ICT Profile - Afghanistan
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| Total population | 22.5 million (2001 estimated) |
| Rural population as a percentage of total population | 78% (2001 estimated) |
| Key economic sectors | Agriculture, export of fruits, nuts and carpets |
| Literacy in the national language(s) | 36% (2000) |
| Computer ownership per 100 inhabitants | 0.13 |
| Telephone lines per 100 inhabitants | 0.19 |
| Internet cafés/telecentres per 10,000 inhabitants | Only 2 Internet cafés in the Country |
| Internet users per 100 inhabitants | 0.05 |
| Cell phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants | 0.00002 |
| Number of websites in the national language(s) | 10 (estimated) |
| Number of websites in English and other language(s) | 500 (estimated) |
Key ICT Information
Education
- There were two universities operating in the country 30 years ago, one in Kabul and the other in Jalalabad.
- The average number of schools per province in Afghanistan was 50.
- There are now eight universities in the country located in Kabul, Jalalabad, Herat, Mazar-e-Sharif, Khost, Kandahar, Badakhshan and Takhar. The educational institutions are backward as their curriculums have not been updated for the past 15 years.
- Two of the universities have a department of computer science. They are Kabul University, which started its department in 1995, and the Islamic University for Science and Technology (IUST) located in Jalalabad, which has just pened its department. Both universities offer bachelor degree courses.
- The curriculum in Kabul University was last updated in 1992, while that of IUST was updated recently.
Print and electronic media
- Only one out of 44,000 people in the country now have access to the Internet. Most of them are in Kabul. There are only two Internet cafés in the country at the time of writing. Both are located in Kabul.
Source: Digital Review for Asia Pacific
Last modified 2005-08-13 10:19 PM
