| Tajikistan |
Flag:
 |
Map:
 |
| Background: The Tajik people came under Russian rule in the 1860s and 1870s, but Russia's hold on Central Asia weakened following the Revolution of 1917. Bolshevik control of the area was fiercely contested and not fully reestablished until 1925. Tajikistan became independent in 1991 following the breakup of the Soviet Union, and it is now in the process of strengthening its democracy and transitioning to a free market economy after its 1992-97 civil war. There have been no major security incidents in recent years, although the country remains the poorest in the former Soviet sphere. Attention by the international community in the wake of the war in Afghanistan has brought increased economic development assistance, which could create jobs and increase stability in the long term. Tajikistan is in the early stages of seeking World Trade Organization membership and has joined NATO's Partnership for Peace. |
| Geography and Environmental |
Capital: name: Dushanbe
geographic coordinates: 38 35 N, 68 48 E
time difference: UTC+5 (10 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) |
| Area Total: 143,100 sq km |
| Area Land: 142,700 sq km |
| Area Water: 400 sq km |
| Area Comparative: slightly smaller than Wisconsin |
| Coastline: 0 km (landlocked) |
| Climate: midlatitude continental, hot summers, mild winters; semiarid to polar in Pamir Mountains |
| Terrain: Pamir and Alay Mountains dominate landscape; western Fergana Valley in north, Kofarnihon and Vakhsh Valleys in southwest |
| Elevation Extremes Lowest Point: Syr Darya (Sirdaryo) 300 m |
| Elevation Extremes Highest Point: Qullai Ismoili Somoni 7,495 m |
| Natural Resources: hydropower, some petroleum, uranium, mercury, brown coal, lead, zinc, antimony, tungsten, silver, gold |
| Land Use Arable Land: 6.52% |
| Land Use Permanent Crops: 0.89% |
| Land Use Other: 92.59% (2005) |
| Irrigated Land: 7,220 sq km (2003) |
| Natural Hazards: earthquakes and floods |
| Environment Current Issues: inadequate sanitation facilities; increasing levels of soil salinity; industrial pollution; excessive pesticides |
| Geography Note: landlocked; mountainous region dominated by the Trans-Alay Range in the north and the Pamirs in the southeast; highest point, Qullai Ismoili Somoni (formerly Communism Peak), was the tallest mountain in the former USSR |
| Population |
| Population: 7,076,598 (July 2007 est.) |
| Age Structure 0 to 14 Years: 35% (male 1,261,247/female 1,218,686) |
| Age Structure 15 to 64 Years: 61.2% (male 2,145,300/female 2,184,519) |
| Age Structure 65 Years And Over: 3.8% (male 113,186/female 153,660) (2007 est.) |
| Median Age Total: 21.3 years |
| Median Age Male: 20.8 years |
| Median Age Female: 21.8 years (2007 est.) |
| Population Growth Rate: 1.895% (2007 est.) |
| Birth Rate: 27.33 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
| Death Rate: 7.05 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
| Sex Ratio At Birth: 1.05 male(s)/female |
| Sex Ratio Under 15 Years: 1.035 male(s)/female |
| Sex Ratio 15 to 64 Years: 0.982 male(s)/female |
| Sex Ratio 65 Years And Over: 0.737 male(s)/female |
| Sex Ratio Total Population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2007 est.) |
| Infant Mortality Rate Total: 43.64 deaths/1,000 live births |
| Infant Mortality Rate Male: 48.73 deaths/1,000 live births |
| Infant Mortality Rate Female: 38.3 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.) |
| Life Expectancy At BirthTotalPopulation: 64.61 years |
| Life Expectancy At Birth Male: 61.6 years |
| Life Expectancy At Birth Female: 67.78 years (2007 est.) |
| Total Fertility Rate: 3.09 children born/woman (2007 est.) |
| HIV AIDS Adult Prevalence Rate: less than 0.1% (2001 est.) |
| HIV AIDS People Living With HIV AIDS: less than 200 (2003 est.) |
| HIV AIDS Deaths: less than 100 (2001 est.) |
| Religions: Sunni Muslim 85%, Shi'a Muslim 5%, other 10% (2003 est.) |
| Languages: Tajik (official), Russian widely used in government and business |
| Literacy Definition: age 15 and over can read and write |
| Literacy Total Population: 99.4% |
| Literacy Male: 99.6% |
| Literacy Female: 99.1% (2003 est.) |
Administrative Divisions: 2 provinces (viloyatho, singular - viloyat) and 1 autonomous province* (viloyati mukhtor); Viloyati Khatlon (Qurghonteppa), Viloyati Mukhtori Kuhistoni Badakhshon* [Gorno-Badakhshan] (Khorugh), Viloyati Sughd (Khujand)
note: the administrative center name follows in parentheses |
| Legal System: based on civil law system; no judicial review of legislative acts |
| Economy |
| Overview: Tajikistan has one of the lowest per capita GDPs among the 15 former Soviet republics. Only 7% of the land area is arable; cotton is the most important crop. Mineral resources, varied but limited in amount, include silver, gold, uranium, and tungsten. Industry consists only of a large aluminum plant, hydropower facilities, and small obsolete factories mostly in light industry and food processing. The civil war (1992-97) severely damaged the already weak economic infrastructure and caused a sharp decline in industrial and agricultural production. While Tajikistan has experienced steady economic growth since 1997, nearly two-thirds of the population continues to live in abject poverty. Economic growth reached 10.6% in 2004 but dropped to 8% in 2005 and to 7% in 2006. Tajikistan's economic situation, however, remains fragile due to uneven implementation of structural reforms, weak governance, widespread unemployment, and the external debt burden. Continued privatization of medium and large state-owned enterprises could increase productivity. A debt restructuring agreement was reached with Russia in December 2002 including a $250 million write-off of Tajikistan's $300 million debt. Tajikistan ranks third in the world in terms of water resources per head. A proposed investment to finish the hydropower dams Rogun and Sangtuda I and II would substantially add to electricity production, which could be exported for profit. If finished, Rogun will be the world's tallest dam. In 2006, Tajikistan was the recipient of substantial infrastructure development credits from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to improve its roads and electricity transmission network. To help increase north-south trade, the US is constructing a $36 million bridge linking Tajikistan and Afghanistan. |
| GDP Purchasing Power Parity: $9.405 billion (2006 est.) |
| GDP Real Growth Rate: 7% (2006 est.) |
| GDP Composition By Sector Agriculture: 22.7% |
| GDP Composition By Sector Industry: 28.5% |
| GDP Composition By Sector Services: 48.8% (2006 est.) |
| Labor Force: 3.7 million (2003) |
Labor Force By Occupation: agriculture: 67.2%
industry: 7.5%
services: 25.3% (2000 est.) |
| Unemployment Rate: 12% (2004 est.) |
Household Income Or Consumption By Percentage Share: lowest 10%: 3.2%
highest 10%: 25.2% (1998) |
| Inflation Rate Consumer Prices: 7.5% (2006 est.) |
| Industries: aluminum, zinc, lead; chemicals and fertilizers, cement, vegetable oil, metal-cutting machine tools, refrigerators and freezers |
| Industrial Production Growth Rate: 8.2% (2002 est.) |
| Energy |
| Electricity Production: 16.5 billion kWh (2004) |
| Electricity Production By Source Fossil Fuel: 1.9% |
| Electricity Production By Source Hydro: 98.1% |
| Electricity Production By Source Nuclear: 0% |
| Electricity Production By Source Other: 0% (2001) |
| Electricity Consumption: 15.7 billion kWh (2004) |
| Electricity Exports: 4.459 billion kWh (2004) |
| Electricity Imports: 4.81 billion kWh (2004) |
| Oil Production: 252.8 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
| Oil Consumption: 28,000 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
| Natural Gas Production: 39 million cu m (2004 est.) |
| Natural Gas Consumption: 1.389 billion cu m (2004 est.) |
| Natural Gas Exports: 0 cu m (2004 est.) |
| Natural Gas Imports: 1.35 billion cu m (2004 est.) |
| Exports: $1.16 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
| Exports Commodities: aluminum, electricity, cotton, fruits, vegetable oil, textiles |
| Exports Partners: Netherlands 46.6%, Turkey 15.8%, Russia 9.1%, Uzbekistan 7.3%, Latvia 4.9%, Iran 4% (2005) |
| Imports: $1.513 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
| Imports Commodities: electricity, petroleum products, aluminum oxide, machinery and equipment, foodstuffs |
| Imports Partners: Russia 19.3%, Kazakhstan 12.7%, Uzbekistan 11.5%, Azerbaijan 8.6%, China 7%, Ukraine 6.2%, Romania 4.6%, Turkmenistan 4% (2005) |
| Debt External: $829 million (2006 est.) |
| Economic Aid Recipient: $67 million from US (2005) |
| Communications |
| Telephones Main Lines In Use: 245,200 (2004) |
| TelephonesMobileCellular: 265,000 (2005) |
| Telephone System General Assessment: poorly developed and not well maintained; many towns are not linked to the national network |
| Telephone System Domestic: the domestic telecommunications network has historically been under funded and poorly maintained; main line availability has not changed significantly since 1998; cellular telephony is rare and coverage remains limited |
| Telephone System International: country code - 992; linked by cable and microwave radio relay to other CIS republics and by leased connections to the Moscow international gateway switch; Dushanbe linked by Intelsat to international gateway switch in Ankara (Turkey); satellite earth stations - 1 Orbita and 2 Intelsat |
| Radio Broadcast Stations: AM 8, FM 10, shortwave 2 (2002) |
| Radios: 1.291 million (1991) |
| Television Broadcast Stations: 6 (2006) |
| Televisions: 820,000 (1997) |
| Internet Service Providers-ISPs: 4 (2002) |
| Internet Users: 5,000 (2005) |
| Transportation |
| Railways Total: 482 km |
| Railways Broad Gauge: 482 km 1.520-m gauge (2005) |
| Waterways: 200 km (along Vakhsh River) (2006) |
| Airports: 40 (2006) |
| Military Expenditures Percent Of GDP: 3.9% (2005 est.) |
| Disputes International: in 2006, China and Tajikistan pledged to commence demarcation of the revised boundary agreed to in the delimitation of 2002; talks continue with Uzbekistan to delimit border and remove minefields; disputes in Isfara Valley delay delimitation with Kyrgyzstan |
| IllicitDrugs: major transit country for Afghan narcotics bound for Russian and, to a lesser extent, Western European markets; limited illicit cultivation of opium poppy for domestic consumption; Tajikistan seizes roughly 80% of all drugs captured in Central Asia and stands third worldwide in seizures of opiates (heroin and raw opium); significant consumer of opiates |