evel)
with Great Caucasus Mountains to the north, Qarabag (Karabakh) Upland
in west; Baku lies on Abseron (Apsheron) Peninsula that juts into
Caspian Sea

Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, nonferrous
metals, alumina

Land use:
arable land: 18%
permanent crops: 4%
meadows and pastures: 25%
forest and woodland: 0%
other: 53%

Irrigated land: 14,010 sq km (1990)

Environment:
current issues: local scientists consider the Abseron (Apsheron)
Peninsula (including Baku and Sumqayit) and the Caspian Sea to be the
ecologically most devastated area in the world because of severe air,
water, and soil pollution; soil pollution results from the use of DDT
as a pesticide and also from toxic defoliants used in the production
of cotton
natural hazards: droughts; some lowland areas threatened by rising
levels of the Caspian Sea
international agreements: signed, but not ratified - Biodiversity,
Climate Change

Note: landlocked

@Azerbaijan:People

Population: 7,789,886 (July 1995 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 33% (female 1,241,952; male 1,315,313)
15-64 years: 61% (female 2,437,810; male 2,307,496)
65 years and over: 6% (female 303,926; male 183,389) (July 1995 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.32% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 22.05 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Death rate: 6.56 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Net migration rate: -2.32 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 33.9 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 71.09 years
male: 67.4 years
female: 74.97 years (1995 est.)

Total fertility rate: 2.64 children born/woman (1995 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Azerbaijani(s)
adjective: Azerbaijani

Ethnic divisions: Azeri 90%, Dagestani Peoples 3.2%, Russian 2.5%,
Armenian 2.3%, other 2% (1995 est.)
note: almost all Armenians live in the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh
region

Religions: Muslim 93.4%, Russian Orthodox 2.5%, Armenian Orthodox
2.3%, other 1.8% (1995 est.)
note: religious affiliation is still nominal in Azerbaijan; actual
practicing adherents are much lower

Languages: Azeri 89%, Russian 3%, Armenian 2%, other 6% (1995 est.)

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

Labor force: 2.789 million
by occupation: agriculture and forestry 32%, industry and construction
26%, other 42% (1990