PIP: The Preliminary 1979-80 Population Census Data of Afghanistan were used to examine the following: the regional variations in the spatial distribution and density of population; the incidence of concentration of population; the regional variations in the degree and levels of urbanization; the regional variations in the concentration of urban population according to size class of urban centers; and the growth of urban population during 1972-73 to 1979-80. The extraordinary natural conditions of Afghanistan divide the country into 4 different geographical zones or regions and causes many essential natural, socioeconomic, and cultural differentials among the regions. The total population in 1979-80 was 15,540,030. Of this, 2,488,642 persons were Nomadics, 16% of the total population. Of the total settled population in Afghanistan nearly 85% was living in rural areas at the time of the census. Afghanistan is a sparsely populated country with a density of 20 persons/sq km. This low population density is because of the hazardous geographical conditions. Most of the country is either mountainous or suffers with desert conditions and temperature extremes. Only about 1/8 of the country's area is arable. Despite low arithmetical density, the physiological density (population arable land) and agricultural (rural population/arable land), densities for the country as a whole were substantially high, 165/sq ha and 138 persons/sq ha. The pattern of the distribution of the rural population followed the pattern of total population with the Northern Plains having the largest number of the country's rural population (34.3%), followed by Eastern Southern, Central, and Southern Western regions, but the pattern of distribution of the country's urban population was totally different. The Eastern Southern region possessed 50.3% of the total urban population. The Central region had only 3.7% of the urban population. Only 15% of the population lives in urban areas. In 1979 there were 63 urban centers. Only 1 primary city, Kabul, had a population above 500,000. 3 cities had populations above 100,000 but below 500,000. Over a period of 7 years, the urban population increased by 30.3% but only 2 new places were added to urban class, and they had a population of less than 5000. The growth of urban poulation was primariliy due to the increase in the population of the urban centers themselves rather than by the addition of new centers.^ieng