Tajikistan (2005) | World (2001) | |
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Administrative divisions | 2 provinces (viloyatho, singular - viloyat) and 1 autonomous province* (viloyati mukhtor); Viloyati Mukhtori Kuhistoni Badakhshon* [Gorno-Badakhshan] (Khorugh), Viloyati Khatlon (Qurghonteppa), Viloyati Sughd (Khujand)
note: the administrative center name follows in parentheses |
267 nations, dependent areas, other, and miscellaneous entries |
Age structure | 0-14 years: 38.5% (male 1,390,220/female 1,368,268)
15-64 years: 56.7% (male 2,022,764/female 2,040,524) 65 years and over: 4.8% (male 150,372/female 191,358) (2005 est.) |
0-14 years:
29.6% (male 933,647,850; female 886,681,514) 15-64 years: 63.4% (male 1,975,418,386; female 1,931,021,694) 65 years and over: 7% (male 188,760,223; female 241,449,691) (2001 est.) |
Agriculture - products | cotton, grain, fruits, grapes, vegetables; cattle, sheep, goats | - |
Airports | 55 (2004 est.) | - |
Airports - with paved runways | total: 17
over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 4 1,524 to 2,437 m: 5 914 to 1,523 m: 3 under 914 m: 3 (2004 est.) |
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Airports - with unpaved runways | total: 38
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 2 under 914 m: 35 (2004 est.) |
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Area | total: 143,100 sq km
land: 142,700 sq km water: 400 sq km |
total:
510.072 million sq km land: 148.94 million sq km water: 361.132 million sq km note: 70.8% of the world's surface is water, 29.2% is land |
Area - comparative | slightly smaller than Wisconsin | land area about 16 times the size of the US |
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 has now completed its transition from the civil war that plagued the country from 1992 to 1997. There have been no major security incidents in recent years, although the country remains the poorest in the region. 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. | Globally, the 20th century was marked by: (a) two devastating world wars; (b) the Great Depression of the 1930s; (c) the end of vast colonial empires; (d) rapid advances in science and technology, from the first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina (US) to the landing on the moon; (e) the Cold War between the Western alliance and the Warsaw Pact nations; (f) a sharp rise in living standards in North America, Europe, and Japan; (g) increased concerns about the environment, including loss of forests, shortages of energy and water, the drop in biological diversity, and air pollution; (h) the onset of the AIDS epidemic; and (i) the ultimate emergence of the US as the only world superpower. The planet's population continues to explode: from 1 billion in 1820, to 2 billion in 1930, 3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1988, and 6 billion in 2000. For the 21st century, the continued exponential growth in science and technology raises both hopes (e.g., advances in medicine) and fears (e.g., development of even more lethal weapons of war). |
Birth rate | 32.58 births/1,000 population (2005 est.) | 21.37 births/1,000 population (2001 est.) |
Budget | revenues: $311.2 million
expenditures: $321.5 million, including capital expenditures of $86 million (2004 est.) |
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Capital | Dushanbe | - |
Climate | midlatitude continental, hot summers, mild winters; semiarid to polar in Pamir Mountains | two large areas of polar climates separated by two rather narrow temperate zones from a wide equatorial band of tropical to subtropical climates |
Coastline | 0 km (landlocked) | 356,000 km |
Constitution | 6 November 1994 | - |
Country name | conventional long form: Republic of Tajikistan
conventional short form: Tajikistan local long form: Jumhurii Tojikiston local short form: Tojikiston former: Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic |
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Death rate | 8.39 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.) | 8.93 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.) |
Debt - external | $888 million (2004 est.) | $2 trillion for less developed countries (2000 est.) |
Diplomatic representation from the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Richard E. HOAGLAND
embassy: 10 Pavlova Street, Dushanbe, Tajikistan 734003; note - the embassy in Dushanbe is not yet fully operational; most business is still handled in Almaty at: 531 Sayfullin Street, Almaty, Kazakhstan, telephone 7-3272-58-79-61, FAX 7-3272-58-79-68 mailing address: use embassy street address telephone: [992] (372) 21-03-48, 21-03-52, 24-15-60 FAX: [992] (372) 21-03-62, 51-00-28 |
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Diplomatic representation in the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Hamrohon ZARIPOV
chancery: 1725 K Street NW, Suite 409, Washington, DC 20006 telephone: [1] (202) 223-6090 FAX: [1] (202) 223-6091 |
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Disputes - international | boundary agreements signed in 2002 cede 1,000 sq km of Pamir Mountain range to China in return for China relinquishing claims to 28,000 sq km of Tajikistani lands but neither state has published maps of ceded areas and demarcation has not yet commenced; talks continue with Uzbekistan to delimit border and remove minefields; disputes in Isfara Valley delay delimitation with Kyrgyzstan | - |
Economic aid - recipient | $60.7 million from US (2001) | traditional worldwide foreign aid $50 billion (1997 est.) |
Economy - overview | Tajikistan has one of the lowest per capita GDPs among the 15 former Soviet republics. Only 5% to 6% 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. Even though 60% of its people continue to live in abject poverty, Tajikistan has experienced steady economic growth since 1997. Continued privatization of medium and large state-owned enterprises will further increase productivity. Tajikistan's economic situation, however, remains fragile due to uneven implementation of structural reforms, weak governance, widespread unemployment, and the external debt burden. A debt restructuring agreement was reached with Russia in December 2002, including an interest rate of 4%, a 3-year grace period, and a US $49.8 million credit to the Central Bank of Tajikistan. | Growth in global output (gross world product, GWP) rose to 4.8% in 2000 from 3.5% in 1999, despite continued low growth in Japan, severe financial difficulties in other East Asian countries, and widespread dislocations in several transition economies. The US economy continued its remarkable sustained prosperity, growing at 5% in 2000, although growth slowed in fourth quarter 2000; the US accounted for 23% of GWP. The EU economies grew at 3.3% and produced 20% of GWP. China, the second largest economy in the world, continued its strong growth and accounted for 10% of GWP. Japan grew at only 1.3% in 2000; its share in GWP is 7%. As usual, the 15 successor nations of the USSR and the other old Warsaw Pact nations experienced widely different rates of growth. The developing nations also varied in their growth results, with many countries facing population increases that eat up gains in output. Externally, the nation-state, as a bedrock economic-political institution, is steadily losing control over international flows of people, goods, funds, and technology. Internally, the central government often finds its control over resources slipping as separatist regional movements - typically based on ethnicity - gain momentum, e.g., in many of the successor states of the former Soviet Union, in the former Yugoslavia, in India, and in Canada. In Western Europe, governments face the difficult political problem of channeling resources away from welfare programs in order to increase investment and strengthen incentives to seek employment. The addition of 80 million people each year to an already overcrowded globe is exacerbating the problems of pollution, desertification, underemployment, epidemics, and famine. Because of their own internal problems and priorities, the industrialized countries devote insufficient resources to deal effectively with the poorer areas of the world, which, at least from the economic point of view, are becoming further marginalized. Continued financial difficulties in East Asia, Russia, and many African nations, as well as the slowdown in US economic growth, cast a shadow over short-term global economic prospects; GWP probably will grow at 3-4% in 2001. The introduction of the euro as the common currency of much of Western Europe in January 1999, while paving the way for an integrated economic powerhouse, poses serious economic risks because of varying levels of income and cultural and political differences among the participating nations. (For specific economic developments in each country of the world in 2000, see the individual country entries.) |
Electricity - consumption | 14.41 billion kWh (2002) | - |
Electricity - exports | 3.974 billion kWh (2002) | - |
Electricity - imports | 4.359 billion kWh (2002) | - |
Electricity - production | 15.08 billion kWh (2002) | - |
Electricity - production by source | - | fossil fuel:
NA% hydro: NA% nuclear: NA% other: NA% |
Elevation extremes | lowest point: Syr Darya (Sirdaryo) 300 m
highest point: Qullai Ismoili Somoni 7,495 m |
lowest point:
Bentley Subglacial Trench -2,540 m highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m (1999 est.) |
Environment - current issues | inadequate sanitation facilities; increasing levels of soil salinity; industrial pollution; excessive pesticides | large areas subject to overpopulation, industrial disasters, pollution (air, water, acid rain, toxic substances), loss of vegetation (overgrazing, deforestation, desertification), loss of wildlife, soil degradation, soil depletion, erosion |
Environment - international agreements | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Environmental Modification, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
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Ethnic groups | Tajik 79.9%, Uzbek 15.3%, Russian 1.1%, Kyrgyz 1.1%, other 2.6% (2000 census) | - |
Exchange rates | Tajikistani somoni per US dollar - 2.9705 (2004), 3.0614 (2003), 2.7641 (2002), 2.3722 (2001), 2.0763 (2000)
note: the new unit of exchange was introduced on 30 October 2000, with one somoni equal to 1,000 of the old Tajikistani rubles |
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Executive branch | chief of state: President Emomali RAHMONOV (since 6 November 1994; head of state and Supreme Assembly chairman since 19 November 1992)
head of government: Prime Minister Oqil OQILOV (since 20 January 1999) cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president, approved by the Supreme Assembly elections: president elected by popular vote for a seven-year term; election last held 6 November 1999 (next to be held NA 2006); prime minister appointed by the president; Tajikistan held a constitutional referendum on 22 June 2003 that, among other things, set a limit of two seven-year terms for the president election results: Emomali RAHMONOV elected president; percent of vote - Emomali RAHMONOV 97%, Davlat USMON 2% |
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Exports | NA | $6 trillion (f.o.b., 2000 est.) |
Exports - commodities | aluminum, electricity, cotton, fruits, vegetable oil, textiles | the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services |
Exports - partners | Netherlands 41.4%, Turkey 15.3%, Uzbekistan 7.2%, Latvia 7.1%, Switzerland 6.9%, Russia 6.6% (2004) | in value, about 75% of exports from the developed countries |
Fiscal year | calendar year | - |
Flag description | three horizontal stripes of red (top), a wider stripe of white, and green; a gold crown surmounted by seven gold, five-pointed stars is located in the center of the white stripe | - |
GDP | - | GWP (gross world product) - purchasing power parity - $43.6 trillion (2000 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 23.7%
industry: 24.3% services: 52% (2004 est.) |
agriculture:
4% industry: 32% services: 64% (1999 est.) |
GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $1,100 (2004 est.) | purchasing power parity - $7,200 (2000 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate | 10.5% (2004 est.) | 4.8% (2000 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 39 00 N, 71 00 E | - |
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 | - |
Highways | total: 27,767 km
paved: NA unpaved: NA (2000) |
total:
NA km paved: NA km unpaved: NA km |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: 3.2%
highest 10%: 25.2% (1998) |
lowest 10%:
NA% highest 10%: NA% |
Illicit drugs | 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 percent of all drugs captured in Central Asia and stands third worldwide in seizures of opiates (heroin and raw opium) | - |
Imports | NA | $6 trillion (f.o.b., 2000 est.) |
Imports - commodities | electricity, petroleum products, aluminum oxide, machinery and equipment, foodstuffs | the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services |
Imports - partners | Russia 20.2%, Uzbekistan 14.2%, Kazakhstan 12.8%, Azerbaijan 7.2%, US 6.7%, China 4.8%, Ukraine 4.5% (2004) | in value, about 75% of imports by the developed countries |
Independence | 9 September 1991 (from Soviet Union) | - |
Industrial production growth rate | 8.2% (2002 est.) | 6% (2000 est.) |
Industries | aluminum, zinc, lead, chemicals and fertilizers, cement, vegetable oil, metal-cutting machine tools, refrigerators and freezers | dominated by the onrush of technology, especially in computers, robotics, telecommunications, and medicines and medical equipment; most of these advances take place in OECD nations; only a small portion of non-OECD countries have succeeded in rapidly adjusting to these technological forces; the accelerated development of new industrial (and agricultural) technology is complicating already grim environmental problems |
Infant mortality rate | total: 110.76 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 122.35 deaths/1,000 live births female: 98.6 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.) |
52.61 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 8% (2004 est.) | all countries 25%; developed countries 1% to 3% typically; developing countries 5% to 60% typically (2000 est.)
note: national inflation rates vary widely in individual cases, from stable prices in Japan to hyperinflation in a number of Third World countries |
International organization participation | AsDB, CIS, EAPC, EBRD, ECO, FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO (subscriber), ITU, MIGA, OIC, OPCW, OSCE, PFP, SCO, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO (observer) | - |
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | - | 10,350 (2000 est.) |
Irrigated land | 7,200 sq km (1998 est.) | 2,481,250 sq km (1993 est.) |
Judicial branch | Supreme Court (judges are appointed by the president) | - |
Labor force | 3.187 million (2000) | NA |
Labor force - by occupation | agriculture 67.2%, industry 7.5%, services 25.3% (2000 est.) | agricultue NA%, industry NA%, services NA% |
Land boundaries | total: 3,651 km
border countries: Afghanistan 1,206 km, China 414 km, Kyrgyzstan 870 km, Uzbekistan 1,161 km |
the land boundaries in the world total 251,480.24 km (not counting shared boundaries twice) |
Land use | arable land: 6.61%
permanent crops: 0.92% other: 92.47% (2001) |
arable land:
10% permanent crops: 1% permanent pastures: 26% forests and woodland: 32% other: 31% (1993 est.) |
Languages | Tajik (official), Russian widely used in government and business | - |
Legal system | based on civil law system; no judicial review of legislative acts | all members of the UN plus Switzerland are parties to the statute that established the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or World Court |
Legislative branch | bicameral Supreme Assembly or Majlisi Oli consists of the Assembly of Representatives (lower chamber) or Majlisi Namoyandagon (63 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms) and the National Assembly (upper chamber) or Majlisi Milliy (33 seats; members are indirectly elected, 25 selected by local deputies, 8 appointed by the president; all serve five-year terms)
elections: last held 27 February and 13 March 2000 for the Assembly of Representatives (next to be held NA 2010) and 23 March 2000 for the National Assembly (next to be held NA 2005) election results: Assembly of Representatives - percent of vote by party - PDPT 74%, CPT 13%, Islamic Revival Party 8%, other 5%; seats by party - PDPT 49, CPT 4, Islamic Revival Party 2, independents 5, vacant 3; National Assembly - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - NA |
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Life expectancy at birth | total population: 64.56 years
male: 61.68 years female: 67.59 years (2005 est.) |
total population:
63.79 years male: 62.15 years female: 65.51 years (2001 est.) |
Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99.4% male: 99.6% female: 99.1% (2003 est.) |
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Location | Central Asia, west of China | - |
Map references | Asia | World, Time Zones |
Maritime claims | none (landlocked) | contiguous zone:
24 NM claimed by most, but can vary continental shelf: 200-m depth claimed by most or to depth of exploitation; others claim 200 NM or to the edge of the continental margin exclusive fishing zone: 200 NM claimed by most, but can vary exclusive economic zone: 200 NM claimed by most, but can vary territorial sea: 12 NM claimed by most, but can vary note: boundary situations with neighboring states prevent many countries from extending their fishing or economic zones to a full 200 NM; 43 nations and other areas that are landlocked include Afghanistan, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Holy See (Vatican City), Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, Paraguay, Rwanda, San Marino, Slovakia, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tajikistan, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, West Bank, Zambia, Zimbabwe |
Military branches | Army, Air Force, Air Defense Force | - |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | $35.4 million (FY01) | aggregate real expenditure on arms worldwide in 1999 remained at approximately the 1998 level, about three-quarters of a trillion dollars (1999 est.) |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 3.9% (FY01) | roughly 2% of gross world product (1999 est.) |
National holiday | Independence Day (or National Day), 9 September (1991) | - |
Nationality | noun: Tajikistani(s)
adjective: Tajikistani |
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Natural hazards | earthquakes and floods | large areas subject to severe weather (tropical cyclones), natural disasters (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions) |
Natural resources | hydropower, some petroleum, uranium, mercury, brown coal, lead, zinc, antimony, tungsten, silver, gold | the rapid using up of nonrenewable mineral resources, the depletion of forest areas and wetlands, the extinction of animal and plant species, and the deterioration in air and water quality (especially in Eastern Europe, the former USSR, and China) pose serious long-term problems that governments and peoples are only beginning to address |
Net migration rate | -2.67 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.) | - |
Pipelines | gas 541 km; oil 38 km (2004) | - |
Political parties and leaders | Democratic Party or DPT [Mahmadruzi ISKANDAROV]; Islamic Revival Party [Said Abdullo NURI]; People's Democratic Party of Tajikistan or PDPT [Emomali RAHMONOV]; Social Democratic Party or SDPT [Rahmatullo ZOIROV]; Socialist Party or SPT [Mirhuseyn NAZRIYEV]; Tajik Communist Party or CPT [Shodi SHABDOLOV] | - |
Political pressure groups and leaders | there are three unregistered political parties: Agrarian Party or APT [Hikmatullo NASRIDDINOV]; Progressive Party [Sulton QUVVATOV]; Unity Party [Hikmatullo SAIDOV] | - |
Population | 7,163,506 (July 2005 est.) | 6,157,400,560 (July 2001 est.) |
Population below poverty line | 60% (2004 est.) | - |
Population growth rate | 2.15% (2005 est.) | 1.25% (2001 est.) |
Ports and harbors | - | Chiba, Houston, Kawasaki, Kobe, Marseille, Mina' al Ahmadi (Kuwait), New Orleans, New York, Rotterdam, Yokohama |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 8, FM 10, shortwave 2 (2002) | AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA |
Radios | - | NA |
Railways | total: 482 km
broad gauge: 482 km 1.520-m gauge (2004) |
total:
1,201,337 km includes about 190,000 to 195,000 km of electrified routes of which 147,760 km are in Europe, 24,509 km in the Far East, 11,050 km in Africa, 4,223 km in South America, and 4,160 km in North America; note - fastest speed in daily service is 300 km/hr attained by France's Societe Nationale des Chemins-de-Fer Francais (SNCF) Le Train a Grande Vitesse (TGV) - Atlantique line broad gauge: 251,153 km standard gauge: 710,754 km narrow gauge: 239,430 km |
Religions | Sunni Muslim 85%, Shi'a Muslim 5%, other 10% (2003 est.) | - |
Sex ratio | at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.02 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.79 male(s)/female total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2005 est.) |
at birth:
1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.78 male(s)/female total population: 1.05 male(s)/female (2001 est.) |
Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal | - |
Telephone system | general assessment: poorly developed and not well maintained; many towns are not linked to the national network
domestic: cable and microwave radio relay 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 |
general assessment:
NA domestic: NA international: NA |
Telephones - main lines in use | 242,100 (2003) | NA |
Telephones - mobile cellular | 47,600 (2003) | NA |
Television broadcast stations | 13 (2001) | NA |
Terrain | Pamir and Alay Mountains dominate landscape; western Fergana Valley in north, Kofarnihon and Vakhsh Valleys in southwest | the greatest ocean depth is the Mariana Trench at 10,924 m in the Pacific Ocean |
Total fertility rate | 4.05 children born/woman (2005 est.) | 2.73 children born/woman (2001 est.) |
Unemployment rate | 40% (2002 est.) | 30% combined unemployment and underemployment in many non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically 4%-12% unemployment (2000 est.) |
Waterways | 200 km (along Vakhsh River) (2003) | - |