The 2015 Afghanistan Demographic and Health Survey (2015 AfDHS) is the first DHS survey conducted in Afghanistan. The main objective of the 2015 AfDHS is to provide up-to-date information on fertility and childhood mortality levels; fertility preferences; awareness, approval, and use of family planning methods; maternal and child health; and knowledge and attitudes toward HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The 2015 AfDHS calls for a nationally representative sample of 25,650 residential households; in all the sample households, all ever-married women age 15-49 who are usual members of the selected households and those who spent the night before the survey in the selected households were eligible to be interviewed in the survey. In half of the sample households, all ever-married men age 15-49 who are usual members of the selected households and those who spent the night before the survey in the selected households were eligible to be interviewed in the survey. In each household, one woman age 15-49 was randomly selected to be eligible for the Domestic Violence module.
The 2015 AfDHS was designed to provide most of the key indicators for the country as a whole, for urban and rural areas separately, and for each of the 34 provinces in Afghanistan. These provinces are located in eight regions as follows:
- The Northern region: Balkh, Faryab, Jawzjan, Samangan, and Sar-E-Pul
- The North Eastern region: Badakhshan, Baghlan, Kunduz, and Takhar
- The Western region: Badghis, Farah, Ghor, and Herat
- The Central Highland region: Bamyan and Daykundi
- The Capital region: Kabul, Kapisa, Logar, Panjsher, Parwan, and Wardak
- The Southern region: Ghazni, Helmand, Kandahar, Nimroz, Urozgan, and Zabul
- The South Eastern region: Khost, Paktika, and Paktya
- The Eastern region: Kunarha, Laghman, Nangarhar, and Nooristan