The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has reported that poverty in Afghanistan has deepened in 2025, with approximately three out of every four residents\u2014nearly 28 million people\u2014unable to meet their most basic living needs. The agency emphasized that modest economic growth has been insufficient to keep pace with rapid population growth, reduced international aid, climate shocks, and ongoing restrictions on women’s rights.<\/p>\n
The report notes that about 2.9 million Afghan migrants returned to the country in 2025 alone, a trend that has intensified pressure on already vulnerable public services and livelihoods. UNDP warned that nearly five million people returned to Afghanistan between 2023 and 2025, with 92% of recent returnees facing livelihood insecurity\u2014a figure significantly higher than the national average of 74%.<\/p>\n
According to the report, over 80% of families are burdened by debt. In provinces experiencing the highest rates of return, only 3% of residents have formal employment, while the majority, approximately 78%, rely on daily wage labor, placing family economic stability at serious risk.<\/p>\n
UNDP also reported a slowdown in economic growth. Real GDP growth decreased from 2.3% in 2024 to 1.9% in 2025, while the population growth rate reached 6.5%. Consequently, per capita GDP fell by about 2.1%, and income levels remain significantly below those in 2020, keeping Afghanistan among the poorest countries globally in terms of per capita income.<\/p>\n
The country’s trade deficit also reached $11.3 billion in 2025, equivalent to about 60% of nominal GDP. Increased imports, export stagnation, and damage to the agricultural sector from climate shocks were identified as primary contributors to this situation. The report highlights that drought nearly doubled last year, affecting 64% of the country\u2019s area; simultaneously, access to safe drinking water declined from 59% in 2024 to 44% in 2025.<\/p>\n
The UN agency stressed that restrictions on the rights of women and girls have reduced the country\u2019s workforce and weakened Afghanistan\u2019s economic capacity. Girls\u2019 school attendance is reported at 42%, compared to 73% for boys. International bodies believe that ongoing restrictions imposed by the Taliban administration pose a serious obstacle to human development and economic stability.<\/p>\n
Moreover, international aid declined by about 16.5% in 2025. Due to budget shortages, over 440 clinics have closed or reduced services, causing the percentage of people without access to healthcare to rise from 16% to 23%.<\/p>\n
Kanni Wignaraja, UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, stated that Afghanistan faces mounting economic and climate pressures, making investments in human development critical. Stephen Rodriguez, UNDP Resident Representative in Afghanistan, emphasized that local communities need more than short-term aid; they require job creation, strengthened services, and growing local markets to rebuild their livelihoods.<\/p>\n
Officials of the Taliban administration have not yet responded to the report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UNDP reports deepening poverty in Afghanistan in 2025 due to economic slowdown, climate shocks, reduced aid, and restrictions on women’s rights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12937,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-important-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}