Afghanistan
Everything Palanor holds about Afghanistan, in one place: 34 public signals, what its economy runs on, how often America’s largest companies name it, the news that names it, and Country Posture. Every figure is computed from stored readings and carries its source and date.
AsiaAsia-Pacific
The latest read
- GDP in current U.S. dollars: $17.8 billion (2024); 58th percentile since 2000; highest since 2020; 1y +3.7%.
- Household consumption, share of GDP: 111.7% of GDP (2024); 1y +13.63 pts.
- Net exports, share of GDP: -52.4% of GDP (2024); 1y −17.83 pts.
Country Posture
What Afghanistan’s economy is doing
Momentum
2024Inputs only. Did not pass the pre-registered back-test: 1996–2009: AUC 0.590 below 0.60; AUC 0.590 below the single-input baseline (0.624); 2010–2022: AUC 0.595 below 0.60; AUC 0.595 below the single-input baseline (0.641).
Inputs
| Real GDP growth | 1.9 |
| Growth against its three-year average | 10.1 |
| Change in unemployment | -0.3 |
| Change in the employment rate | 0.1 |
| Export volume growth | 11.4 |
| OECD leading indicator | — |
Resilience
2025Withheld: 1 of 5 core inputs reported for 2025.
Inputs
| Interest as a share of revenue | — |
| Budget balance | — |
| Reserves, months of imports | — |
| Current account | — |
| Governance (WGI mean) | -1.80 |
| External debt | — |
Pressure
2025Inputs only. Did not pass the pre-registered back-test: 1996–2009: AUC 0.657 below the single-input baseline (0.672).
Inputs
| Inflation | — |
| Change in inflation | — |
| Currency move against the dollar | — |
| Conflict deaths per million | 7.6 |
| Political stability | -2.04 |
| Private credit, three-year change | — |
| Bond spread over U.S. Treasuries | — |
Posture describes what an economy is doing; it is not a rating and never ranks countries. Each input is read against the country’s own history and against every other economy that year. An axis shows a score only after passing a back-test fixed before any result was computed. Method and back-test.
Passport reach
Where a Afghanistan passport opens doors
The share of world GDP, outside Afghanistan itself, in the economies whose published rules let a holder of this passport in, as of October 2026. Palanor records the rules of destinations holding 88% of world GDP, from each government’s own list, and weights them by World Bank GDP for 2025. Rank is among 199 passports.
Work
0.0%rank 114 of 199
the right to work (free movement in full; treaty and working-holiday routes at half); 0 destinations in full.
Recorded changes
Reach is shown here and not weighted into Country Strength: it rewards membership of a free-movement area or a treaty more than the strength of an economy. Entry is always at the border officer’s discretion, and conditions (length of stay, fees, age limits) vary. Method, sources and the full ranking: Passports and citizenship.
Palanor calculation from each destination government's published rules; GDP weights from the World Bank (CC BY 4.0), one year for the whole line, so it moves only when a list changes.
GDP by expenditure
What Afghanistan’s economy runs on
In 2024, household spending was 111.7% of GDP, government consumption 23.6%, investment 17.1% and net exports -52.4% (exports 15.7%, imports 68.1%).
World Bank national accounts. The parts can miss 100 by a few points (the statistical discrepancy).
Same World Bank definition for every country, so the shares compare directly: What each economy runs on.
Conflict
Organized violence
News
In the news
- Regional Instability and Trade Shifts: Pakistan Declares Emergency as Afghanistan Opens China Corridor
Marketaux (financial news API)2026-10-11neutral
- The Department of War plans to livestream an execution by firing squad. The list of countries that execute people in public includes Iran, North Korea and Taliban-run Afghanistan. It’s not a list America should want to join
The Economist · Bluesky2026-10-10negative · -war
Headlines that name Afghanistan, matched by name with fixed rules (a wrong match is worse than a missing one). Tone is read from each headline’s own words; no model reads or summarizes an article, and other publishers’ stories link out.
Signals
Every series about Afghanistan
Grouped by theme, the most-read first. All 34 in the Library.
Growth and output4
- Afghanistan: Share of World Populationrecord high since 1990; 1y +0.01 pts0.53% of world population2025
- Afghanistan · GDP · USD bn (current)58th percentile since 2000; highest since 2020; 1y +3.7%$17.8bn2024
- Afghanistan: Share of World GDP at Market Exchange Rates42nd percentile since 2000; 1y unchanged0.02% of world GDP2024
- Afghanistan: Share of World GDP Minus Share of World Populationrecord low since 2000; 1y −0.01 pts-0.512024
Conflict and geopolitics2 of 6
- Afghanistan · Organized-Violence Deaths (UCDP, annual)record low since 1989; 1y −7.0%332 deaths2025
- Afghanistan · State-Based Conflict Deaths (UCDP, annual)7th percentile since 1989; highest since 2022; 1y +15.9%306 deaths2025
AI stance and technology1
- AI User Share: Afghanistan (Microsoft AI Diffusion)1y +1.20 pts6.3% of people aged 15-642026-06-30
More about this country2
- Afghanistan · IMF Credit Outstanding · USD bn (IMF)92nd percentile since Aug 1964; 1y −13.0%$0.44bn2026-09-01
- Afghanistan · IMF Credit Outstanding, % of GDP76th percentile since 2007; lowest since 2020; 1y −0.295 pts2.41% of GDP2025
Peers
Elsewhere in Asia
Alphabetical. Palanor does not rank countries.
ArmeniaAzerbaijanBahrainBangladeshBhutanBruneiCambodiaChinaCyprusGeorgiaHong KongIndiaIndonesiaIranIraqIsraelJapanJordanKazakhstanKuwaitKyrgyzstanLaosLebanonMacaoMalaysiaMaldivesMongoliaMyanmarNepalNorth KoreaOmanPakistanPalestinePhilippinesQatarSaudi ArabiaSingaporeSouth KoreaSri LankaSyriaTaiwanTajikistanThailandTimor-LesteTürkiyeTurkmenistanUnited Arab EmiratesUzbekistanVietnamYemen