The Socio-Demographic and Economic Survey (SDES) is a historic initiative led by Afghanistan’s Central Statistics Organization (CSO), with technical support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and financial assistance of development partners. Over the past years, thousands of surveyors have fanned out across the country, going province by province to visit homes and collect detailed demographic data which will be used to create an unprecedented snapshot of the country’s demographic situation down to the village level.

The Thematic Report on Adult Mortality analyses the data from five of the first six provinces in which the SDES was completed: Daykundi, Ghor, Kabul, Kapisa and Parwan, and creates life tables for men and women in each province individually, and for all five collectively. Using the orphanhood method, it shows that mortality has declined rapidly in these provinces, especially in Kabul, Parwan and Kapisa.