Background: Russia conquered Uzbekistan in the late 19th century. Stiff resistance to the Red Army after World War I was eventually suppressed and a socialist republic set up in 1925. During the Soviet era intensive production of 'white gold' (cotton) and grain led to overuse of agrochemicals and the depletion of water supplies which have left the land poisoned and the Aral Sea and certain rivers half dry. Independent since 1991 the country seeks to gradually lessen its dependence on agriculture while developing its mineral and petroleum reserves. Current concerns include insurgency by Islamic militants based in Tajikistan and Afghanistan a non-convertible currency and the curtailment of human rights and democratization.

Geographic coordinates: 41 00 N 64 00 E

Map reference: Commonwealth of Independent States

Area
Total: 447,400 km²
Land: 425,400 km²
Water: 22,000 km²
Comparative: slightly larger than California

Land boundaries
Total: 6,221 km
Border countries: (5) Afghanistan 137 km; , Kazakhstan 2,203 km; , Kyrgyzstan 1,099 km; , Tajikistan 1,161 km; , Turkmenistan 1,621 km

Coastline: 0 km; note - Uzbekistan includes the southern portion of the Aral Sea with a 420 km shoreline

Maritime claims: none (doubly landlocked)

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 Sirdaryo (Syr Darya) and Zarafshon; Fergana Valley in east surrounded by mountainous Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan; shrinking Aral Sea in west

Elevation
Extremes lowest point: Sariqarnish Kuli -12 m
Extremes highest point: Adelunga Toghi 4,301 m

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

Land use
Arable land: 9%
Permanent crops: 1%
Permanent pastures: 46%
Forests and woodland: 3%
Other: 41% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 40,000 km² (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: NA

Geography
Note: along with Liechtenstein one of the only two doubly landlocked countries in the world

Population: 25,155,064 (July 2001 est.)
Growth rate: 1.6% (2001 est.)
Below poverty line: NA%

Nationality
Noun: Uzbekistani
Adjective: Uzbekistani

Ethnic groups: Uzbek 80% Russian 5.5% Tajik 5% Kazakh 3% Karakalpak 2.5% Tatar 1.5% other 2.5% (1996 est.)

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

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

Age structure
0-14 years: 36.32% (male 4,646,341; female 4,489,265)
15-64 years: 59.06% (male 7,351,908; female 7,504,626)
65 years and over: 4.62% (male 466,029; female 696,895) (2001 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.6% (2001 est.)

Birth rate: 26.1 births/1000 population (2001 est.)

Death rate: 8 deaths/1000 population (2001 est.)

Net migration rate: -2.06 migrant(s)/1000 population (2001 est.)

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 salination; soil contamination from agricultural chemicals including DDT
International agreements party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection
International agreements signed but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Sex ratio
At birth: 1.05 male/female
Under 15 years: 1.03 male/female
15-64 years: 0.98 male/female
65 years and over: 0.67 male/female
Total population: 0.98 male/female (2001 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 71.92 deaths/1000 live births (2001 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 63.81 years
Male: 60.24 years
Female: 67.56 years (2001 est.)

Total fertility rate: 3.06 children born/woman (2001 est.)

Hivaids
Adult prevalence rate: less than 0.01% (1999 est.)
People living with hivaids: less than 100 (1999 est.)
Deaths: less than 100 (1999 est.)

Literacy
Definition: age 15 and over can read and write
Total population: 99%
Male: 99%
Female: 99% (yearend 1996)

Country name
Conventional long form: Republic of Uzbekistan
Conventional short form: Uzbekistan
Local long form: Uzbekiston Respublikasi
Local short form: none
Former: Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic

Government type: republic; effectively authoritarian presidential rule with little power outside the executive branch

Capital: Tashkent (Toshkent)

Administrative divisions
Note: administrative divisions have the same names as their administrative centers (exceptions have the administrative center name following in parentheses)

Independence: 1 September 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 Islom KARIMOV (since 24 March 1990, when he was elected president by the then Supreme Soviet)
Head of government: Prime Minister Otkir SULTONOV (since 21 December 1995)
Cabinet: Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the president with approval of the Supreme Assembly
Elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term; election last held 9 January 2000 (next to be held NA January 2005); note - extension of President KARIMOV's original term for an additional five years overwhelmingly approved - 99.6% of total vote in favor - by national referendum held 27 March 1995; prime minister and deputy ministers appointed by the president
Election results: Islom KARIMOV reelected president; percent of vote - Islom KARIMOV 91.9%, Abdulkhafiz DZHALALOV 4.2%

Legislative branch
Elections: last held 5 December and 19 December 1999 (next to be held NA December 2004)
Election results: percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - NDP 48, Self-Sacrificers Party 34, Fatherland Progress Party 20, Adolat Social Democratic Party 11, MTP 10, citizens' groups 16, local government 110, vacant 1
Note: not all seats in the last Supreme Assembly election were contested; all parties in the Supreme Assembly support President KARIMOV

Judicial branch: Supreme Court (judges are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Supreme Assembly)

Political parties and leaders: Adolat (Justice) Social Democratic Party [Anwar JURABAYEV first secretary]; Democratic National Rebirth Party (Milly Tiklanish) or MTP [Aziz KAYUMOV chairman]; Fatherland Progress Party [Anwar Z. YOLDASHEV]; People's Democratic Party or NDP (formerly Communist Party) [Abdulkhafiz JALOLOV first secretary]; Self-Sacrificers Party or Fidokorlar National Democratic Party [Ahtam TURSUNOV first secretary]

International organization participation: AsDB CCC CIS EAPC EBRD ECE ECO ESCAP IAEA IBRD ICAO ICRM IDA IFC IFRCS ILO IMF Intelsat Interpol IOC ISO ITU NAM OIC OPCW OSCE PFP UN UNCTAD UNESCO UNIDO UPU WFTU WHO WIPO WMO WToO WTrO (observer)

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador Shavkat HAMRAKULOV
In the us chancery: 1746 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20,036
In the us telephone: [1] (202) 887-5,300
In the us fax: [1] (202) 293-6,804
In the us consulates general: New York
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador John Edward HERBST
From the us embassy: 82 Chilanzarskaya, Tashkent 700,115
From the us mailing address: use embassy street address; US Embassy Tashkent, Department of State, Washington, DC 20,521-7,110
From the us telephone: [998] (71) 120-5,444
From the us fax: [998] (71) 120-6,335

Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of blue (top) white and green separated by red fimbriations with a white crescent moon and 12 white 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. More than 60% of its population lives in densely populated rural communities. Uzbekistan is now the world's third largest cotton exporter a large producer of gold and oil and a regionally significant producer of chemicals and machinery. Following independence in December 1991 the government sought to prop up its Soviet-style command economy with subsidies and tight controls on production and prices. Faced with high rates of inflation however the government began to reform in mid-1994 by introducing tighter monetary policies expanding privatization slightly reducing the role of the state in the economy and improving the environment for foreign investors. The state continues to be a dominating influence in the economy and has so far failed to bring about much-needed structural changes. The IMF suspended Uzbekistan's $185 million standby arrangement in late 1996 because of governmental steps that made impossible fulfillment of Fund conditions. Uzbekistan has responded to the negative external conditions generated by the Asian and Russian financial crises by tightening export and currency controls within its already largely closed economy. Economic policies that have repelled foreign investment are a major factor in the economy's stagnation. A growing debt burden persistent inflation and a poor business climate led to stagnant growth in 2000 with little improvement predicted for 2001.

Real gdp growth rate: 2.1% (2000 est.)

Real gdp per capita: purchasing power parity - $2,400 (2000 est.)

Gdp composition by sector of origin
Agriculture: 28%
Industry: 21%
Services: 51% (1999 est.)

Agriculture products: cotton vegetables fruits grain; livestock

Industries: textiles food processing machine building metallurgy natural gas chemicals

Industrial production growth rate: 6.4% (2000 est.)

Labor force: 11.9 million (1998 est.)
By occupation agriculture: 44%
By occupation industry: 20%
By occupation services: 36% (1995)

Unemployment rate: 10% plus another 20% underemployed (1999 est.)

Population below poverty line: NA%

Household income or consumption by percentage share
Lowest 10: 3.1%
Highest 10: 25.2% (1993)

Budget
Revenues: $4 billion
Expenditures: $4.1 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1999 est.)

Fiscal year: calendar year

Inflation rate consumer prices: 40% (2000 est.)

Exports: $2.9 billion (f.o.b. 2000 est.)
Commodities: cotton gold natural gas mineral fertilizers ferrous metals textiles food products automobiles
Partners: Russia 13% Switzerland 10% UK 10% Belgium 3% Kazakhstan 4% Tajikistan 4% (1999)

Imports: $2.6 billion (f.o.b. 2000 est.)
Commodities: machinery and equipment chemicals metals; foodstuffs
Partners: Russia 14% South Korea 14% Germany 11% US 8% Turkey 4% Kazakhstan 4% (1999)

Debt external: $3.3 billion (1999 est.)

Exchange rates: Uzbekistani sums per US dollar - 325.0 (January 2001) 141.4 (January 2000) 111.9 (February 1999) 110.95 (December 1998) 75.8 (September 1997) 41.1 (1996)

Electricity
Production: 42.876 billion kWh (1999)
Production by source fossil fuel: 86.4%
Production by source hydro: 13.6%
Production by source nuclear: 0%
Production by source other: 0% (1999)
Consumption: 43.455 billion kWh (1999)
Exports: 3.92 billion kWh (1999)
Imports: 7.5 billion kWh (1999)

Telephones
Main lines in use: 1.98 million (1999)
Mobile cellular: 26,000 (1998)

Telephone system
General assessment: antiquated and inadequate; in serious need of modernization
Domestic: the domestic telephone system is being expanded and technologically improved, particularly in Tashkent and Samarqand, under contracts with prominent companies in industrialized countries; moreover, by 1998, six cellular networks had been placed in operation - four of the GSM type (Global System for Mobile Communication), one D-AMPS type (Digital Advanced Mobile Phone System), and one AMPS type (Advanced Mobile Phone System)
International: linked by landline or microwave radio relay with CIS member states and to other countries by leased connection via the Moscow international gateway switch; after the completion of the Uzbek link to the Trans-Asia-Europe (TAE) fiber-optic cable, Uzbekistan will be independent of Russian facilities for international communications; Inmarsat also provides an international connection, albeit an expensive one; satellite earth stations - NA (1998)

Internet
Country code: .uz
Service providers isps: 42 (2000)
Users: 7,500 (2000)

Military expenditures
Dollar figure: $200 million (FY97)
Percent of gdp: 2% (FY97)

Airports: 267 (2000 est.)
With paved runways total: 10
With paved runways over 3047 m: 3
With paved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 5
With paved runways under 914 m: 2 (2000 est.)
With unpaved runways total: 257
With unpaved runways over 3047 m: 3
With unpaved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 8
With unpaved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 11
With unpaved runways 914 to 1523 m: 13
With unpaved runways under 914 m: 222

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

Railways
Total: 3,380 km in common carrier service; does not include industrial lines
Broad gauge: 3,380 km 1.520-m gauge (300 km electrified) (1993)

Waterways: 1100 km (1990)

Disputes international: occasional target of Islamic insurgents based in Tajikistan and Afghanistan