Afghanistan vs Syria

Afghanistan and Syria compared on 10 key figures from official sources. Each value is the latest one published for that country, so the year is shown with it.

• Afghanistan has about 1.7 times as many people as Syria: 43.8 million against 25.6 million in 2025.
• GDP per person in Syria ($1,057 in 2022) is about 2.5 times as high as in Afghanistan ($417 in 2024).
• The economy grew faster in Afghanistan (1.9% in 2024) than in Syria (-0.2% in 2022), a difference of 2.1 percentage points.
• Consumer prices rose faster in Syria (13.4% in 2019) than in Afghanistan (-6.6% in 2024), a difference of 20 percentage points.
• The unemployment rate was higher in Syria (13.6%) than in Afghanistan (13.4%), a difference of 0.2 percentage points in 2025.
• A baby born in Syria can expect to live 6.3 years longer than one born in Afghanistan: 72.6 years against 66.3 years in 2024.
• The population of Syria is older: half of its people are over 22.2 years, against 16.9 years in Afghanistan in 2023.
• A larger share of people used the internet in Syria (33.8% in 2018) than in Afghanistan (16.1% in 2024), a difference of 17.7 percentage points.
• CO2 emissions per person in Syria (1.3 tonnes) are about 4.6 times as high as in Afghanistan (0.28 tonnes) in 2024.
• Forest covers a larger share of the land in Syria (2.9%) than in Afghanistan (1.9%), a difference of 1 percentage point in 2024.