Uzbekistan (capital Tashkent) and neighboring states
World Factbook: Russia conquered the territory of present-day Uzbekistan in the late 19th century... 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 degraded and the Aral Sea and certain rivers half dry."
World Factbook: "Uzbekistan is a dry, landlocked country; 11% of the land is intensely cultivated, in irrigated river valleys. More than 60% of the population lives in densely populated rural communities. Export of hydrocarbons, primarily natural gas, provided about 40% of foreign exchange earnings in 2009. Other major export earners include gold and cotton."
Country Comparisons: chart
Economic growth rate
2011: 7.1%
2010: 8.5%
2009: 8.1%
Labor force in agriculture
1995: 44%
Unemployment rate
2011: 1%
2010: 1.1%
Public debt
2011: 7.7% of GDP
Export commodities
Energy products, cotton, gold, mineral fertilizers, ferrous and nonferrous metals, textiles, food products, machinery, automobiles
Export partners
2010: China 21.8%, Russia 18.1%, Turkey 14.5%, Kazakhstan 8.5%, Bangladesh 8.5% (2010)
Export/import ratio
2011: exports $13.8 billion, imports $8.65 billion
Income Distribution – gini index
Ranks 81st among 140 countries (higher rank number is more equal, lower rank number is less equal). Less equal than Britain, which ranks 94th, and less equal than the US, which ranks 45th.
Health expenditures
2009: 5.2% of GDP
Living in an urban area
2010: 36%
Ethnic groups
1996:
Uzbek 80%, Russian 5.5%, Tajik 5%, Kazakh 3%, Karakalpak 2.5%, Tatar 1.5%, other 2.5%
Religions
Muslim 88% (mostly Sunni), Eastern Orthodox 9%, other 3%
Net migration rate
2012: A net loss of 2.65 persons per 1,000
population per year
North of Afghanistan. Landlocked. Slightly larger than California. Desert and semi-arid grassland in the east.
Chief of state: Islam Karimov (president) since 24 March 1990, Liberal Democratic Party (center-left). Head of government: Shavkat Mirziyoyev (prime minister) since 11 December 2003, Muslim, National Revival Democratic Party.
Great ancient trade and cultural centers such as Bukhara and Samarkand flourished here, along the Silk Road between Asia and Europe. Conquered by Russia in the late 1800s and conquered again by the Bolsheviks in the early 1920s, it became a republic within the Soviet Union. Following the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991, Uzbekistan became a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, former republics within the Soviet Union that today are closely associated with Russia economically, in defense and foreign policy.
The World Factbook in 2011 describes Uzbekistan as a "republic; authoritarian presidential rule, with little power outside the executive branch".
Capital: Tashkent.
Bomb blasts in Tashkent in 1999 killed more than twelve people. The government blamed Islamic extremists.
In 2004, more bombings and shootings by those called Muslim extremists killed dozens more.
There are Muslims in Uzbekistan who want Uzbekistan to be a part of a greater Muslim state that includes Kyrgyzstan and other neighboring predominately Muslim societies.
May 21, 2005: The media is controlled by the state, and central planning of the economy still exists.
SOURCES:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/
Copyright © 2009-2011 by Frank E. Smitha. All rights reserved.
