Background: 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.

Map reference: Asia, Commonwealth of Independent States - Central Asian States, Standard Time Zones of the World

Area
Total area total: 143,100 km²
Land: 142,700 km²

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

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

Terrain: Pamir and Alay 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 km² (1990)

Natural hazards: NA

Geography
Note: landlocked

Population: 5,995,469 (July 1994 est.)
Growth rate: 2.67% (1994 est.)

Nationality: noun:Tajik(s)

Ethnic groups: Tajik 64.9%, Uzbek 25%, Russian 3.5% (declining because of emigration), other 6.6%

Languages: Tajik (official), Russian widely used in government and business

Religions: Sunni Muslim 80%, Shi'a Muslim 5%

Population growth rate: 2.67% (1994 est.)

Birth rate: 34.79 births/1000 population (1994 est.)

Death rate: 6.71 deaths/1000 population (1994 est.)

Net migration rate: -1.43 migrant(s)/1000 population (1994 est.)

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

Infant mortality rate: 62 deaths/1000 live births (1994 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 68.76 years
Male: 65.88 years
Female: 71.79 years (1994 est.)

Total fertility rate: 4.62 children born/woman (1994 est.)

Literacy: age 9-49 can read and write (1970)
Total population: 100%
Male: 100%
Female: 99%

Country name
Conventional long form: Republic of Tajikistan
Conventional short form:
Former: Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic

Government type: republic

Capital: Dushanbe

Administrative divisions: 2 oblasts (viloyotho, 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: a referendum on new constitution planned for June 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: Head of State and Assembly Chairman Emomili RAKHMONOV (since NA November 1992); election last held 27 October 1991 (next to be held NA September 1994); results - Rakhman NABIYEV, Communist Party 60%; Davlat KHUDONAZAROV, Democratic Party, Islamic Rebirth Party and Rastokhoz Party 30%
Head of government: Prime Minister Abdujalil SAMADOV (since 27 December 993)

Legislative branch: Army (being formed), National Guard, Security Forces (internal and border troops)
Supreme Soviet: elections last held 25 February 1990 (next to be held NA September 1994); results - Communist Party 99%, other 1%; seats - (230 total) Communist Party 227, other 3

Judicial branch: Prosecutor General

International organization participation: CIS, CSCE, EBRD, ECO, ESCAP, IBRD, IDA, IDB, IMF, INTELSAT (nonsignatory user), IOC, NACC, OIC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, WHO, WMO

Diplomatic representation
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador Stanley T. ESCUDERO
From the us chancery: NA
From the us telephone: [7] (3,772) 21-03-56 and 21-03-60
From the us embassy: Hotel October, 105A Rudaki Prospect, Dushanbe
From the us mailing address: use embassy street address

Flag description: 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 lowest per capita GDP in the former USSR, the highest rate of population growth, and the lowest standard of living. Its economy at the start of 1994 is producing at roughly the 1989 level and faces urgent reconstruction tasks from the 1992 civil war. Tajikistan's economy was severely disrupted by the breakup of the Soviet economy, which provided guaranteed trade relations and heavy subsidies and in which specialized tasks were assigned to each republic. Its economy is highly agricultural (43% of the work force; it has specialized in growing cotton for export and must import a large share of its food. Its industry (14% of the work force) produces aluminum, hydropower, machinery, and household appliances. Nearly all petroleum products must be imported. Constant political turmoil and continued dominance of former Communist officials have slowed the process of economic reform and brought near economic collapse while limiting foreign assistance. Tajikistan is in the midst of a prolonged monetary crisis in which it is attempting to continue to use the Russian ruble as its currency while its neighbors have switched to new independent currencies; Russia is unwilling to advance sufficient rubles without attaching stringent reform conditions.

Real gdp growth rate: -21% (1993 est.)

Real gdp per capita: $1,180 (1993 est.)

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

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

Industrial production growth rate: -20% (1993 est.)

Labor force: 1.95 million (1992)
By occupation agriculture and forestry: 43%
By occupation governmentand services: 24%
By occupation industry: 14%
By occupation tradeandcommunications: 11%
By occupation construction: 8% (1990)

Unemployment rate: 1.1% includes only officially registered unemployed; also large numbers of underemployed workers and unregistered unemployed people

Budget: revenues:$NA

Fiscal year: calendar year

Exports: $263 million to outside the FSU countries (1993)
Commodities: cotton, aluminum, fruits, vegetable oil, textiles
Partners: Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan

Imports: $371 million from outside the FSU countries (1993)
Commodities: fuel, chemicals, machinery and transport equipment, textiles, foodstuffs
Partners: Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan

Debt external: $NA

Exchange rates: NA

Electricity
Capacity: 4,585,000 kW
Production: 16.8 billion kWh
Consumption per capita: 2,879 kWh (1992)

Military expenditures
Dollar figure: $NA, NA% of GDP

Airports: 58
Usable: 30
With permanentsurface runways: 12
With runways over 3659 m: 0
With runways 2440-3659 m: 4
With runways 10602439 m: 13
Note: a C-130 can land on a 1,060-m airstrip

Pipelines: natural gas 400 km (1992)

Disputes international: 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

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