Daikundi Province
Daykundi_Province_Reference_Map_DD_20140209FEB09_A0.pdfDaikundi Provincial Profile
The Daikundi Provincial Profile uses information and data from the Afghanistan Central Statistics Organisation (CSO) Socio-Demographic and Economic Survey (SDES) and subsequent reports. The SDES was a survey conducted by the CSO with support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFP) in Daikundi in 2014.
The provincial information from the SDES was cross-referenced and compared with findings from Samuel Hall’s six provincial community profiles. The cross-reference helped consolidate and validate much of the initial data gathered in the Community Profiles and provided a provincial-level counterpoint to the community and household-level research conducted in the Community Profiles.
Daikundi Overview
Daikundi Province (which means “the place of shining light” in Dari) is located in central Afghanistan and is predominantly populated by the Hazara ethnic group. Daikundi lies 440 kilometers west of Kabul. Approximately 80% of the land area is mountainous. Nili, the provincial centre (and where three communities in the Energy Study are located), lies at an elevation of 1152 metres above sea level. The main crops grown in the province include wheat, barley, potatoes, almonds and beans. The province is agriculturally one of the least productive. The SDES report notes that most of the land is barren and inaccessible, with serious water shortages, small landholdings, extensive food insecurity and poor soil quality.
Provincial Demographics
The average household size of the 68,000 surveyed in the SDES was 9 persons. This was higher than the average at the Afghanistan national level (7.4 persons). Two provinces that have communities in the Energy Study have higher averages than the provincial average. Miramor District had an average of 10.7 persons per household Shahristan 9.2 persons. Half of the population of Daikundi was aged 15 years or younger at the time of the survey, implying a young population in the province.
Four in five households (87.1%) in Daikundi Province owned agricultural land at the time of the survey. Some districts in the Energy Survey again had higher proportions of agricultural land ownership including Sharistan District (91.5%) and Miramor District (88.2%). The size of land owned, however, was small – almost all households (96.6%) with land owned less than five gerib, or 10,000 sqm (1 gerib = 2,000 sq m).
13.9% of Daikundi’s population in the province resided for at least six months in a place other than their residence at the time of the SDES. Most of this migrant population (87.9 percent) had resides abroad, the majority (95%) of which had lived in Iran.
According to the SDES findings, the literacy rate of the household population aged 15 years or older in Daikundi Province was 36.1% (49.2% for males and 22.4% for females). These rates were higher than the national rates: with the country’s overall literacy rate at 31.4% (45.4% for males and 17% for females). One in two persons aged 7 years or older (55.6%) in Daikundi Province had not attended any formal education at the time of the SDES in 2012.
Provincial Geography
The SDES statistics correlated very closely to the 6 community profiles conducted by Samuel Hall in regards to household building materials, with almost all houses in Daikundi Province having a roof made of wood/wood planks with mud (99.8% of all households), floors made of earth or sand (98.7% of households) and walls constructed with dirt or stone with mud (98% of households).
In the SDES Household Assets and Facilities section, the CSO found that a wristwatch and/or clock was the most common item (among a list of 13 items) found in most of the households in Daikundi Province (81.1%). The SDES report noted that the necessity of a communication facility is evident in most districts: three in five households owned at least one mobile phone (61.2 percent). A comparison of media and communication equipment reveals that a number of households owned a radio (36.8 percent), followed by a television set at a lower proportion (20.9 percent) and an Internet (0.1 percent) access.
Provincial Energy Profile
The findings from the SDES and the Community Profiles were very closely aligned. Close to half (48.8%) of the total households surveyed in the SDES in Daikundi Province used animal dung as fuel for cooking; 37.5% of households used wood and 9.1% used straw, shrubs, or grass.
Along with fuel use for cooking, animal dung/bushes were also widely used for heating by two in three households in the province (61%) according to the SDES. Wood was used by 38.1% of households. The remoteness of many villages in the province made it difficult for an electric grid to reach these areas. Hence, several households at the time of the survey used solar power for their lights (66.4%). Another major source of energy for lighting in the province was kerosene (25.1%).
Central Statistics Organization of Afghanistan (CSO) and UNFPA, Daykundi Province – Socio-Demographic and Economic Survey, 2014, available at: http://cso.gov.af/Content/files/Daikundi%201-50.pdf
Central Statistics Organization of Afghanistan (CSO) and UNFPA, Daykundi Socio-Demographic and Economic Survey, Highlights, 2014, available at: http://afghanistan.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/afghanistan_sdes_daykundi_highlights_2014.pdf