Although the population crisis is one of the major rising problems in the world, this is a more serious issue in third world countries such as Afghanistan. Globally, the world population was around 750 million in midst of 18th century, but it reached 2.5 billion in 1950, and then become more than 7 billion now and predictably it will increase by 9 billion in 2050. The current level of population in Afghanistan, based on the latest official’s reports, estimated 33.6 million while it was around 15 million two decades ago. This put Afghanistan the 11th highest birth rate in the world while the highest birth rate in non-African countries. The birth rates ranging from 10–20 births per 1,000 people are considered low, while the birth rates from 40–50 births per 1,000 people are considered high. Based on this criterion, Afghanistan’s birth rate is estimated at around 40 per 1,000 showing a high place in the world. This trend of population growth, raises a lot of questions such as who is responsible for the population crisis? What are the causes behind the population crisis? What would be the implication of the population crisis? What is the way out from the population crisis?
In response to the aforementioned question, it seems there is a consensus amongst social science scholars that the lack of population strategic plan would lead to economic and political turbulence in the world, especially in third world countries. According to Malthus, an English economist, the growth of the economy and food products are numeric and gradual, but the growth of the population is rapid and progressive. This means that the level of the population has a direct link with poverty, unemployment, social abnormalities, urban crowdedness, brain drain, and political crisis. Therefore, third-world countries such as Afghanistan have no options whether to control the population or expect uncontrollable social and political instabilities. So, if we fail to observe the balance between economic growth and population growth, we would fail to ensure peace and stability in a society.
In response to the next question about the factors of population growth,  there are different factors behind population growth such as social security and social prestige, early marriage, believing that more sons are blessings of God, poverty and the high death rate of children and thinking that more children would help parents during the oldness, using children as cooperators in the economy of family and finally the subsidy of government in the field of education and other fields also encourage parents to have more children.
In regard to the social security factor as abovementioned, there is a kind of unsound competition amongst families in the rural part of the country over having more sons. Most families think that having more sons would strengthen security of the families while small families are considered weak and easily aggressed by rural powerbrokers or rivals. In other words, those who have few sons think that they are powerless than the families having several sons. Therefore, they attempt to have the same number of sons and term it a big pride in the society. This way, most women are victims of such unsound competitions and so women are impelled to respect the demand and inevitably deliver several babies without observing birth space.
The next factor is low awareness and early marriage. In the context of Afghanistan, the majority of the youths are subject to early married without having clear family planning. Such unsuccessful married not only add a weak generation to the current population of the country but also endanger the lives of mothers and babies depriving them of enjoying motherhood in its true sense. Women burdened by large families and battling various illnesses in their productive years fail to realize and harness their potential and are unable to raise their children in a healthy environment. However, the child and maternal death rate have decreased in recent years but it declined the per capita income and quality of life. Therefore, the current situation does not foresee a good future as the population is likely to reach 60 million by 2050 without any economic prospective.
The other factor behind the rise of the population is the custom or belief that having more children would help parents during the oldness. As 80% of Afghanistan’s economic income is related to agriculture with traditional features, it is widely believed that the number of more sons plays a major role in the rural and family workforce. This trend would be more serious when it is combined with a low level of awareness and traditional thinking that having more sons is a blessing of Allah, and Allah himself will give aliment to their creatures. These show that fewer people have not forgotten that God has given rationality and wisdom to make every decision on basis of rationality. Based on rationality and health advices, there must be at least a three-year distance between each pregnancy so as to have a sound and healthy society.
In order to overcome the population crisis interlinked with social and traditional factors, the national policymakers, religious scholars, and media can play major roles in dispelling wrong concepts of the high birth rate in Afghanistan. No religion says that a woman shall bear a child even if the mother is mentally and physically happen to unhealthy. Based on the Sharia law principle that no one can impose losses on others when the Health experts advise observing three to five-year spaces between each birth, it is contrary to Islamic teaching if one disrespects the advice of experts.