534
127, 248

30,876
17, 499 4,770 8,103


42 19 79 26
346 398
452 460

1,027
Villa ges 1,131 Vil lages

- 18 -


Figure 10 (Cont'd)―Population and villages by distances from certain facilities, Wardak, 2003
I. Post Of fice J. Public phone

Population 199,850 Population 418, 178
140, 980 149, 534

30, 876 47, 957 47,797
8, 103 6, 598 8,813


-26 11 39
79 102 108
398 460
1, 730
1,027
Vill ages V illages

K. Mill

Populati on 297, 396

121,927
67,079
9,163
33,778

In village <5km away 5-10 km away >10 km away Not stated

42
138
356 318

Vill ages 1, 136

Health services

The sp atial distribution of the health infrastructure closely resembles that of high schools;
and is substantially the same for both health centers and disp ensaries (panels F & G).
More often than not, p eop le seeking medical attention have to travel more than 10
kilometers to get it—more than two out of five cases. Those that live between five and 10
kilometers from the closest health unit rep resent close to one third of the p op ulation. In
sum, access to health care is v ery difficult for the majority of the p op ulation, inasmuch as
seven persons out of every 10 have to travel more than five kilometers to get whatever
health services are offered. Only 42 villages out of the 1,989 have either a health center
or disp ensary within their boundaries. The p icture is substantially the same for drugstores
(p anel H).

Post office & public phones

Post offices exist in 79 villages, and public phones in 11 (p anels I & J). On average, p ost
offices tend to exist in villages with close to 400 inhabitants, and public phones in those

- 19 -


with about 600. Given the small sizes of the majority of the villages in the province, close
to four peop le out of five must travel more than 10 kilometers to have access to a p ublic
phone. The situation is only slightly better for p ost offices, since the p rop ortion of p eop le
that must travel about the same distance is close to two out of five. Overall, however,
post offices tend be relatively more available than p ublic p hones, judgin g by the
prop ortions of the p opulations located within less than five kilometers and between five
and 10 kilometers of that typ e of social service.

Mills

Mills tend to be relatively more availab le to the pop ulation than any of the facilities
mentioned above (p anel K). They exist in 356 villages and cater to the needs of 121,927
peop le, rep resenting close to ¼ of the total p op ulation. Furthermore, more than one
person out of two don’t have to travel more than five kilometers to reach one.

Radio & television

Whereas 98.5 of the p op ulation have access to radio, those that have access to TV
rep resent a mere 4.5 percent. It go es without say ing that public information efforts and
media camp aigns are seriously hamp ered by this state of affairs.

Figure 11—Proportions of the populations living in villages where there are
radios or TVs, Wardak, 2003

R adi o TV

No Yes
1% 5%

No
Ye s
9 5%
99%

- 20 -


Map 3

- 21 -


Map 4

- 22 -


Map 5

- 23 -


Map 6

- 24 -


Map 7

- 25 -


Map 8

- 26 -


Map 9

- 27 -


Map 10

- 28 -

Economic
Activities

In addition to the major sources of irrigation water, the Household Listing data include
information on agricultural p roducts, industrial p roducts, handicrafts and small
industries—a total of 64 items group ed into eight categories as shown in table 5 below.

Data on economic activities can be analy zed in various way s. The analy sis p resented here
is based on a grap hical dep iction of the data, as well as p ercentages. A more comp lex one
is shown in annex four, b ased on a techniqu e called comp ositional analy sis.

Table 5—Agricultural, industrial, and animal products, handicrafts and small industries,
Wardak, 2003
Subsi stence Industri al Herbal Small Animal
Crops Crops Fruits Vegetables Products Ha ndi crafts Industries Products
Wheat Cotton Grapes Potato Lico rice root Ca rpets Honey Eggs
Corn Sugar Extract Pomeg ranates On ion Caray Ru gs Silk Milk
Rice Sugar Cane Mellon/Water m. Tom atoes Asfit ida Embroidery Kara kul skin Yoghu rt
Maize Sesam e Orange Carrots Zerk Pottery Dried sugar W hey
Beans Tobacco Almonds Cauliflower Anisee d Pelisse Con-fection Dried yo ghurt
Vetch Olives Walnuts Spinach Hyssop Jewelry Sugar candy Butt er
Peas Sharsham Mulberry Leek Chicory Shawl making Sugar swe et W ool
Other Oth er Other Ot her Other Other Other Other

Agriculture

Figure 12 p rovides information on the sources of irrigation water, and figure 13 (p anels A
through F) 13 p rovides information on agricultural p roducts—crops; fruit; vegetables;
herbal, and animal p roducts.

Figure 12 shows that the p redominant source of irrigation water is that of conduits, which
supp ly 56 p ercent of the villages with their irrigation water, followed by streams and

- 29 -

Provincial Profile—Wardak Economic Activities

rivers. Together, the latter two rep resent the major sources for resp ectively more than one
third of the villages and more than 44 p ercent of the pop ulation.

A cursory look at figure 13 shows that M arkazi Bihsud is the one district that sp ecializes
in most of the agricu ltural p roducts, in p articular subsistence crop s, vegetables, herbs, and
animal products. Out of the 1,888 villages p roducin g wheat, 755 (40 p ercent) are located
in it, in addition to 657 villages of the 1,273 villages p roducing maize. The same is true
of vegetables (in p articular p otatoes, and carrots), and the majority of herbal p roducts,
including licorice roots, caray , asafetida, zerk, aniseed, hy ssop and chicory . Animal
products are also p redominant, even thou gh in the latter case, Hissa-i-Awali Bihsud ranks
a close second, Ch aki Wardak third and Say y id Abad fourth. Together, these four
districts supp ly close to 80 p ercent of all animal p roducts.

Fruit, on the other hand, app ear to be a sp ecialty of Chaki Wardak, in p articular grap es,
almonds, walnuts, and mulberries. Say y id Abad comes second owing main ly to
mulberries. Jalrez ranks third and fourth thanks to walnuts for the former and mulberries
for the latter.

Industrial crops, small industries, and handicrafts

Unlike an imal p roducts or subsistence crop s, industrial commodities—cotton, sugar,
sesame, tobacco, oliv es, and sharsham, etc.—do not ap p ear to occupy the pop ulation in a
substantial number of villages. They are p resent in 215 villages, which is a mere 11
percent of the total 1,989. They are concentrated in a few districts, mainly Markazi
Bihsud, Say y id Abad, Chaki Wardak and Hissa-i-Awali B ihsud. The two major
commodities are tobacco and sugar extract; they are p roduced in resp ectively 94 and 32
villages. About 90 percent of the villages p roducing tobacco are located in Chaki
Wardak, M arkazi Bihsud, Say y id Abad and Jaghatu; and 19 out of the 32 villages
producing su gar extract are located in Say yid Abad. A variety of other, unspecified,
commodities are p roduced in 50 villages belon gin g to M arkazi Bihsud and 32 villages
located in Hissa-i-Awali B ihsud.

- 30 -


The sector of small industries is dominated by one commodity , honey , which is p roduced
in a total of 68 villages, 55 of which are located in the district of Chaki Wardak.

On the other hand, a relatively large nu mber of villages produce various handicrafts—
carp ets, rugs, jewelry and shawls. Together, carp ets and rugs rep resent seven out of every
ten handicraft items p roduced in Ward ak. Of the nine districts in the p rovince, Markazi
Bihsud and Hissa-i-Awali Bihsud are resp onsible for 92 p ercent of the total p roduction of
these two handicraft items. Jewelry and shawls are the other two items. Again, they tend
to be concentrated in the same two districts. In sum, the bulk of the handicraft p roduction
is concentrated in M arkazi Bihsud and Hissa-i-Awali Bihsud. The seven remainin g
districts share among themselves less than 17 p ercent of the total handicraft industries.

Figure 12—Population by source of irrigation w at
er,
Wardak, 2003

20 2748 Populat ion

143 89 8

9 0131
70 39 1

109 41 7588 36 46

Ri ver St ream Cond ui t Sp ring Deep Well Arhad No t rep.

24 19 9
141
296
386

Vil lages

11
15

- 31 -


Figure 13—Number of villages engaged in certain economic activites, by disrict, Wardak, 2003
A. Crops B. Vegetables

Nerkh Nerkh
Sayyidabad Say yidabad
Chak-I-Wardak C hak-I-Wardak
Jaghatu J aghatu
Daimirdad Daimi rdad
Markaz-I-Behsud Mark az -I -Behs ud
Hissa-I- Awal Behsud H issa-I- Awal Behs ud
Jalrez J al rez
Maidan Shahr* Maidan Shahr*

0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 0 500 1,000 1,500 2, 000 2,500

C. Fruits D. Animal Products

Nerkh Nerkh
Sayyidabad Say yidabad
Chak-I-Wardak C hak-I-Wardak
Jaghatu J aghatu
Daimirdad Daimi rdad
Hissa-I- Awal Behsud H issa-I- Awal Behs ud
Jalrez J al rez

0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 0 500 1,000 1,500 2, 000 2,500

E . Herbal Products F. Industrial Crops

Nerkh Nerkh
Sayyi dabad Say yidabad
Chak -I -W ardak C hak-I-Wardak
Jaghatu J aghatu
D aimirdad Daimi rdad
His sa-I- Aw al Behsud H issa-I- Awal Behs ud
Jalrez J al rez

0 500 1,000 1, 500 2,000 2, 500 0 50 0 1 ,00 0 1,5 00 2, 000 2 ,50 0

G. Small Industries H. Handicrafts

Nerkh Nerkh
Sayyi dabad Say yidabad
Chak -I -W ardak C hak-I-Wardak
Jaghatu J aghatu
D aimirdad Daimi rdad
His sa-I- Aw al Behsud H issa-I- Awal Behs ud
Jalrez J al rez

0 500 1,000 1, 500 2,000 2, 500 0 500 1,000 1,500 2, 000 2,500

* = P rovincial center

- 32 -

Wardak province demographic profile

Wardak province demographic profile

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