Dr Waheed Majroeh, the head of international relations for the Ministry of Public Health, said 207 others were injured in the attack in the capital Kabul.
Isis has claimed responsibility for the attack via Aamaq online news agency, which is linked to the extremist group.
The terrorists detonated their explosive vests amid crowds of demonstrators who have called for a major regional power line to be routed through their impoverished area.
Laila Mohammadi, one of the march’s organisers, said she arrived at the scene soon after the blast and saw ‘many dead and wounded people’.
The victims, a group of Hazara demonstrators, had reportedly been shouting ‘death to discrimination’ and ‘all Afghans are equal’.
Ethnic minority Hazaras are predominantly Shiite Muslims, who are viewed as apostates by Isis.
Eyewitness Ramin Anwari described seeing up to eight bodies in the Demazang area, where protesters were preparing to set up a camp after a four-hour march.
Footage on local media showed a scene of carnage, with bodies and body parts spread across the square.
President Ashraf Ghani has condemned the blast, saying: ‘Peaceful demonstrations are the right of every citizen of Afghanistan and the government will do everything it can to provide them with security.’
Amnesty International said the ‘horrific attack demonstrates the utter disregard that armed groups have for human life’.
Champa Patel, Amnesty’s South Asia director, said: ‘Such attacks are a reminder that the conflict in Afghanistan is not winding down, as some believe, but escalating, with consequences for the human rights situation in the country that should alarm us all.’
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