Tajikistan

Note--Tajikistan has experienced three changes of government since it gained independence in September 1991. The current president, Emomali RAKHMONOV, was elected to the presidency in November 1994, yet has been in power since 1992. The country is suffering through its third year of a civil war, with no clear end in sight. Underlying the conflict are deeply-rooted regional and clan-based animosities that pit a government consisting of people primarily from the Kulob (Kulyab), Khujand (Leninabad), and Hisor (Hissar) regions against a secular and Islamic-led opposition from the Gharm, Gorno-Badakhshan, and Qurghonteppa (Kurgan-Tyube) regions. Government and opposition representatives have held periodic rounds of UN-mediated peace talks and agreed in September 1994 to a cease-fire. Russian-led peacekeeping troops are deployed throughout the country, and Russian border guards are stationed along the Tajik-Afghan border.

Geography

Location: Central Asia, west of China

Map references: Commonwealth of Independent States - Central Asian States

Area:
total area: 143,100 sq km
land area: 142,700 sq km
comparative area: slightly smaller than Wisconsin

Land boundaries: total 3,651 km, Afghanistan 1,206 km, China 414 km, Kyrgyzstan 870 km, Uzbekistan 1,161 km

Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)

Maritime claims: none; landlocked

International disputes: boundary with China in dispute; territorial dispute with Kyrgyzstan on northern boundary in Isfara Valley area; Afghanistan's and other foreign support to Tajik rebels based in northern Afghanistan

Climate: midlatitude continental, hot summers, mild winters; semiarid to polar in Pamir Mountains

Terrain: Pamir and Altay Mountains dominate landscape; western Fergana Valley in north, Kofarnihon and Vakhsh Valleys in southwest

Natural resources: significant hydropower potential, some petroleum, uranium, mercury, brown coal, lead, zinc, antimony, tungsten

Land use:
arable land: 6%
permanent crops: 0%
meadows and pastures: 23%
forest and woodland: 0%
other: 71%

Irrigated land: 6,940 sq km (1990)

Environment:
current issues: inadequate sanitation facilities; increasing levels of soil salinity; industrial pollution; excessive pesticides; part of the basin of the shrinking Aral Sea which suffers from severe overutilization of available water for irrigation and associated pollution
natural hazards: NA
international agreements: NA

Note: landlocked

People

Population: 6,155,474 (July 1995 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 43% (female 1,303,627; male 1,340,086)
15-64 years: 53% (female 1,612,429; male 1,624,379)
65 years and over: 4% (female 157,841; male 117,112) (July 1995 est.)

Population growth rate: 2.6% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 34.06 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Death rate: 6.58 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Net migration rate: -1.44 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 60.4 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 69.03 years
male: 66.11 years
female: 72.1 years (1995 est.)

Total fertility rate: 4.55 children born/woman (1995 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Tajik(s)
adjective: Tajik

Ethnic divisions: 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: age 15 and over can read and write (1989)
total population: 98%
male: 99%
female: 97%

Labor force: 1.95 million (1992)
by occupation: agriculture and forestry 43%, government and services 24%, industry 14%, trade and communications 11%, construction 8% (1990)

Government

Names:
conventional long form: Republic of Tajikistan
conventional short form: Tajikistan
local long form: Jumhurii Tojikistan
local short form: none
former: Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic

Digraph: TI

Type: republic

Capital: Dushanbe

Administrative divisions: 2 oblasts (viloyatho, singular - viloyat) and one autonomous oblast* (viloyati avtonomii); Viloyati Avtonomii Badakhshoni Kuni* (Khorugh - formerly Khorog), Viloyati Khatlon (Qurghonteppa - formerly Kurgan-Tyube), Viloyati Leninobad (Khujand - formerly Leninabad)
note: the administrative center names are in parentheses

Independence: 9 September 1991 (from Soviet Union)

National holiday: National Day, 9 September (1991)

Constitution: new constitution adopted 6 November 1994

Legal system: based on civil law system; no judicial review of legislative acts

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch:
chief of state: President Emomili RAKHMONOV (since 6 November 1994; was Head of State and Assembly Chairman since NA November 1992); election last held 6 November 1994 (next to be held NA 1998); results - Emomili RAKHMONOV 58%, Abdumalik ABDULLAJANOV 40%
head of government: Prime Minister Jamshed KARIMOV (since 2 December 1994)
cabinet: Council of Ministers

Legislative branch: unicameral
Supreme Soviet: elections last held 26 February 1994 (next to be held NA); results - percent of vote by party NA; estimated seats - (181 total) Communist Party and affiliates 100, Popular Party 10, Party of Political and Economic Progress 1, Party of Popular Unity 6, other 64

Judicial branch: Prosecutor General

Political parties and leaders: Communist Party (People's Party of Tajikistan - PPT), Abdumalik ABDULAJANOV; Party of Economic Freedom (PEF), Abdumalik ABDULAJANOV; Tajik Socialist Party (TSP), Shodi SHABDOLOV; Tajik Democratic Party (TDP), Abdu-Nabi SATARZADE, chairman; note - suspended for six months; Islamic Renaissance Party (IRP), Sayed Abdullo NURI, chairman; Rebirth (Rastokhez), Takhir ABDUZHABOROV; Lali Badakhshan Society, Atobek AMIRBEK; People's Democratic Party (PDP), Abdujalil HAMIDOV, chairman; Tajikistan Party of Economic and Political Renewal (TPEPR), Mukhtor BOBOYEV
note: all the above-listed parties except the Communist Party, the Party of National Unity, and the People's Party were banned in June 1993

Other political or pressure groups: Tajikistan Opposition Movement based in northern Afghanistan

Member of: CIS, EBRD, ECO, ESCAP, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IDB, IFAD, ILO, IMF, INTELSAT (nonsignatory user), IOC, IOM (observer), ITU, NACC, OIC, OSCE, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO

Diplomatic representation in US:
chief of mission: NA
chancery: NA
telephone: NA

US diplomatic representation:
chief of mission: Ambassador Stanley T. ESCUDERO
embassy: Interim Chancery, #39 Ainii Street, Oktyabrskaya Hotel, Dushanbe
mailing address: use embassy street address
telephone: [7] (3772) 21-03-56

Flag: three horizontal stripes of red (top), a wider stripe of white, and green; a crown surmounted by seven five-pointed stars is located in the center of the white stripe

Economy

Overview: Tajikistan had the next-to-lowest per capita GDP in the former USSR, the highest rate of population growth, and an extremely low standard of living. Agriculture dominates the economy, cotton being 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 three years of civil war and by the loss of subsidies and markets for its products, which has left Tajikistan dependent on Russia and Uzbekistan and on international humanitarian assistance for much of its basic subsistence needs. Moreover, constant political turmoil and the continued dominance by former Communist officials have impeded the introduction of meaningful economic reforms. In the meantime, Tajikistan's efforts to adopt the Russian ruble as its domestic currency despite Russia's unwillingness to supply sufficient rubles left the country in a severe monetary crisis throughout 1994, keeping inflation low but leaving workers and pensioners unpaid for months at a time. The government has announced plans to introduce its own currency in 1995 to help resolve the problem.

National product: GDP - purchasing power parity - $8.5 billion (1994 estimate as extrapolated from World Bank estimate for 1992)

National product real growth rate: -12% (1994 est.)

National product per capita: $1,415 (1994 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): NA%

Unemployment rate: 1.5% includes only officially registered unemployed; also large numbers of underemployed workers and unregistered unemployed people (September 1994)

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

Exports: $320 million to outside the FSU countries (1994)
commodities: cotton, aluminum, fruits, vegetable oil, textiles
partners: Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan

Imports: $318 million from outside the FSU countries (1994)
commodities: fuel, chemicals, machinery and transport equipment, textiles, foodstuffs
partners: Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan

External debt: $NA

Industrial production: growth rate -31% (1994)

Electricity:
capacity: 3,800,000 kW
production: 17 billion kWh
consumption per capita: 2,800 kWh (1994)

Industries: aluminum, zinc, lead, chemicals and fertilizers, cement, vegetable oil, metal-cutting machine tools, refrigerators and freezers

Agriculture: cotton, grain, fruits, grapes, vegetables; cattle, sheep and goats

Illicit drugs: illicit cultivation of cannabis and opium poppy; mostly for CIS consumption; used as transshipment points for illicit drugs from Southwest Asia to Western Europe and North America

Economic aid:
recipient: Russia and Uzbekistan reportedly provided substantial general assistance throughout 1993 and 1994; Western aid and credits promised through the end of 1993 were $700 million but disbursements were only $104 million; large scale development loans await IMF approval of a reform and stabilization plan

Currency: 1 ruble (R) = 100 kopeks; Tajikistan uses the Russian ruble as its currency by agreement with Russia; government has plans to introduce its own currency, the Tajik ruble, in 1995

Exchange rates: NA

Fiscal year: calendar year

Transportation

Railroads:
total: 480 km in common carrier service; does not include industrial lines (1990)

Highways:
total: 29,900 km
paved: 21,400 km
unpaved: earth 8,500 km (1990)

Pipelines: natural gas 400 km (1992)

Ports: none

Airports:
total: 59
with paved runways over 3,047 m: 1
with paved runways 2,438 to 3,047 m: 5
with paved runways 1,524 to 2,437 m: 7
with paved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 1
with unpaved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 9
with unpaved runways under 914 m: 36

Communications

Telephone system: 303,000 telephones (December 1991); about 55 telephones/1,000 persons (1991); poorly developed and not well maintained; many towns are not reached by the national network
local: NA
intercity: cable and microwave radio relay
international: linked by cable and microwave to other CIS republics, and by leased connections to the Moscow international gateway switch; Dushanbe linked by INTELSAT to international gateway switch in Ankara; 1 Orbita and 2 INTELSAT earth stations

Radio:
broadcast stations: AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA
radios: NA

Television:
broadcast stations: NA
televisions: NA
note: 1 INTELSAT earth station provides TV receive-only service from Turkey

Defense Forces

Branches: Army (being formed), National Guard, Security Forces (internal and border troops)

Manpower availability: males age 15-49 1,410,229; males fit for military service 1,153,638; males reach military age (18) annually 57,942 (1995 est.)

Defense expenditures: $NA, NA% of GDP