ith dunes rising to mountains
in the south; low mountains along border with Iran; borders Caspian
Sea in west

Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, coal, sulphur, salt

Land use:
arable land: 2%
permanent crops: 0%
meadows and pastures: 69%
forest and woodland: 0%
other: 29%

Irrigated land: 12,450 sq km (1990)

Environment:
current issues: contamination of soil and groundwater with
agricultural chemicals, pesticides; salinization, water-logging of
soil due to poor irrigation methods; Caspian Sea pollution; diversion
of a large share of the flow of the Amu Darya into irrigation
contributes to that river's inability to replenish the Aral Sea;
desertification
natural hazards: NA
international agreements: party to - Ozone Layer Protection

Note: landlocked

@Turkmenistan:People

Population: 4,075,316 (July 1995 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 40% (female 798,620; male 821,550)
15-64 years: 56% (female 1,155,392; male 1,128,844)
65 years and over: 4% (female 105,424; male 65,486) (July 1995 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.97% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 29.93 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Death rate: 7.34 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Net migration rate: -2.92 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 68.5 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 65.35 years
male: 61.85 years
female: 69.02 years (1995 est.)

Total fertility rate: 3.72 children born/woman (1995 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Turkmen(s)
adjective: Turkmen

Ethnic divisions: Turkmen 73.3%, Russian 9.8%, Uzbek 9%, Kazakh 2%,
other 5.9%

Religions: Muslim 87%, Eastern Orthodox 11%, unknown 2%

Languages: Turkmen 72%, Russian 12%, Uzbek 9%, other 7%

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

Labor force: 1.642 million (January 1994)
by occupation: agriculture and forestry 44%, industry and construction
20%, other 36% (1992)

@Turkmenistan:Government

Names:
conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Turkmenistan
local long form: none
local short form: Turkmenistan
former: Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic

Digraph: TX

Type: republic

Capital: Ashgabat

Administrative divisions: 5 welayatlar (singular - welayat): Ahal
Welayaty (Ashgabat), Balkan Welayaty (Nebitdag), Dashhowuz Welayaty
(formerly Tashauz), Lebap