Bolivia (2001) | Turkmenistan (2002) | |
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Administrative divisions | 9 departments (departamentos, singular - departamento); Chuquisaca, Cochabamba, Beni, La Paz, Oruro, Pando, Potosi, Santa Cruz, Tarija | 5 provinces (welayatlar, singular - welayat): Ahal Welayaty (Ashgabat), Balkan Welayaty (Balkanabat), Dasoguz Welayaty, Labap Welayaty (Turkmenabat), Mary Welayaty
note: administrative divisions have the same names as their administrative centers (exceptions have the administrative center name following in parentheses) |
Age structure | 0-14 years:
38.46% (male 1,626,698; female 1,565,748) 15-64 years: 57.07% (male 2,315,098; female 2,421,987) 65 years and over: 4.47% (male 166,986; female 203,946) (2001 est.) |
0-14 years: 37.3% (male 895,536; female 853,301)
15-64 years: 58.6% (male 1,350,142; female 1,399,879) 65 years and over: 4.1% (male 72,784; female 117,321) (2002 est.) |
Agriculture - products | soybeans, coffee, coca, cotton, corn, sugarcane, rice, potatoes; timber | cotton, grain; livestock |
Airports | 1,093 (2000 est.) | 76 (2001) |
Airports - with paved runways | total:
13 over 3,047 m: 4 2,438 to 3,047 m: 3 1,524 to 2,437 m: 4 914 to 1,523 m: 2 (2000 est.) |
total: 13
2,438 to 3,047 m: 9 1,524 to 2,437 m: 4 (2002) |
Airports - with unpaved runways | total:
1,080 2,438 to 3,047 m: 3 1,524 to 2,437 m: 65 914 to 1,523 m: 212 under 914 m: 800 (2000 est.) |
total: 63
2,438 to 3,047 m: 7 1,524 to 2,437 m: 5 914 to 1,523 m: 10 under 914 m: 41 (2002) |
Area | total:
1,098,580 sq km land: 1,084,390 sq km water: 14,190 sq km |
total: 488,100 sq km
land: 488,100 sq km water: 0 sq km |
Area - comparative | slightly less than three times the size of Montana | slightly larger than California |
Background | Bolivia, named after independence fighter Simon BOLIVAR, broke away from Spanish rule in 1825; much of its subsequent history has consisted of a series of nearly 200 coups and counter-coups. Comparatively democratic civilian rule was established in the 1980s, but leaders have faced difficult problems of deep-seated poverty, social unrest, and drug production. Current goals include attracting foreign investment, strengthening the educational system, continuing the privatization program, and waging an anti-corruption campaign. | Annexed by Russia between 1865 and 1885, Turkmenistan became a Soviet republic in 1925. It achieved its independence upon the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. President NIYAZOV retains absolute control over the country and opposition is not tolerated. Extensive hydrocarbon/natural gas reserves could prove a boon to this underdeveloped country if extraction and delivery projects can be worked out. |
Birth rate | 27.27 births/1,000 population (2001 est.) | 28.27 births/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
Budget | revenues:
$2.7 billion expenditures: $2.7 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1998) |
revenues: $588.6 million
expenditures: $658.2 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (1999 est.) (1999 est.) |
Capital | La Paz (seat of government); Sucre (legal capital and seat of judiciary) | Ashgabat |
Climate | varies with altitude; humid and tropical to cold and semiarid | subtropical desert |
Coastline | 0 km (landlocked) | 0 km; note - Turkmenistan borders the Caspian Sea (1,768 km) |
Constitution | 2 February 1967; revised in August 1994 | adopted 18 May 1992 |
Country name | conventional long form:
Republic of Bolivia conventional short form: Bolivia local long form: Republica de Bolivia local short form: Bolivia |
conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Turkmenistan local long form: none local short form: Turkmenistan former: Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic |
Currency | boliviano (BOB) | Turkmen manat (TMM) |
Death rate | 8.2 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.) | 8.92 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
Debt - external | $6.6 billion (2000) | $2.3 billion to $5 billion (2001 est.) |
Diplomatic representation from the US | chief of mission:
Ambassador V. Manuel ROCHA embassy: Avenida Arce 2780, San Jorge, La Paz mailing address: P. O. Box 425, La Paz; APO AA 34032 telephone: [591] (2) 432254 FAX: [591] (2) 433854 |
chief of mission: Ambassador Laura E. KENNEDY
embassy: 9 Pushkin Street, Ashgabat, Turkmenistan 774000 mailing address: use embassy street address telephone: [9] (9312) 35-00-45 FAX: [9] (9312) 39-26-14 |
Diplomatic representation in the US | chief of mission:
Ambassador Marlene FERNANDEZ del Granado chancery: 3014 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 483-4410 FAX: [1] (202) 328-3712 consulate(s) general: Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and San Francisco |
chief of mission: Ambassador Mered Bairamovich ORAZOV
chancery: 2207 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 588-1500 FAX: [1] (202) 588-0697 |
Disputes - international | has wanted a sovereign corridor to the South Pacific Ocean since the Atacama area was lost to Chile in 1884; dispute with Chile over Rio Lauca water rights | Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan wrestle with sharing limited water resources and regional environmental degradation caused by the shrinking of the Aral Sea; multilaterally-accepted Caspian Sea seabed and maritime boundaries have not yet been established in the Caspian - Iran insists on division of Caspian Sea into five equal sectors while Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan have generally agreed upon equidistant seabed boundaries; Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan await ICJ decision to resolve sovereignty dispute over oil fields in the Caspian Sea |
Economic aid - recipient | $588 million (1997) | $16 million from the US (2001) |
Economy - overview | Bolivia, long one of the poorest and least developed Latin American countries, has made considerable progress toward the development of a market-oriented economy. Successes under President SANCHEZ DE LOZADA (1993-97) included the signing of a free trade agreement with Mexico and joining the Southern Cone Common Market (Mercosur), as well as the privatization of the state airline, telephone company, railroad, electric power company, and oil company. His successor, Hugo BANZER Suarez has tried to further improve the country's investment climate with an anticorruption campaign. Growth slowed in 1999, in part due to tight government budget policies, which limited needed appropriations for anti-poverty programs, and the fallout from the Asian financial crisis. In 2000, major civil disturbances in April, and again in September and October, held down overall growth to 2.5%. | Turkmenistan is largely desert country with intensive agriculture in irrigated oases and huge gas (fifth largest reserves in the world) and oil resources. One-half of its irrigated land is planted in cotton, making it the world's tenth largest producer. Until the end of 1993, Turkmenistan had experienced less economic disruption than other former Soviet states because its economy received a boost from higher prices for oil and gas and a sharp increase in hard currency earnings. In 1994, Russia's refusal to export Turkmen gas to hard currency markets and mounting debts of its major customers in the former USSR for gas deliveries contributed to a sharp fall in industrial production and caused the budget to shift from a surplus to a slight deficit. With an authoritarian ex-Communist regime in power and a tribally based social structure, Turkmenistan has taken a cautious approach to economic reform, hoping to use gas and cotton sales to sustain its inefficient economy. Privatization goals remain limited. In 1998-2001, Turkmenistan has suffered from the continued lack of adequate export routes for natural gas and from obligations on extensive short-term external debt. At the same time, however, total exports have risen sharply because of higher international oil and gas prices. Prospects in the near future are discouraging because of widespread internal poverty, the burden of foreign debt, and the unwillingness of the government to adopt market-oriented reforms. However, Turkmenistan's cooperation with the international community in transporting humanitarian aid to Afghanistan may foreshadow a change in the atmosphere for foreign investment, aid, and technological support. Turkmenistan's economic statistics are state secrets, and GDP and other figures are subject to wide margins of error. |
Electricity - consumption | 3.377 billion kWh (1999) | 7.708 billion kWh (2000) |
Electricity - exports | 4 million kWh (1999) | 900 million kWh (2000) |
Electricity - imports | 10 million kWh (1999) | 0 kWh (2000) |
Electricity - production | 3.625 billion kWh (1999) | 9.256 billion kWh (2000) |
Electricity - production by source | fossil fuel:
56.61% hydro: 41.6% nuclear: 0% other: 1.79% (1999) |
fossil fuel: 100%
hydro: 0% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (2000) |
Elevation extremes | lowest point:
Rio Paraguay 90 m highest point: Nevado Sajama 6,542 m |
lowest point: Vpadina Akchanaya -81 m; note - Sarygamysh Koli is a lake in northern Turkmenistan with a water level that fluctuates above and below the elevation of Vpadina Akchanaya (the lake has dropped as low as -110 m)
highest point: Gora Ayribaba 3,139 m |
Environment - current issues | the clearing of land for agricultural purposes and the international demand for tropical timber are contributing to deforestation; soil erosion from overgrazing and poor cultivation methods (including slash-and-burn agriculture); desertification; loss of biodiversity; industrial pollution of water supplies used for drinking and irrigation | contamination of soil and groundwater with agricultural chemicals, pesticides; salination, water-logging of soil due to poor irrigation methods; Caspian Sea pollution; diversion of a large share of the flow of the Amu Darya into irrigation contributes to that river's inability to replenish the Aral Sea; desertification |
Environment - international agreements | party to:
Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection |
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
Ethnic groups | Quechua 30%, Aymara 25%, mestizo (mixed white and Amerindian ancestry) 30%, white 15% | Turkmen 77%, Uzbek 9.2%, Russian 6.7%, Kazakh 2%, other 5.1% (1995) |
Exchange rates | bolivianos per US dollar - 6.4071 (January 2001), 6.1835 (2000), 5.8124 (1999), 5.5101 (1998), 5.2543 (1997), 5.0746 (1996) | Turkmen manats per US dollar - 5,200 (January 2002-January 2000), 5,350 (January 1999), 4,070 (January 1997) |
Executive branch | chief of state:
President Hugo BANZER Suarez (since 6 August 1997); Vice President Jorge Fernando QUIROGA Ramirez (since 6 August 1997); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government head of government: President Hugo BANZER Suarez (since 6 August 1997); Vice President Jorge Fernando QUIROGA Ramirez (since 6 August 1997); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president elections: president and vice president elected on the same ticket by popular vote for five-year terms; election last held 1 June 1997 (next to be held May or June 2002) election results: Hugo BANZER Suarez elected president; percent of vote - Hugo BANZER Suarez (ADN) 22%; Jaime PAZ Zamora (MIR) 17%, Juan Carlos DURAN (MNR) 18%, Ivo KULJIS (UCS) 16%, Remedios LOZA (CONDEPA) 17%; no candidate received a majority of the popular vote; Hugo BANZER Suarez won a congressional runoff election on 5 August 1997 after forming a "megacoalition" with MIR, UCS, CONDEPA, NFR, and PDC |
chief of state: President and Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers Saparmurat NIYAZOV (since 27 October 1990, when the first direct presidential election occurred); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government
head of government: President and Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers Saparmurat NIYAZOV (since 27 October 1990, when the first direct presidential election occurred); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president note: NIYAZOV's term in office was extended indefinitely on 28 December 1999 by the Assembly (Majlis) during a session of the People's Council (Halk Maslahaty) elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term; election last held 21 June 1992 (next to be held NA); note - President NIYAZOV was unanimously approved as president for life by the Assembly on 28 December 1999); deputy chairmen of the cabinet of ministers are appointed by the president election results: Saparmurat NIYAZOV elected president without opposition; percent of vote - Saparmurat NIYAZOV 99.5% |
Exports | $1.26 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.) | $2.7 billion f.o.b. (2001 est.) |
Exports - commodities | soybeans, natural gas, zinc, gold, wood | gas 33%, oil 30%, cotton fiber 18%, textiles 8% (1999) |
Exports - partners | UK 16%, US 12%, Peru 11%, Argentina 10%, Colombia 7% (1998) | Ukraine 27%, Iran 14%, Turkey 11%, Italy 9%, Switzerland 5% (1999) |
Fiscal year | calendar year | calendar year |
Flag description | three equal horizontal bands of red (top), yellow, and green with the coat of arms centered on the yellow band; similar to the flag of Ghana, which has a large black five-pointed star centered in the yellow band | green field with a vertical red stripe near the hoist side, containing five carpet guls (designs used in producing rugs) stacked above two crossed olive branches similar to the olive branches on the UN flag; a white crescent moon and five white stars appear in the upper corner of the field just to the fly side of the red stripe |
GDP | purchasing power parity - $20.9 billion (2000 est.) | purchasing power parity - $21.5 billion (2001 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture:
16% industry: 31% services: 53% (1999 est.) |
agriculture: 27%
industry: 45% services: 28% (2000 est.) |
GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $2,600 (2000 est.) | purchasing power parity - $4,700 (2001 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate | 2.5% (2000 est.) | 10% (2001 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 17 00 S, 65 00 W | 40 00 N, 60 00 E |
Geography - note | landlocked; shares control of Lago Titicaca, world's highest navigable lake (elevation 3,805 m), with Peru | landlocked; the western and central low-lying, desolate portions of the country make up the great Garagum (Kara-Kum) desert, which occupies over 80% of the country; eastern part is plateau |
Highways | total:
49,400 km paved: 2,500 km (including 30 km of expressways) unpaved: 46,900 km (1996) |
total: 22,000 km
paved: 18,000 km (includes some all-weather gravel-surfaced roads) unpaved: 4,000 km (these roads are made of unstabilized earth and are difficult to negotiate in wet weather) (1996) |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%:
2.3% highest 10%: 31.7% (1990) |
lowest 10%: 3%
highest 10%: 32% (1998) (1998) |
Illicit drugs | world's third-largest cultivator of coca (after Colombia and Peru, a distant second) with an estimated 14,600 hectares under cultivation in 2000, a 33% decrease in overall cultivation of coca from 1999 levels; intermediate coca products and cocaine exported to or through Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile to the US and other international drug markets; eradication and alternative crop programs have slashed illicit coca cultivation during the BANZER administration beginning in 1997 | 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; small-scale government-run eradication of illicit crops; transit point for heroin precursor chemicals bound for Afghanistan |
Imports | $1.86 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.) | $2.3 billion c.i.f. (2001 est.) |
Imports - commodities | capital goods, raw materials and semi-manufactures, chemicals, petroleum, food | machinery and equipment 60%, foodstuffs 15% (1999) |
Imports - partners | US 32%, Japan 24%, Brazil 12%, Argentina 12%, Chile 7%, Peru 4%, Germany 3%, other 6% (1998) | Turkey 17%, Ukraine 12%, Russia 11%, UAE 8%, France 6% (1999) |
Independence | 6 August 1825 (from Spain) | 27 October 1991 (from the Soviet Union) |
Industrial production growth rate | 4% (1995 est.) | NA% |
Industries | mining, smelting, petroleum, food and beverages, tobacco, handicrafts, clothing | natural gas, oil, petroleum products, textiles, food processing |
Infant mortality rate | 58.98 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.) | 73.21 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 4.4% (2000 est.) | 10% (2001 est.) |
International organization participation | CAN, CCC, ECLAC, FAO, G-11, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ITU, LAES, LAIA, Mercosur (associate), MONUC, NAM, OAS, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, RG, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMIK, UNTAET, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO | AsDB, CCC, CIS, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, ECO, ESCAP, FAO, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDB, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO (correspondent), ITU, NAM, OIC, OPCW, OSCE, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO (observer) |
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | 9 (2000) | NA |
Irrigated land | 1,750 sq km (1993 est.) | 18,000 sq km (1998 est.) |
Judicial branch | Supreme Court or Corte Suprema (judges appointed for 10-year terms by National Congress); District Courts (one in each department); provincial and local courts (to try minor cases) | Supreme Court (judges are appointed by the president) |
Labor force | 2.5 million | 2.34 million (1996) (1996) |
Labor force - by occupation | agriculture NA%, industry NA%, services NA% | agriculture 48%, industry 15%, services 37% (1998 est.) |
Land boundaries | total:
6,743 km border countries: Argentina 832 km, Brazil 3,400 km, Chile 861 km, Paraguay 750 km, Peru 900 km |
total: 3,736 km
border countries: Afghanistan 744 km, Iran 992 km, Kazakhstan 379 km, Uzbekistan 1,621 km |
Land use | arable land:
2% permanent crops: 0% permanent pastures: 24% forests and woodland: 53% other: 21% (1993 est.) |
arable land: 3.47%
permanent crops: 0.14% other: 96.39% (1998 est.) |
Languages | Spanish (official), Quechua (official), Aymara (official) | Turkmen 72%, Russian 12%, Uzbek 9%, other 7% |
Legal system | based on Spanish law and Napoleonic Code; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction | based on civil law system |
Legislative branch | bicameral National Congress or Congreso Nacional consists of Chamber of Senators or Camara de Senadores (27 seats; members are directly elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms) and Chamber of Deputies or Camara de Diputados (130 seats; members are directly elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms; note - some members are drawn from party lists, thus not directly elected)
elections: Chamber of Senators and Chamber of Deputies - last held 1 June 1997 (next to be held NA June 2002) election results: Chamber of Senators - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - ADN 11, MIR 7, MNR 4, CONDEPA 3, UCS 2; Chamber of Deputies - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - ADN 32, MNR 26, MIR 23, UCS 21, CONDEPA 19, MBL 5, IU 4 |
under the 1992 constitution, there are two parliamentary bodies, a unicameral People's Council or Halk Maslahaty (more than 100 seats, some of which are elected by popular vote and some of which are appointed; meets infrequently) and a unicameral Assembly or Majlis (50 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)
elections: People's Council - NA; Assembly - last held 12 December 1999 (next to be held NA 2004) election results: Assembly - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - NA; note - all 50 elected officials preapproved by President NIYAZOV; most are from the DPT |
Life expectancy at birth | total population:
64.06 years male: 61.53 years female: 66.72 years (2001 est.) |
total population: 61.1 years
male: 57.57 years female: 64.8 years (2002 est.) |
Literacy | definition:
age 15 and over can read and write total population: 83.1% male: 90.5% female: 76% (1995 est.) |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 98% male: 99% female: 97% (1989 est.) |
Location | Central South America, southwest of Brazil | Central Asia, bordering the Caspian Sea, between Iran and Kazakhstan |
Map references | South America | Asia |
Maritime claims | none (landlocked) | none (landlocked) |
Merchant marine | total:
42 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 141,017 GRT/211,058 DWT ships by type: bulk 5, cargo 20, chemical tanker 3, container 1, petroleum tanker 10, roll on/roll off 3 (2000 est.) |
total: 1 ship (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 4,600 GRT/5,000 DWT
ships by type: petroleum tanker 1 (2002 est.) |
Military branches | Army (Ejercito Boliviano), Navy (Fuerza Naval Boliviana, includes Marines), Air Force (Fuerza Aerea Boliviana), National Police Force (Policia Nacional de Bolivia) | Ministry of Defense (Army, Air and Air Defense, Navy, Border Troops, and Internal Troops), National Guard |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | $147 million (FY99) | $90 million (FY99) |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 1.8% (FY99) | 3.4% (FY99) |
Military manpower - availability | males age 15-49:
2,005,660 (2001 est.) |
males age 15-49: 1,206,920 (2002 est.) |
Military manpower - fit for military service | males age 15-49:
1,306,452 (2001 est.) |
males age 15-49: 979,282 (2002 est.) |
Military manpower - military age | 19 years of age | 18 years of age (2002 est.) |
Military manpower - reaching military age annually | males:
90,120 (2001 est.) |
males: 48,292 (2002 est.) |
National holiday | Independence Day, 6 August (1825) | Independence Day, 27 October (1991) |
Nationality | noun:
Bolivian(s) adjective: Bolivian |
noun: Turkmen(s)
adjective: Turkmen |
Natural hazards | flooding in the northeast (March-April) | NA |
Natural resources | tin, natural gas, petroleum, zinc, tungsten, antimony, silver, iron, lead, gold, timber, hydropower | petroleum, natural gas, coal, sulfur, salt |
Net migration rate | -1.45 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.) | -0.98 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
Pipelines | crude oil 1,800 km; petroleum products 580 km; natural gas 1,495 km | crude oil 250 km; natural gas 4,400 km |
Political parties and leaders | Christian Democratic Party or PDC [leader NA]; Civic Solidarity Union or UCS [Johnny FERNANDEZ]; Conscience of the Fatherland or CONDEPA [Remedios LOZA Alvarado]; Free Bolivia Movement or MBL [Antonio ARANIBAR]; Movement of the Revolutionary Left or MIR [Jaime PAZ Zamora]; Nationalist Democratic Action or ADN [Hugo BANZER Suarez]; Nationalist Revolutionary Movement or MNR [Gonzalo SANCHEZ DE LOZADA]; New Republican Force or NFR [leader NA]; Pachacuti Indigenous Movement [Filipe QUISPE]; United Left or IU [Marcos DOMIC]
note: the ADN, MIR, and UCS comprise the ruling coalition |
Democratic Party of Turkmenistan or DPT [Saparmurat NIYAZOV]
note: formal opposition parties are outlawed; unofficial, small opposition movements exist underground or in foreign countries |
Political pressure groups and leaders | Cocalero Groups; indigenous organizations; labor unions | NA |
Population | 8,300,463 (July 2001 est.) | 4,688,963 (July 2002 est.) |
Population below poverty line | 70% (1999 est.) | 34% (2001 est.) |
Population growth rate | 1.76% (2001 est.) | 1.84% (2002 est.) |
Ports and harbors | none; however, Bolivia has free port privileges in maritime ports in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Paraguay | Turkmenbasy |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 171, FM 73, shortwave 77 (1999) | AM 16, FM 8, shortwave 2 (1998) |
Radios | 5.25 million (1997) | 1.225 million (1997) |
Railways | total:
3,691 km (single track) narrow gauge: 3,652 km 1.000-m gauge; 39 km 0.760-m gauge (13 km electrified) (1995) |
total: 2,440 km
broad gauge: 2,440 km 1.520-m gauge (2001) |
Religions | Roman Catholic 95%, Protestant (Evangelical Methodist) | Muslim 89%, Eastern Orthodox 9%, unknown 2% |
Sex ratio | at birth:
1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.96 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.82 male(s)/female total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2001 est.) |
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.96 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.62 male(s)/female total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2002 est.) |
Suffrage | 18 years of age, universal and compulsory (married); 21 years of age, universal and compulsory (single) | 18 years of age; universal |
Telephone system | general assessment:
new subscribers face bureaucratic difficulties; most telephones are concentrated in La Paz and other cities; mobile cellular telephone use expanding rapidly domestic: primary trunk system, which is being expanded, employs digital microwave radio relay; some areas are served by fiber-optic cable; mobile cellular systems are being expanded international: satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) |
general assessment: poorly developed
domestic: NA international: linked by cable and microwave radio relay to other CIS republics and to other countries by leased connections to the Moscow international gateway switch; a new telephone link from Ashgabat to Iran has been established; a new exchange in Ashgabat switches international traffic through Turkey via Intelsat; satellite earth stations - 1 Orbita and 1 Intelsat |
Telephones - main lines in use | 327,600 (1996) | 363,000 (1997) |
Telephones - mobile cellular | 116,000 (1997) | 4,300 (1998) |
Television broadcast stations | 48 (1997) | 3 (much programming relayed from Russia and Turkey) (1997) |
Terrain | rugged Andes Mountains with a highland plateau (Altiplano), hills, lowland plains of the Amazon Basin | flat-to-rolling sandy desert with dunes rising to mountains in the south; low mountains along border with Iran; borders Caspian Sea in west |
Total fertility rate | 3.51 children born/woman (2001 est.) | 3.54 children born/woman (2002 est.) |
Unemployment rate | 11.4% (1997)
note: widespread underemployment |
NA% |
Waterways | 10,000 km (commercially navigable) | the Amu Darya is an important inland waterway for Turkmenistan |