Who are Afghanistan's rural poor people and where are they?

The incidence of poverty is more severe in rural areas. About 45 per cent of rural people and the nomadic Kuchi people are poor, as compared to 27 per cent of the urban population.

The poorest rural people include small-scale farmers and herders, landless people and women who are heads of households. There are an estimated 1 million Afghan widows. Their average age is 35, and 90 per cent of them have an average of four or more children. Without the protection of a husband, widows suffer from social exclusion in Afghanistan's patriarchal society. Many widows have no choice but to become beggars.

Children aged five or under are the most vulnerable segment of Afghan society. As many as 50 per cent of them suffer from chronic malnutrition.

The estimated 1.5 million Kuchis are nomadic herders whose livelihood depends heavily on livestock and migration patterns. As a result of conflict and insecurity, in recent years 15 per cent of Kuchi families have been forced to settle because they have lost their livestock and migration routes. They are now among the poorest households in rural areas.

Between 2002 and 2005 there was a major inflow of refugees returning to their homes. The flow has dwindled because of increasing insecurity, limited economic opportunities and limited access to basic social services. For people who have resettled after as many as two decades of exile, economic and social reintegration is a serious challenge. And internal displacement remains a problem. There are as many as 160,000 internally displaced persons, mainly in southern Afghanistan.

Poverty varies significantly between provinces, from a poverty headcount of 10 per cent to more than 70 per cent. Poverty is most severe in the Northeast, Central Highlands and parts of the Southeast. The provinces of Daikundi, Badakhstan, Zabul and Paktika represent large pockets of poverty.

Up to 70 per cent of Afghans are food insecure, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, and high food prices have recently pushed millions into high-risk food insecurity.