Uzbekistan

Geography

Location: Central Asia, north of Afghanistan

Map references: Commonwealth of Independent States - Central Asian States

Area:
total area: 447,400 sq km
land area: 425,400 sq km
comparative area: slightly larger than California

Land boundaries: total 6,221 km, Afghanistan 137 km, Kazakhstan 2,203 km, Kyrgyzstan 1,099 km, Tajikistan 1,161 km, Turkmenistan 1,621 km

Coastline: 0 km
note: Uzbekistan borders the Aral Sea (420 km)

Maritime claims: none; landlocked

International disputes: none

Climate: mostly midlatitude desert, long, hot summers, mild winters; semiarid grassland in east

Terrain: mostly flat-to-rolling sandy desert with dunes; broad, flat intensely irrigated river valleys along course of Amu Darya and Sirdaryo Rivers; Fergana Valley in east surrounded by mountainous Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan; shrinking Aral Sea in west

Natural resources: natural gas, petroleum, coal, gold, uranium, silver, copper, lead and zinc, tungsten, molybdenum

Land use:
arable land: 10%
permanent crops: 1%
meadows and pastures: 47%
forest and woodland: 0%
other: 42%

Irrigated land: 41,550 sq km (1990)

Environment:
current issues: drying up of the Aral Sea is resulting in growing concentrations of chemical pesticides and natural salts; these substances are then blown from the increasingly exposed lake bed and contribute to desertification; water pollution from industrial wastes and the heavy use of fertilizers and pesticides is the cause of many human health disorders; increasing soil salinization; soil contamination from agricultural chemicals, including DDT
natural hazards: NA
international agreements: party to - Climate Change, Environmental Modification, Ozone Layer Protection

Note: landlocked

People

Population: 23,089,261 (July 1995 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 40% (female 4,553,432; male 4,670,496)
15-64 years: 55% (female 6,400,578; male 6,384,862)
65 years and over: 5% (female 656,933; male 422,960) (July 1995 est.)

Population growth rate: 2.08% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 29.45 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Death rate: 6.44 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Net migration rate: -2.23 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 52 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 68.79 years
male: 65.5 years
female: 72.24 years (1995 est.)

Total fertility rate: 3.67 children born/woman (1995 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Uzbek(s)
adjective: Uzbek

Ethnic divisions: Uzbek 71.4%, Russian 8.3%, Tajik 4.7%, Kazakh 4.1%, Tatar 2.4%, Karakalpak 2.1%, other 7%

Religions: Muslim 88% (mostly Sunnis), Eastern Orthodox 9%, other 3%

Languages: Uzbek 74.3%, Russian 14.2%, Tajik 4.4%, other 7.1%

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1989)
total population: 97%
male: 98%
female: 96%

Labor force: 8.234 million
by occupation: agriculture and forestry 43%, industry and construction 22%, other 35% (1992)

Government

Names:
conventional long form: Republic of Uzbekistan
conventional short form: Uzbekistan
local long form: Uzbekiston Respublikasi
local short form: none
former: Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic

Digraph: UZ

Type: republic

Capital: Tashkent (Toshkent)

Administrative divisions: 12 wiloyatlar (singular - wiloyat), 1 autonomous republic* (respublikasi), and 1 city** (shahri); Andijon Wiloyati, Bukhoro Wiloyati, Jizzakh Wiloyati, Farghona Wiloyati, Qoraqalpoghiston* (Nukus), Qashqadaryo Wiloyati (Qarshi), Khorazm Wiloyati (Urganch), Namangan Wiloyati, Nawoiy Wiloyati, Samarqand Wiloyati, Sirdaryo Wiloyati (Guliston), Surkhondaryo Wiloyati (Termiz), Toshkent Shahri**, Toshkent Wiloyati
note: an administrative division has the same name as its administrative center (exceptions have the administrative center name following in parentheses)

Independence: 31 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)

National holiday: Independence Day, 1 September (1991)

Constitution: new constitution adopted 8 December 1992

Legal system: evolution of Soviet civil law; still lacks independent judicial system

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch:
chief of state: President Islam KARIMOV (since NA March 1990); election last held 29 December 1991 (next to be held NA); results - Islam KARIMOV 86%, Mukhammad SOLIKH 12%, other 2%; note - a 26 March 1995 referendum extended KARIMOV's term until 2000 (99.6% approval)
head of government: Prime Minister Abdulhashim MUTALOV (since 13 January 1992), First Deputy Prime Minister Ismail DJURABEKOV (since NA); Deputy Prime Ministers Viktor CHIZHEN, Bakhtiyar HAMIDOV, Kayim KHAKKULOV, Yuriy PAYGIN, Saidmukhtar SAIDKASYMOV, Utkur SULTANOV, Mirabror USMANOV, Murat SHARIFKHOJAYEV (since NA)
cabinet: Cabinet of Ministers; appointed by the president with approval of the Supreme Assembly

Legislative branch: unicameral
Supreme Council: elections last held 25 December 1994 (next to be held NA); results - percent of vote by party NA; seats - (250 total) People's Democratic Party 207, Fatherland Progress Party 12, other 31; note - final runoffs were held 22 January 1995; seating was as follows: People's Democratic Party 69, Fatherland Progress Party 14, Social Democratic Party 47, local government 120

Judicial branch: Supreme Court

Political parties and leaders: People's Democratic Party (PDP; formerly Communist Party), Islam A. KARIMOV, chairman; Fatherland Progress Party (FPP), Anwar YULDASHEV, chairman; Social Democratic Party, Anvar JORABAYEV, chairman; Erk (Freedom) Democratic Party (EDP), Muhammad SOLIKH, chairman (in exile); note - EDP was banned 9 December 1992

Other political or pressure groups: Birlik (Unity) People's Movement (BPM), Abdul Rakhim PULATOV, chairman (in exile); Islamic Rebirth Party (IRP), Abdullah UTAYEV, chairman; Adolat-94 (formed by former Vice President Shukhrat MIRSAIDOV and Ibragim BURIEV
note: PULATOV (BPM) is in exile in the West; UTAYEV (IRP) is either in prison or in exile

Member of: AsDB, CCC, CIS, EBRD, ECE, ECO, ESCAP, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IFC, ILO, IMF, INTERPOL, IOC, ISO, ITU, NACC, NAM, OSCE, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

Diplomatic representation in US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Fatikh TESHABAYEV
chancery: (temporary) Suites 619 and 623, 1511 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20005
telephone: [1] (202) 638-4266, 4267
FAX: [1] (202) 638-4268
consulate(s) general: New York

US diplomatic representation:
chief of mission: Ambassador Henry L. CLARKE
embassy: 82 Chilanzarskaya, Tashkent
mailing address: use embassy street address
telephone: [7] (3712) 77-14-07, 77-10-81
FAX: [7] (3712) 77-69-53

Flag: three equal horizontal bands of blue (top), white, and green separated by red fimbriations with a crescent moon and 12 stars in the upper hoist-side quadrant

Economy

Overview: Uzbekistan is a dry, landlocked country of which 10% consists of intensely cultivated, irrigated river valleys. It is one of the poorest states of the former USSR with 60% of its population living in overpopulated rural communities. Nevertheless, Uzbekistan is the world's third largest cotton exporter, a major producer of gold and natural gas, and a regionally significant producer of chemicals and machinery. Since independence, the government has sought to prop up the Soviet-style command economy with subsidies and tight controls on prices and production. Such policies have buffered the economy from the sharp declines in output and high inflation experienced by many other former Soviet republics. They had become increasingly unsustainable, however, as inflation moves along at 14% per month and as Russia has forced the Uzbek government to introduce its own currency. Faced with mounting economic problems, the government has begun to move on a reform agenda and cooperate with international financial institutions, announced an acceleration of privatization, and stepped up efforts to attract foreign investors. Nevertheless, the regime is likely to find it difficult to sustain its drive for economic reform.

National product: GDP - purchasing power parity - $54.5 billion (1994 estimate as extrapolated from World Bank estimate for 1992)

National product real growth rate: -4% (1994 est.)

National product per capita: $2,400 (1994 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 14% per month (1994 est.)

Unemployment rate: 0.3% includes only officially registered unemployed; large numbers of underemployed workers (December 1994)

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

Exports: $943.7 million to outside the FSU countries (1994)
commodities: cotton, gold, natural gas, mineral fertilizers, ferrous metals, textiles, food products
partners: Russia, Ukraine, Eastern Europe, US

Imports: $1.15 billion from outside the FSU countries (1994)
commodities: grain, machinery and parts, consumer durables, other foods
partners: principally other FSU countries, Czech Republic

External debt: $NA

Industrial production: growth rate 1% (1994 est.)

Electricity:
capacity: 11,690,000 kW
production: 47.5 billion kWh
consumption per capita: 2,130 kWh (1994)

Industries: textiles, food processing, machine building, metallurgy, natural gas

Agriculture: cotton, vegetables, fruits, grain, livestock

Illicit drugs: illicit cultivator of cannabis and opium poppy; mostly for CIS consumption; limited government eradication programs; used as transshipment point for illicit drugs to Western Europe

Economic aid:
recipient: the IMF has established a Systemic Transformation Facility of $74 million and the World Bank has made a rehabilitation loan of $160 million with other project loans pending; estimated annual external financing requirements for 1995-96 of $600 million to $700 million

Currency: introduced provisional som-coupons 10 November 1993 which circulated parallel to the Russian rubles; became the sole legal currency 31 January 1994; was replaced in July 1994 by the som currency

Exchange rates: soms per US$1 - 25 (yearend 1994)

Fiscal year: calendar year

Transportation

Railroads:
total: 3,460 km in common carrier service; does not include industrial lines
broad gauge: 3,460 km 1.520-m gauge (1990)

Highways:
total: 78,400 km
paved and graveled: 67,000 km
unpaved: earth 11,400 km (1990)

Pipelines: crude oil 250 km; petroleum products 40 km; natural gas 810 km (1992)

Ports: Termiz

Airports:
total: 261
with paved runways over 3,047 m: 6
with paved runways 2,438 to 3,047 m: 14
with paved runways 1,524 to 2,437 m: 2
with paved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 8
with paved runways under 914 m: 5
with unpaved runways 2,438 to 3,047 m: 2
with unpaved runways 1,524 to 2,438 m: 1
with unpaved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 7
with unpaved runways under 914 m: 216

Communications

Telephone system: 1,458,000 telephones; 63 telephones/1,000 persons (1995); poorly developed
local: NMT-450 analog cellular network established in Tashkent
intercity: NA
international: linked by landline or microwave with CIS member states and by leased connection via the Moscow international gateway switch to other countries; new INTELSAT links to Tokyo and Ankara give Uzbekistan international access independent of Russian facilities; Orbita and INTELSAT earth stations

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

Television:
broadcast stations: NA
televisions: NA

Defense Forces

Branches: Army, Air and Air Defense, Republic Security Forces (internal and border troops), National Guard

Manpower availability: males age 15-49 5,567,580; males fit for military service 4,537,455; males reach military age (18) annually 222,506 (1995 est.)

Defense expenditures: $NA, NA% of GDP