Afghanistan Peace CampaignREACH, a Geneva-based international humanitarian initiative specialising in humanitarian data collection and analysis, says 3.1 million people were displaced in Afghanistan last year due to economic pressures, food insecurity and natural disasters.
Poverty and a lack of financial resources, particularly among poor households and women, have also prevented people from leaving vulnerable areas.
According to the report, hundreds of thousands of people in Afghanistan were displaced in 2025 because of economic pressures, unemployment and natural disasters such as droughts, floods and earthquakes.
The report, published on Thursday, 10 July, said poverty and unemployment accounted for 85% of emergency and involuntary displacement among Afghan households, followed by lack of access to food and drought.
Severe flooding in eastern Afghanistan last year also caused deaths and financial losses.
REACH said continued livelihood crises and damage to infrastructure in areas of origin meant that 95% of displaced households had no short-term plans to return home.
Its findings showed that many families could not even afford the cost of moving to safer areas.
Taliban restrictions, including requirements for women to be accompanied by a mahram and limited access to mobile phones, have made emergency evacuations of women during natural disasters more difficult.
Nimroz province in south-western Afghanistan has the country’s highest displacement rate, at 15 per cent, with severe drought and the destruction of agricultural land cited as major causes.
According to the report, Kabul, Herat, Mazar-e Sharif and Jalalabad are among the main destinations for displaced people seeking to resettle.
REACH is an international humanitarian initiative that collects and analyses humanitarian data, conducts research and provides information on crises, conflict, natural disasters and displacement.
It shares its findings with humanitarian organisations and decision-makers to help them design and implement more effective and targeted responses.
According to the 2026 annual report on internal displacement, published earlier this year, around seven million people in Afghanistan were internally displaced last year as a result of prolonged conflict and natural disasters.