At an age when most children are in school, 10-year-old Naweed spends his days polishing shoes on the streets of Kabul. What he and his younger brother earn is often the only money their family of nine has.
“I polish shoes. There are nine of us at home. My father is sick and cannot work. My younger brother and I work, and we earn between 50 and 100 Afghanis a day,” Naweed, who goes by one name, told Amu.
That is about $0.75 to $1.50 a day, and it goes almost entirely on food.
Since his father fell ill, the two boys have carried the family. Naweed has set aside his schooling and his childhood to work.
His story is shared by millions in Afghanistan as the world marks World Poverty Eradication Day on October 17. UNICEF says nearly one-third of children in the country now work to help support their families.
Across the city, Nazia, a pseudonym used to protect her identity, faces a similar struggle. Her husband died two years ago, leaving her to raise four children alone. She is ill, but she cleans other people’s homes so her children can eat.
“I am ill and have back problems. Working is very difficult for me, but I still go to work despite the pain,” she said. “Sometimes I can find work, and sometimes I cannot. When there is no work, my children go hungry.”
For women like Nazia, finding work is harder still. The Taliban have barred women from most government jobs and from working for NGOs and the United Nations, cutting off income for many households that depend on a mother’s earnings.
A 2026 report by the United Nations Development Programme found that around 28 million people in Afghanistan, or 74 per cent of the population, could not meet their basic needs last year. It points to weak economic growth, declining aid, drought and restrictions on women as the main causes.
Help is also shrinking. The UN’s humanitarian appeal for Afghanistan this year is less than one-third funded, forcing aid agencies to close services and cut programmes.
Worldwide, the World Bank estimates more than 800 million people live in extreme poverty. In Kabul, for Naweed and his brother, October 17 is another working day on the street.
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