New Zealand and Afghanistan differ in many ways. I will go through and compare their economy, warfare, child mortality, GNP, infant mortality rate and other important factors to show why they are so different.

Afghanistan has a population that is 8 times larger than New Zealand’s and large populations generally lead to more poverty and is harder to govern. Afghanistan’s government an Islamic Republic while the other has a democratic government. Voting in a country governed by a religious government makes it harder to vote, protest and have an influence on the government. This could be why there is so much poverty. Another thing that contributes negatively to the country is the fact that the American army is at war with them and the neighbouring countries.

New Zealand is generally peaceful, but has taken part in the Iraq war. Every sixth child dies before they reach the age of five in Afghanistan so they usually have lots of kids and this causes the population to grow by 3% compared to New Zealand’s 0.97% and an infant mortality rate of 5 every thousand.

New Zealand is located in Oceania; Southeast from Australia and the weather is temperate but varies regionally. Afghanistan lies in Asia bordering Pakistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, China, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. The weather is hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Droughts, earthquakes and floods are common and there are many diseases such as malaria, hepatitis, typhoid fever and protozoa diarrhoea.

In New Zealand, 99% of men and women over the age of fifteen can read and write and the expected school life is 19 years. This makes it harder for the government to manipulate the population, as they are well informed and educated. Afghanistan, on the other hand, has a literacy rate for males of 43% and 12% for females and the school life expectancy is 11 years for males while it is only 4 for females. This shows that the society is more male dominated and the women are more likely to stay home to watch the children and work.

In New Zealand, the rights for men and women are generally equal and they have the same opportunities. Hospitalisation in Afghanistan is not the best and lots of women die during childbirth. This, and the physically hard conditions, brings the life expectancy at birth down to 44 years. In New Zealand the conditions are far better, with better hospitalisation, larger salary, less war and physical labour, so the life expectancy is 80 years.

New Zealand’s main exports are: wool, paper products, food and dairy products. Afghanistan’s main exports are: fruits and nuts, hand-woven carpets, wool, cotton, hides and pelts, opium and semi-precious gemstones. The GNP is $6960000000 in Afghanistan while it is $106700000000 in New Zealand and this shows that NZ is more valuable and productive. The foreign debt in Afghanistan is $508000000 compared to New Zealand’s $51440000000. In New Zealand 0.025 of the population is HIV positive (Afghanistan NA).