Compare British Virgin Islands (2006) - Turkmenistan (2007)

Compare British Virgin Islands (2006) z Turkmenistan (2007)

	British Virgin Islands (2006)	Turkmenistan (2007)

Administrative divisions	none (overseas territory of the UK)	5 provinces (welayatlar, singular - welayat) and 1 independent city: Ahal Welayaty (Anew), Ashgabat, Balkan Welayaty (Balkanabat), Dashoguz Welayaty, Lebap 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: 20.5% (male 2,403/female 2,331) 15-64 years: 74.3% (male 8,811/female 8,340) 65 years and over: 5.3% (male 636/female 577) (2006 est.)	0-14 years: 34.7% (male 900,718/female 866,930) 15-64 years: 60.9% (male 1,537,638/female 1,567,049) 65 years and over: 4.4% (male 97,454/female 127,239) (2007 est.)
Agriculture - products	fruits, vegetables; livestock, poultry; fish	cotton, grain; livestock
Airports	3 (2006)	28 (2007)
Airports - with paved runways	total: 2 914 to 1,523 m: 1 under 914 m: 1 (2006)	total: 22 over 3,047 m: 1 2,438 to 3,047 m: 11 1,524 to 2,437 m: 8 914 to 1,523 m: 2 (2007)
Airports - with unpaved runways	total: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 1 (2006)	total: 6 1,524 to 2,437 m: 2 under 914 m: 4 (2007)
Area	total: 153 sq km land: 153 sq km water: 0 sq km note: comprised of 16 inhabited and more than 20 uninhabited islands; includes the islands of Tortola, Anegada, Virgin Gorda, Jost van Dyke	total: 488,100 sq km land: 488,100 sq km water: NEGL
Area - comparative	about 0.9 times the size of Washington, DC	slightly larger than California
Background	First inhabited by Arawak and later by Carib Indians, the Virgin Islands were settled by the Dutch in 1648 and then annexed by the English in 1672. The islands were part of the British colony of the Leeward Islands from 1872-1960; they were granted autonomy in 1967. The economy is closely tied to the larger and more populous US Virgin Islands to the west; the US dollar is the legal currency.	Annexed by Russia between 1865 and 1885, Turkmenistan became a Soviet republic in 1924. It achieved independence upon the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. Extensive hydrocarbon/natural gas reserves could prove a boon to this underdeveloped country if extraction and delivery projects were to be expanded. The Turkmenistan Government is actively seeking to develop alternative petroleum transportation routes to break Russia's pipeline monopoly. President for Life Saparmurat NIYAZOV died in December 2006, and Turkmenistan held its first multi-candidate presidential electoral process in February 2007. Gurbanguly BERDIMUHAMEDOW, a former NIYAZOV aide, emerged as the country's new president.
Birth rate	14.89 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)	25.36 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Budget	revenues: $204.7 million expenditures: $180.4 million; including capital expenditures of $33.8 million (1997)	revenues: $1.434 billion expenditures: $1.386 billion (2006 est.)
Capital	name: Road Town geographic coordinates: 18 27 N, 64 37 W time difference: UTC-4 (1 hour ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)	name: Ashgabat (Ashkhabad) geographic coordinates: 37 57 N, 58 23 E time difference: UTC+5 (10 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
Climate	subtropical; humid; temperatures moderated by trade winds	subtropical desert
Coastline	80 km	0 km; note - Turkmenistan borders the Caspian Sea (1,768 km)
Constitution	1 June 1977, amended in 2000	adopted 18 May 1992
Country name	conventional long form: none conventional short form: British Virgin Islands abbreviation: BVI	conventional long form: none conventional short form: Turkmenistan local long form: none local short form: Turkmenistan former: Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic
Death rate	4.42 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)	6.17 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Debt - external	$36.1 million (1997)	$2.4 billion to $5 billion (2001 est.)
Dependency status	overseas territory of the UK; internal self-governing	-
Diplomatic representation from the US	none (overseas territory of the UK)	chief of mission: Ambassador (vacant); Charge d'Affaires Richard E. HOAGLAND embassy: No. 9 1984 Street (formerly Pushkin Street), Ashgabat, Turkmenistan 744000 mailing address: 7070 Ashgabat Place, Washington, DC 20521-7070 telephone: [993] (12) 35-00-45 FAX: [993] (12) 39-26-14
Diplomatic representation in the US	none (overseas territory of the UK)	chief of mission: Ambassador Meret Bairamovich ORAZOW chancery: 2207 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 588-1500 FAX: [1] (202) 588-0697
Disputes - international	none	cotton monoculture in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan creates water-sharing difficulties for Amu Darya river states; field demarcation of the boundaries with Kazakhstan commenced in 2005, but Caspian seabed delimitation remains stalled with Azerbaijan, Iran, and Kazakhstan due to Turkmenistan's indecision over how to allocate the sea's waters and seabed
Economic aid - recipient	$NA	$28.25 million from the US (2005)
Economy - overview	The economy, one of the most stable and prosperous in the Caribbean, is highly dependent on tourism, generating an estimated 45% of the national income. An estimated 350,000 tourists, mainly from the US, visited the islands in 1998. Tourism suffered in 2002 because of the lackluster US economy. In the mid-1980s, the government began offering offshore registration to companies wishing to incorporate in the islands, and incorporation fees now generate substantial revenues. Roughly 400,000 companies were on the offshore registry by yearend 2000. The adoption of a comprehensive insurance law in late 1994, which provides a blanket of confidentiality with regulated statutory gateways for investigation of criminal offenses, made the British Virgin Islands even more attractive to international business. Livestock raising is the most important agricultural activity; poor soils limit the islands' ability to meet domestic food requirements. Because of traditionally close links with the US Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands has used the US dollar as its currency since 1959.	Turkmenistan is a largely desert country with intensive agriculture in irrigated oases and large gas and oil resources. One-half of its irrigated land is planted in cotton; formerly it was the world's 10th-largest producer. Poor harvests in recent years have led to an almost 50% decline in cotton exports. 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. From 1998-2005, Turkmenistan 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 rose by an average of 15% per year from 2003-06, largely because of higher international oil and gas prices. In 2006, Ashgabat raised its natural gas export prices to its main customer, Russia, from $66 per thousand cubic meters (tcm) to $100 per tcm. Overall prospects in the near future are discouraging because of widespread internal poverty, a poor educational system, government misuse of oil and gas revenues, and Ashgabat's unwillingness to adopt market-oriented reforms. Turkmenistan's economic statistics are state secrets, and GDP and other figures are subject to wide margins of error. In particular, the rate of GDP growth is uncertain. President BERDIMUHAMEDOW's election platform included plans to build a gas line to China, to complete the AmuDarya railroad bridge in Lebap province, and to create special border trade zones in southern Balkan province - a hint that the new post-NIYAZOV government will work to create a friendlier foreign investment environment.
Electricity - consumption	32.13 million kWh (2003)	7.602 billion kWh (2005)
Electricity - exports	0 kWh (2003)	2.918 billion kWh (2005)
Electricity - imports	0 kWh (2003)	0 kWh (2005)
Electricity - production	34.55 million kWh (2003)	12.05 billion kWh (2005 est.)
Elevation extremes	lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m highest point: Mount Sage 521 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	limited natural fresh water resources (except for a few seasonal streams and springs on Tortola, most of the islands' water supply comes from wells and rainwater catchments)	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, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Ethnic groups	black 83%, white, Indian, Asian and mixed	Turkmen 85%, Uzbek 5%, Russian 4%, other 6% (2003)
Exchange rates	the US dollar is used	Turkmen manat per US$ - 11,100 (2006) official rate note: in recent years the unofficial rate has hovered around 24,000 to 25,000 Turkmen manats to the dollar
Executive branch	chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952), represented by Governor David PEAREY (since 18 April 2006) head of government: Chief Minister Dr. Orlando D. SMITH (since 17 June 2003) cabinet: Executive Council appointed by the governor from members of the Legislative Council elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; governor appointed by the monarch; following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or the leader of the majority coalition is usually appointed chief minister by the governor	chief of state: President Gurbanguly BERDIMUHAMEDOW (since 14 February 2007); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government head of government: President Gurbanguly BERDIMUHAMEDOW (since 14 February 2007) cabinet: Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the president elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term; election last held on 11 February 2007 (next to be held in 2012) election results: Gurbanguly BERDIMUHAMEDOW elected president; percent of vote - Gurbanguly BERDIMUHAMEDOW 89.2%
Exports	NA bbl/day	117,800 bbl/day (2004 est.)
Exports - commodities	rum, fresh fish, fruits, animals; gravel, sand	gas, crude oil, petrochemicals, cotton fiber, textiles
Exports - partners	Virgin Islands (US), Puerto Rico, US (2004)	Ukraine 47.7%, Iran 16.4%, Azerbaijan 5.3% (2006)
Fiscal year	1 April - 31 March	calendar year
Flag description	blue, with the flag of the UK in the upper hoist-side quadrant and the Virgin Islander coat of arms centered in the outer half of the flag; the coat of arms depicts a woman flanked on either side by a vertical column of six oil lamps above a scroll bearing the Latin word VIGILATE (Be Watchful)	green field with a vertical red stripe near the hoist side, containing five tribal guls (designs used in producing carpets) stacked above two crossed olive branches similar to the olive branches on the UN flag; a white crescent moon representing Islam with five white stars representing the regions or velayats of Turkmenistan appear in the upper corner of the field just to the fly side of the red stripe
GDP - composition by sector	agriculture: 1.8% industry: 6.2% services: 92% (1996 est.)	agriculture: 17.7% industry: 39.2% services: 43.2% (2006 est.)
GDP - real growth rate	1% (2002 est.)	IMF estimate: 6% note: official government statistics show 21.4% growth, but these estimates are widely regarded as unreliable (2006 est.)
Geographic coordinates	18 30 N, 64 30 W	40 00 N, 60 00 E
Geography - note	strong ties to nearby US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico	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
Heliports	-	1 (2007)
Household income or consumption by percentage share	lowest 10%: NA% highest 10%: NA%	lowest 10%: 2.6% highest 10%: 31.7% (1998)
Illicit drugs	transshipment point for South American narcotics destined for the US and Europe; large offshore financial center makes it vulnerable to money laundering	transit country for Afghan narcotics bound for Russian and Western European markets; transit point for heroin precursor chemicals bound for Afghanistan
Imports	NA bbl/day	NA bbl/day
Imports - commodities	building materials, automobiles, foodstuffs, machinery	machinery and equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs
Imports - partners	Virgin Islands (US), Puerto Rico, US (2004)	UAE 15.5%, Turkey 11.1%, Ukraine 9.1%, Russia 9%, Germany 7.8%, Iran 7.6%, China 6.4%, US 4.5% (2006)
Independence	none (overseas territory of the UK)	27 October 1991 (from the Soviet Union)
Industrial production growth rate	NA%	22% (2003 est.)
Industries	tourism, light industry, construction, rum, concrete block, offshore financial center	natural gas, oil, petroleum products, textiles, food processing
Infant mortality rate	total: 16.72 deaths/1,000 live births male: 19.5 deaths/1,000 live births female: 13.79 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)	total: 53.49 deaths/1,000 live births male: 57.84 deaths/1,000 live births female: 48.91 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices)	2% (2005)	11.5% (2006 est.)
International organization participation	Caricom (associate), CDB, Interpol (subbureau), IOC, OECS (associate), UNESCO (associate), UPU	AsDB, CIS, EAPC, EBRD, ECO, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDB, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO (correspondent), ITU, MIGA, NAM, OIC, OPCW, OSCE, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO
Irrigated land	NA	18,000 sq km (2003)
Judicial branch	Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, consisting of the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal (one judge of the Supreme Court is a resident of the islands and presides over the High Court); Magistrate's Court; Juvenile Court; Court of Summary Jurisdiction	Supreme Court (judges are appointed by the president)
Labor force	12,770 (2004)	2.32 million (2003 est.)
Labor force - by occupation	agriculture: 0.6% industry: 40% services: 59.4%	agriculture: 48.2% industry: 13.8% services: 37% (2003 est.)
Land boundaries	0 km	total: 3,736 km border countries: Afghanistan 744 km, Iran 992 km, Kazakhstan 379 km, Uzbekistan 1,621 km
Land use	arable land: 20% permanent crops: 6.67% other: 73.33% (2005)	arable land: 4.51% permanent crops: 0.14% other: 95.35% (2005)
Languages	English (official)	Turkmen 72%, Russian 12%, Uzbek 9%, other 7%
Legal system	English law	based on civil law system and Islamic law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Legislative branch	unicameral Legislative Council (13 seats; members are elected by direct popular vote, 1 member from each of nine electoral districts, 4 at-large members; members serve four-year terms) elections: last held 16 May 2003 (next to be held in 2007) election results: percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - NDP 8, VIP 5	two parliamentary bodies, a People's Council or Halk Maslahaty (supreme legislative body of up to 2,500 delegates, some elected by popular vote and some appointed; meets at least yearly) and a National Assembly or Mejlis (50 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms) elections: People's Council - last held in April 2003 (next to be held in December 2008); Mejlis - last held 19 December 2004 (next to be held in December 2008) election results: Mejlis - DPT 100%; seats by party - DPT 50; note - all 50 elected officials are members of the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan and are preapproved by the president note: in late 2003, a law was adopted reducing the powers of the Mejlis and making the Halk Maslahaty the supreme legislative organ; the Halk Maslahaty can now legally dissolve the Mejlis, and the president is now able to participate in the Mejlis as its supreme leader; the Mejlis can no longer adopt or amend the constitution or announce referendums or its elections; since the president is both the "Chairman for Life" of the Halk Maslahaty and the supreme leader of the Mejlis, the 2003 law has the effect of making him the sole authority of both the executive and legislative branches of government
Life expectancy at birth	total population: 76.68 years male: 75.56 years female: 77.84 years (2006 est.)	total population: 68.3 years male: 65.23 years female: 71.54 years (2007 est.)
Literacy	definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 97.8% (1991 est.) male: NA% female: NA%	definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 98.8% male: 99.3% female: 98.3% (1999 est.)
Location	Caribbean, between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, east of Puerto Rico	Central Asia, bordering the Caspian Sea, between Iran and Kazakhstan
Map references	Central America and the Caribbean	Asia
Maritime claims	territorial sea: 3 nm exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm	none (landlocked)
Merchant marine	registered in other countries: 1 (North Korea 1) (2006)	total: 8 ships (1000 GRT or over) 22,870 GRT/25,801 DWT by type: cargo 4, combination ore/oil 1, petroleum tanker 2, refrigerated cargo 1 (2007)
Military - note	defense is the responsibility of the UK	-
Military branches	-	Ground Forces, Navy, Air and Air Defense Forces (2007)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP	-	3.4% (2005 est.)
National holiday	Territory Day, 1 July	Independence Day, 27 October (1991)
Nationality	noun: British Virgin Islander(s) adjective: British Virgin Islander	noun: Turkmen(s) adjective: Turkmenistani
Natural hazards	hurricanes and tropical storms (July to October)	NA
Natural resources	NEGL	petroleum, natural gas, sulfur, salt
Net migration rate	9.22 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)	-3.01 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Pipelines	-	gas 6,441 km; oil 1,361 km (2006)
Political parties and leaders	Concerned Citizens Movement or CCM [Ethlyn SMITH]; National Democratic Party or NDP [Orlando SMITH]; United Party or UP [Gregory MADURO]; Virgin Islands Party or VIP [Ralph T. O'NEAL]	Democratic Party of Turkmenistan or DPT note: formal opposition parties are outlawed; unofficial, small opposition movements exist underground or in foreign countries; the two most prominent opposition groups-in-exile have been National Democratic Movement of Turkmenistan (NDMT) and the United Democratic Party of Turkmenistan (UDPT); NDMT was led by former Foreign Minister Boris SHIKHMURADOV until his arrest and imprisonment in the wake of the 25 November 2002 assassination attempt on President NIYAZOV; UDPT is led by former Foreign Minister Abdy KULIEV and is based in Moscow
Political pressure groups and leaders	NA	NA
Population	23,098 (July 2006 est.)	5,097,028 (July 2007 est.)
Population below poverty line	NA%	27% (2002)
Population growth rate	1.97% (2006 est.)	1.617% (2007 est.)
Radio broadcast stations	AM 1, FM 5, shortwave 0 (2004)	AM 16, FM 8, shortwave 2 (1998)
Railways	-	total: 2,440 km broad gauge: 2,440 km 1.520-m gauge (2006)
Religions	Protestant 86% (Methodist 33%, Anglican 17%, Church of God 9%, Seventh-Day Adventist 6%, Baptist 4%, Jehovah's Witnesses 2%, other 15%), Roman Catholic 10%, none 2%, other 2% (1991)	Muslim 89%, Eastern Orthodox 9%, unknown 2%
Sex ratio	at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.03 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.06 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 1.1 male(s)/female total population: 1.05 male(s)/female (2006 est.)	at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.039 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.981 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.766 male(s)/female total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2007 est.)
Suffrage	18 years of age; universal	18 years of age; universal
Telephone system	general assessment: worldwide telephone service domestic: NA international: country code - 1-284; submarine cable to Bermuda	general assessment: poorly developed domestic: Turkmenistan's telecommunications network remains woefully underdeveloped; Turkmentelekom, in cooperation with foreign investors, is planning to upgrade the country's telephone exchanges and install a new digital switching system international: country code - 993; 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 (2006)
Telephones - main lines in use	11,700 (2002)	495,000 (2006)
Telephones - mobile cellular	8,000 (2002)	105,000 (2005)
Television broadcast stations	1 (plus one cable company) (1997)	4 (government-owned and programmed) (2004)
Terrain	coral islands relatively flat; volcanic islands steep, hilly	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	1.72 children born/woman (2006 est.)	3.13 children born/woman (2007 est.)
Unemployment rate	3.6% (1997)	60% (2004 est.)
Waterways	-	1,300 km (Amu Darya and Kara Kum canal important inland waterways) (2006)

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