Abstract:

Purpose - A number of researches have been carried out in the past studying  relationship between  family size and its impact on educational achievements that have shown contradictory results . No published study has been found about the  student’s sibling size and access to universities in Afghanistan. This study aims to estimate the average sibling size and sibship composition in students at Kabul University, and compare it with the national average sibling  size.   Methodology - A cross sectional descriptive study with simple and short questionnaire was designed to include all students of  2nd to 5th year students of Kabul university (N=11447)  that is the oldest and most populous university in Afghanistan comprising different spectra of the community. Only descriptive statistics were used. Findings - The average sibling size was about 7.09, students from families with one to three siblings consisted only 5.8 % of all students. Male students belonged to families with more male siblings and female students belonged to families with more female siblings than their opposite gender. The average students ’sibling size was close to the national average of sibling size of approximately the same age group (6.9). Significance -  Although it was a descriptive study, it shows that large sibling size did not prevent thousands students attaining Kabul University; which contradicts the belief that large sibling size is a barrier to education.

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