te: Turkmenistan borders the Caspian Sea (1,768 km)

Maritime claims: none (landlocked)

Climate: subtropical desert

Terrain: flat-to-rolling sandy desert with dunes rising to
mountains in the south; low mountains along border with Iran;
borders Caspian Sea in west

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Vpadina Akchanaya -81 m (note--Sarygamysh Koli is a
lake in north eastern Turkmenistan whose water levels fluctuate
widely; at its shallowest, its level is -110 m; it is presently at
-60 m, 20 m above Vpadina Akchanaya)
highest point: Ayrybaba 3,139 m

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

Land use:
arable land: 3%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 63%
forests and woodland: 8%
other: 26% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 13,000 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: NA

Environment--current issues: contamination of soil and groundwater
with agricultural chemicals, pesticides; salination, 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

Environment--international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Hazardous
Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection
signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol

Geography--note: landlocked

People

Population: 4,366,383 (July 1999 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 38% (male 845,584; female 813,223)
15-64 years: 58% (male 1,243,031; female 1,283,985)
65 years and over: 4% (male 68,496; female 112,064) (1999 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.58% (1999 est.)

Birth rate: 25.91 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Death rate: 8.77 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Net migration rate: -1.35 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.97 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.61 male(s)/female
total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (1999 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 73.1 deaths/1,000 live births (1999 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 61.11 years
male: 57.48 years
female: 64.91 years (1999 est.)

Total fertility rate: 3.21 children born/woman (1999 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Turkmen(s)
adjective: Turkmen

Ethnic groups: Turkmen 77%, Uzbek 9.2%, Ru