Afghanistan

Afghanistan: steady but modest growth, 2000–2023

Two decades of foreign aid after 2001 supported growth in services and construction, but the Taliban takeover in August 2021 and the resulting freeze of aid and central-bank reserves triggered a sharp economic contraction. Between 2000 and 2023, Afghanistan's GDP per capita grew from $175 to $414 (current US$), a compound annual growth rate of 3.8% — steady but modest growth. Annual GDP growth averaged 4.6% with a year-to-year standard deviation of 9.9 points, reflecting considerable volatility and periodic crises. Structurally, agriculture's share of the economy moved from 38.6% to 34.7% of GDP (a classic decline as the economy industrialized/modernized), while services rose from 36.2% to 46.4% of GDP, underscoring a shift toward a services-driven economy. On human development, life expectancy rose from 39.3 to 66.3 years, while tertiary school enrollment moved from 2.0% to 10.9%, while the urban population share grew from 15.7% to 25.7%.

What this growth cost: Growth was not without cost: per-capita CO2 emissions rose from 0.15 to 0.28 tonnes CO2e per person.