Uzbekistan

Airports

NA

Civil air

NA

Highways

78,400 km total (1990); 67,000 km hard-surfaced, 11,400 km earth

Inland waterways

NA km

Pipelines

NA

Ports

none - landlocked

Railroads

3,460 km all 1.520-meter gauge (includes NA km electrified); does not include industrial lines (1990)

Telecommunications

poorly developed; telephone density NA; linked by landline or microwave with CIS member states and by leased connection via the Moscow international gateway switch to other countries; satellite earth stations - Orbita and INTELSAT (TV receive only)

Branches

Republic Security Forces (internal and border troops), National Guard; CIS Forces (Ground, Air and Air Defense)

Defense expenditures

$NA, NA% of GDP

Manpower availability

males 15-49, NA; NA fit for military service; NA reach military age (18) annually

Agriculture

cotton, with much smaller production of grain, fruits, vegetables, and livestock

Budget

revenues $NA; expenditures $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA

Currency

as of May 1992, retaining ruble as currency

Economic aid

$NA

Electricity

11,400,000 kW capacity; 54,100 million kWh produced, 2,662 kWh per capita (1991)

Exchange rates

NA

Exports

$1.5 billion (1990) commodities: cotton, gold, textiles, chemical and mineral fertilizers, vegetable oil partners: Russia, Ukraine, Eastern Europe

External debt

$2 billion (end of 1991 est.)

Fiscal year

calendar year

GDP

purchasing power equivalent - $NA, per capita $NA; real growth rate -0.9% (1991)

Illicit drugs

illicit producers of cannabis and opium; mostly for domestic consumption; status of government eradication programs unknown; used as transshipment points for illicit drugs to Western Europe

Imports

$3.5 billion (1990) commodities: machinery and parts, consumer durables, grain, other foods partners: principally other former Soviet republics

Industrial production

growth rate 1.8% (1991)

Industries

chemical and mineral fertilizers, vegetable oil, textiles

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

83% (1991)

Overview

Although Uzbekistan accounted for only 3.4% of total Soviet output, it produced two-thirds of the USSR's cotton. Moscow's push for ever-increasing amounts of cotton included massive irrigation projects which caused extensive environmental damage to the Aral Sea and rivers of the republic. Furthermore, the lavish use of chemical fertilizers has caused extensive pollution and widespread health problems. Recently the republic has sought to encourage food production at the expense of cotton. The small industrial sector specializes in such items as agricultural machinery, mineral fertilizers, vegetable oil, and electrical cranes. Uzbekistan also has some important natural resources including gold (about 30% of Soviet production), uranium, and natural gas. The Uzbek government has encouraged land reform but has shied away from other aspects of economic reform.

Unemployment rate

NA

Climate

mostly mid latitude desert; semiarid grassland in east

Coastline

0 km note: Uzbekistan does border the Aral Sea (420 km)

Comparative area

slightly larger than California

Disputes

none

Environment

drying up of the Aral Sea is resulting in growing concentrations of chemical pesticides and natural salts

Land area

425,400 km2

Land boundaries

6,221 km total; Afghanistan 137 km, Kazakhstan 2,203 km, Kyrgyzstan 1,099 km, Tajikistan 1,161 km, Turkmenistan 1,621 km

Land use

NA% arable land; NA% permanent crops; NA% meadows and pastures; NA% forest and woodland; NA% other; includes NA% irrigated

Maritime claims

none - landlocked

Natural resources

natural gas, petroleum, coal, gold, uranium, silver, copper, lead and zinc, tungsten, molybdenum

Note

landlocked

Terrain

mostly flat-to-rolling sandy desert with dunes; Fergana valley in east surrounded by mountainous Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan; shrinking Aral Sea in west

Total area

447,400 km2

Administrative divisions

11 oblasts (oblastey, singular - oblast') and 1 autonomous republic* (avtomnaya respublika); Andizhan, Bukhara, Dzhizak, Fergana, Karakalpakstan* (Nukus), Kashkadar'ya (Karshi), Khorezm (Urgench), Namangan, Samarkand, Surkhandar'ya (Termez), Syrdar'ya (Gulistan), Tashkent; note - an administrative division has the same name as its administrative center (exceptions have the administrative center name following in parentheses)

Capital

Tashkent (Toshkent)

Communists

NA

Constitution

NA

Diplomatic representation

NA US: Charge d'Affaires Michael MOZUR; Embassy at Hotel Uzbekistan, ;55 Chelendarskaya, Tashkent (mailing address is APO AE 09862); telephone [8] (011) 7-3712-33-15-74

Elections

President: last held 29 December 1991 (next to be held NA December 1996); results - Islam KARIMOV 86%, Mukhammad SOLIKH 12%, other 2% Supreme Soviet: last held NA March 1990 (next to be held NA); results - percent of vote by party NA; seats - (500 total) Communist 450, ERK 10, other 40

Executive branch

president

Flag

three equal horizontal bands - blue (top), white, and green with a crescent moon and 12 stars in the upper hoist-side quadrant

Independence

31 August 1991 from the Soviet Union; note - formerly Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic in the Soviet Union

Judicial branch

NA

Leaders

Chief of State: President Islam KARIMOV (since 29 December 1991) Head of Government: Prime Minister Abdulhashim MUTALOV (since 13 January 1992)

Legal system

NA

Legislative branch

unicameral Supreme Soviet

Long-form name

Republic of Uzbekistan

Member of

CIS, CSCE, IMF, NACC, UN UNCTAD

National holiday

NA

Other political or pressure groups

Birlik (Unity) Abdurakhim PULATOV, chairman; Islamic Renaissance Party, Abdulljon UTAEV, chairman

Political parties and leaders

People's Democratic Party of Uzbekistan (formerly Communist Party), Islam KARIMOV, chairman; ERK, Mukhammad SOLIKH, chairman

Suffrage

universal at age 18

Type

republic

Birth rate

34 births/1,000 population (1992)

Death rate

7 deaths/1,000 population (1992)

Ethnic divisions

Uzbek 71%, Russian 8%, Tajik 5%, other 16%; note - includes 70% of Crimean Tatars since their World War II deportation

Infant mortality rate

65 deaths/1,000 live births (1992)

Labor force

7,941,000; agriculture and forestry 39%, industry and construction 24%, other 37% (1990)

Languages

Uzbek 85%, Russian 5%, other 10%

Life expectancy at birth

64 years male, 70 years female (1992)

Literacy

NA%

Nationality

noun - Uzbek(s); adjective - Uzbek

Net migration rate

-2 migrants/1,000 population (1992); note - 179,000 persons left Uzbekistan in 1990

Organized labor

NA

Population

21,626,784 (July 1992), growth rate 2.4% (1992)

Religions

Muslim (mostly Sunnis) 75-80%, other (includes Farsi) 20-25%

Total fertility rate

4.2 children born/woman (1992)