Kyrgyzstan

Geography

Location: Central Asia, west of China

Map references: Commonwealth of Independent States - Central Asian States

Area:
total area: 198,500 sq km
land area: 191,300 sq km
comparative area: slightly smaller than South Dakota

Land boundaries: total 3,878 km, China 858 km, Kazakhstan 1,051 km, Tajikistan 870 km, Uzbekistan 1,099 km

Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)

Maritime claims: none; landlocked

International disputes: territorial dispute with Tajikistan on southwestern boundary in Isfara Valley area

Climate: dry continental to polar in high Tien Shan; subtropical in southwest (Fergana Valley); temperate in northern foothill zone

Terrain: peaks of Tien Shan rise to 7,000 meters, and associated valleys and basins encompass entire nation

Natural resources: abundant hydroelectric potential; significant deposits of gold and rare earth metals; locally exploitable coal, oil and natural gas; other deposits of nepheline, mercury, bismuth, lead, and zinc

Land use:
arable land: 7%
permanent crops: NEGL%
meadows and pastures: 42%
forest and woodland: 0%
other: 51%

Irrigated land: 10,320 sq km (1990)

Environment:
current issues: water pollution; many people get their water directly from contaminated streams and wells, as a result, water-borne diseases are prevalent; increasing soil salinity from faulty irrigation practices
natural hazards: NA
international agreements: NA

Note: landlocked

People

Population: 4,769,877 (July 1995 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 37% (female 868,108; male 888,479)
15-64 years: 57% (female 1,377,221; male 1,345,990)
65 years and over: 6% (female 185,807; male 104,272) (July 1995 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.5% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 25.97 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Death rate: 7.32 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Net migration rate: -3.66 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 45.8 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 68.13 years
male: 63.92 years
female: 72.56 years (1995 est.)

Total fertility rate: 3.31 children born/woman (1995 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Kyrgyz(s)
adjective: Kyrgyz

Ethnic divisions: Kirghiz 52.4%, Russian 21.5%, Uzbek 12.9%, Ukrainian 2.5%, German 2.4%, other 8.3%

Religions: Muslim 70%, Russian Orthodox NA%

Languages: Kirghiz (Kyrgyz) - official language, Russian widely used

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1989)
total population: 97%
male: 99%
female: 96%

Labor force: 1.836 million
by occupation: agriculture and forestry 38%, industry and construction 21%, other 41% (1990)

Government

Names:
conventional long form: Kyrgyz Republic
conventional short form: Kyrgyzstan
local long form: Kyrgyz Respublikasy
local short form: none
former: Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic

Digraph: KG

Type: republic

Capital: Bishkek

Administrative divisions: 6 oblasttar (singular - oblast) and 1 city* (singular - shaar); Bishkek Shaary*, Chuy Oblasty (Bishkek), Jalal-Abad Oblasty, Naryn Oblasty, Osh Oblasty, Talas Oblasty, Ysyk-Kol Oblasty (Karakol)
note: names in parentheses are administrative centers when name differs from oblast name

Independence: 31 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)

National holiday: National Day, 2 December; Independence Day, 31 August (1991)

Constitution: adopted 5 May 1993

Legal system: based on civil law system

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch:
chief of state: President Askar AKAYEV (since 28 October 1990); election last held 12 October 1991 (next to be held NA 1996); results - Askar AKAYEV won in uncontested election with 95% of vote and with 90% of electorate voting; note - president elected by Supreme Soviet 28 October 1990, then by popular vote 12 October 1991; AKAYEV won 96% of the vote in a referendum on his status as president on 30 January 1994
head of government: Prime Minister Apas DJUMAGULOV (since NA December 1993)
cabinet: Cabinet of Ministers; subordinate to the president

Legislative branch: bicameral
Assembly of Legislatures: elections last held 5 February 1995 (next to be held no later than NA 1998); 35-member house to which 19 members have been elected so far; next round of runoffs scheduled for 19 April 1995
Assembly of Representatives: elections last held 5 February 1995 (next to be held no later than NA 1998); 70-member house to which 60 members have been elected so far; next round of runoffs scheduled for 19 April 1995
note: the legislature became bicameral for the 5 February 1995 elections

Judicial branch: Supreme Court

Political parties and leaders: Social Democratic Party (SDP), Ishenbai KADYRBEKOV, chairman; Democratic Movement of Kyrgyzstan (DMK), Kazat AKHMATOV, chairman; National Unity, German KUZNETSOV; Communist Party of Kyrgyzstan (PCK), Sherali SYDYKOV, chairman; Democratic Movement of Free Kyrgyzstan (ErK), Topchubek TURGUNALIYEV, chairman; Republican Popular Party of Kyrgyzstan; Agrarian Party of Kyrgyzstan, A. ALIYEV

Other political or pressure groups: National Unity Democratic Movement; Peasant Party; Council of Free Trade Unions; Union of Entrepreneurs; Agrarian Party

Member of: AsDB, CIS, EBRD, ECE, ECO, ESCAP, FAO, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IOC, IOM (observer), ITU, NACC, OIC, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WTO

Diplomatic representation in US:
chief of mission: (vacant); Charge d'Affaires ad interim Almas CHUKIN
chancery: (temporary) Suite 705, 1511 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20005
telephone: [1] (202) 347-3732, 3733, 3718
FAX: [1] (202) 347-3718

US diplomatic representation:
chief of mission: Ambassador Eileen A. MALLOY
embassy: Erkindik Prospekt #66, Bishkek 720002
mailing address: use embassy street address
telephone: [7] (3312) 22-29-20, 22-27-77, 22-26-31, 22-24-73
FAX: [7] (3312) 22-35-51

Flag: red field with a yellow sun in the center having 40 rays representing the 40 Kirghiz tribes; on the obverse side the rays run counterclockwise, on the reverse, clockwise; in the center of the sun is a red ring crossed by two sets of three lines, a stylized representation of the roof of the traditional Kirghiz yurt

Economy

Overview: Kyrgyzstan is one of the smallest and poorest states of the former Soviet Union. Its economy is heavily agricultural, growing cotton and tobacco on irrigated land in the south and grain in the foothills of the north and raising sheep and goats on mountain pastures. Its small and obsolescent industrial sector, concentrated around Bishkek, has traditionally relied on Russia and other CIS countries for customers and industrial inputs, including most of its fuel. Since 1990, the economy has contracted by almost 50% as subsidies from Moscow vanished and trade links with other former Soviet republics eroded. At the same time, the Kyrgyz government stuck to tight monetary and fiscal policies in 1994 that succeeded in reducing inflation from 23% per month in 1993 to 5.4% per month in 1994. Moreover, Kyrgyzstan has been the most successful of the Central Asian states in reducing state controls over the economy and privatizing state industries. Nevertheless, restructuring proved to be a slow and painful process in 1994 despite relatively large flows of foreign aid and continued progress on economic reform. The decline in output in 1995 may be much smaller, perhaps 5%, compared with an estimated 24% in 1994.

National product: GDP - purchasing power parity - $8.4 billion (1994 estimate as extrapolated from World Bank estimate for 1992)

National product real growth rate: -24% (1994 est.)

National product per capita: $1,790 (1994 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 5.4% per month (1994 est.)

Unemployment rate: 0.7% includes officially registered unemployed; also large numbers of unregistered unemployed and underemployed workers (1994)

Budget:
revenues: $NA
expenditures: $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA

Exports: $116 million to countries outside the FSU (1994)
commodities: wool, chemicals, cotton, ferrous and nonferrous metals, shoes, machinery, tobacco
partners: Russia 70%, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and others

Imports: $92.4 million from countries outside the FSU (1994)
commodities: grain, lumber, industrial products, ferrous metals, fuel, machinery, textiles, footwear
partners: other CIS republics

External debt: $NA

Industrial production: growth rate -24% (1994 est.)

Electricity:
capacity: 3,660,000 kW
production: 12.7 billion kWh
consumption per capita: 2,700 kWh (1994)

Industries: small machinery, textiles, food-processing industries, cement, shoes, sawn logs, refrigerators, furniture, electric motors, gold, and rare earth metals

Agriculture: wool, tobacco, cotton, livestock (sheep, goats, cattle), vegetables, meat, grapes, fruits and berries, eggs, milk, potatoes

Illicit drugs: illicit cultivator of cannabis and opium poppy; mostly for CIS consumption; limited government eradication program; used as transshipment point for illicit drugs to Western Europe and North America from Southwest Asia

Economic aid:
recipient: IMF aid commitments were $80 million in 1993 and $400 million in 1994

Currency: introduced national currency, the som (10 May 1993)

Exchange rates: soms per US$1 - 10.6 (yearend 1994)

Fiscal year: calendar year

Transportation

Railroads:
total: 370 km in common carrier service; does not include industrial lines
broad gauge: 370 km 1.520-m gauge (1990)

Highways:
total: 30,300 km
paved and graveled: 22,600 km
unpaved: earth 7,700 km (1990)

Pipelines: natural gas 200 km

Ports: Ysyk-Kol (Rybach'ye)

Airports:
total: 54
with paved runways over 3,047 m: 1
with paved runways 2,438 to 3,047 m: 3
with paved runways 1,524 to 2,437 m: 9
with paved runways under 914 m: 1
with unpaved runways 1,524 to 2,438 m: 4
with unpaved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 4
with unpaved runways under 914 m: 32

Communications

Telephone system: 342,000 telephones (1991); 76 telephones/1,000 persons (December 1991); poorly developed; about 100,000 unsatisfied applications for household telephones
local: NA
intercity: principally by microwave radio relay
international: connections with other CIS countries by landline or microwave and with other countries by leased connections with Moscow international gateway switch and by satellite; 1 GORIZONT and 1 INTELSAT satellite link through Ankara to 200 other countries

Radio:
broadcast stations: AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA
radios: 825,000 (radio receiver systems with multiple speakers for program diffusion 748,000)

Television:
broadcast stations: NA; note - receives Turkish broadcasts
televisions: 875,000

Defense Forces

Branches: National Guard, Security Forces (internal and border troops), Civil Defense

Manpower availability: males age 15-49 1,154,683; males fit for military service 934,167; males reach military age (18) annually 44,526 (1995 est.)

Defense expenditures: $NA, NA% of GDP