Geography Location: Central
Asia, west of China
Area:
total: 143,100 sq km
land: 142,700 sq km
water: 400 sq km
Area—comparative: slightly smaller than Wisconsin
Land boundaries:
total: 3,651 km
border countries: Afghanistan 1,206 km, China 414 km, Kyrgyzstan 870 km, Uzbekistan 1,161
km
Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)
Climate: midlatitude continental, hot summers, mild winters; semiarid to polar in Pamir
Mountains
Terrain: Pamirs and Alay Mountains dominate landscape; western Fergana Valley in north,
Kofarnihon and Vakhsh Valleys in southwest
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Syrdariya 300 m
highest point: Qullai Kommunizm 7,495 m
Natural resources: significant hydropower potential, some petroleum, uranium, mercury,
brown
coal, lead, zinc, antimony, tungsten
Land use:
arable land: 6%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 25%
forests and woodland: 4%
other: 65% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 6,390 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: NA
Environment—current issues: inadequate sanitation facilities; increasing levels of
soil salinity;
industrial pollution; excessive pesticides; part of the basin of the shrinking Aral Sea
suffers from
severe overutilization of available water for irrigation and associated pollution
People
Population: 6,020,095 (July 1998 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 41% (male 1,258,424; female 1,230,891)
15-64 years: 54% (male 1,616,257; female 1,636,732)
65 years and over: 5% (male 118,485; female 159,306) (July 1998 est.)
Population growth rate: 1.3% (1998 est.)
Birth rate: 27.67 births/1,000 population (1998 est.)
Death rate: 7.77 deaths/1,000 population (1998 est.)
Net migration rate: -6.87 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1998 est.)
Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.74 male(s)/female (1998 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 112.14 deaths/1,000 live births (1998 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 64.48 years
male: 61.35 years
female: 67.77 years (1998 est.)
Total fertility rate: 3.53 children born/woman (1998 est.)
Nationality:
noun: Tajikistani(s)
adjective: Tajikistani
Ethnic groups: Tajik 64.9%, Uzbek 25%, Russian 3.5% (declining because of emigration),
other
6.6%
Religions: Sunni Muslim 80%, Shi'a Muslim 5%
Languages: Tajik (official), Russian widely used in government and business
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 98%
male: 99%
female: 97% (1989 est.)
Government
Country conventional name: Republic of Tajikistan
Government type: republic
National capital: Dushanbe
Legal system: based on civil law system; no judicial review of legislative acts
Economy
Economy—overview: Tajikistan has the lowest per capita GDP among the former Soviet
republics. Agriculture dominates the economy, with cotton the most important crop. Mineral
resources, varied but limited in amount, include silver, gold, uranium, and tungsten.
Industry is
limited to a large aluminum plant, hydropower facilities, and small obsolete factories
mostly in light
industry and food processing. The Tajik economy has been gravely weakened by four years of
civil conflict and by the loss of subsidies from Moscow and of markets for its products.
Tajikistan
thus depends on aid from Russia and Uzbekistan and on international humanitarian
assistance for
much of its basic subsistence needs. Even if the peace agreement of June 1997 is honored,
the
country faces major problems in integrating refugees and former combatants into the
economy.
Moreover, constant political turmoil and the continued dominance by former communist
officials
have impeded the introduction of meaningful economic reforms.
GDP: purchasing power parity—$4.1 billion (1997 est.)
GDP—real growth rate: -10% (1997 est.)
GDP—per capita: purchasing power parity—$700 (1997 est.)
GDP—composition by sector:
agriculture: 25%
industry: 35%
services: 40% (1997)
Inflation rate—consumer price index: 40% (1996 est.)
Labor force:
total: 1.9 million (1996)
by occupation: agriculture and forestry 52%, manufacturing, mining, and construction 17%,
services 31% (1995)
Unemployment rate: 2.4% includes only officially registered unemployed; also large numbers
of
underemployed workers and unregistered unemployed people (December 1996)
Industries: aluminum, zinc, lead, chemicals and fertilizers, cement, vegetable oil,
metal-cutting
machine tools, refrigerators and freezers
Agriculture—products: cotton, grain, fruits, grapes, vegetables; cattle, sheep, goats
Exports:
total value: $768 million (1996 est.)
commodities: cotton, aluminum, fruits, vegetable oil, textiles
partners: FSU 78%, Netherlands (1994)
Imports:
total value: $657 million (1996 est.)
commodities: fuel, chemicals, machinery and transport equipment, textiles, foodstuffs
partners: FSU 55%, Switzerland, UK (1994)
Currency: the Tajikistani ruble (TJR) = 100 tanga; Tajikistan introduced its own currency
in May
1995
More
Information about Tajikistan
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