Annexed by Russia between 1865 and 1885, Turkmenistan became a Soviet republic in 1924.

It achieved independence upon the dissolution of the USSR in 1991.

Extensive hydrocarbon/natural gas reserves could prove a boon to this underdeveloped country if extraction and delivery projects were to be expanded.

The Turkmenistan Government is actively seeking to develop alternative petroleum transportation routes to break Russia's pipeline monopoly.

President for Life Saparmurat Niyazov died in December 2006, and Turkmenistan held its first multi-candidate presidential electoral process in February 2007.

Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, a former Niyazov aide, emerged as the country's new president.

Source: CIA World Fact Book

Population: 5,097,028 (July 2007 est.)

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Age structure: 0-14 years: 34.7% (male 900,718/female 866,930) 15-64 years: 60.9% (male 1,537,638/female 1,567,049) 65 years and over: 4.4% (male 97,454/female 127,239) (2007 est.)

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Median age: total: 22.3 years male: 21.7 years female: 22.9 years (2007 est.)

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Population growth rate: 1.617% (2007 est.)

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Birth rate: 25.36 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)

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Death rate: 6.17 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)

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Net migration rate: -3.01 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)

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Sex ratio: at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.039 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.981 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.766 male(s)/female total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2007 est.)

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Infant mortality rate: total: 53.49 deaths/1,000 live births male: 57.84 deaths/1,000 live births female: 48.91 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)

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Life expectancy at birth: total population: 68.3 years male: 65.23 years female: 71.54 years (2007 est.)

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Total fertility rate: 3.13 children born/woman (2007 est.)

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HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: less than 0.1% (2004 est.)

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HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: less than 200 (2003 est.)

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HIV/AIDS - deaths: less than 100 (2004 est.)

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Nationality: noun: Turkmen(s) adjective: Turkmenistani

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Ethnic groups: Turkmen 85%, Uzbek 5%, Russian 4%, other 6% (2003)

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Religions: Muslim 89%, Eastern Orthodox 9%, unknown 2%

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

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Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 98.8% male: 99.3% female: 98.3% (1999 est.)

Turkmenistan is a largely desert country with intensive agriculture in irrigated oases and large gas and oil resources. One-half of its irrigated land is planted in cotton; formerly it was the world's 10th-largest producer. Poor harvests in recent years have led to an almost 50% decline in cotton exports. With an authoritarian ex-Communist regime in power and a tribally based social structure, Turkmenistan has taken a cautious approach to economic reform, hoping to use gas and cotton sales to sustain its inefficient economy. Privatization goals remain limited. From 1998-2005, Turkmenistan suffered from the continued lack of adequate export routes for natural gas and from obligations on extensive short-term external debt. At the same time, however, total exports rose by an average of 15% per year from 2003-06, largely because of higher international oil and gas prices. In 2006, Ashgabat raised its natural gas export prices to its main customer, Russia, from $66 per thousand cubic meters (tcm) to $100 per tcm. Overall prospects in the near future are discouraging because of widespread internal poverty, a poor educational system, government misuse of oil and gas revenues, and Ashgabat's unwillingness to adopt market-oriented reforms. Turkmenistan's economic statistics are state secrets, and GDP and other figures are subject to wide margins of error. In particular, the rate of GDP growth is uncertain. President BERDIMUHAMEDOW's election platform included plans to build a gas line to China, to complete the AmuDarya railroad bridge in Lebap province, and to create special border trade zones in southern Balkan province - a hint that the new post-NIYAZOV government will work to create a friendlier foreign investment environment.

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GDP (purchasing power parity): $42.84 billion (2006 est.)

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GDP (official exchange rate): $15.18 billion (2006 est.)

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GDP - real growth rate: IMF estimate: 6% note: official government statistics show 21.4% growth, but these estimates are widely regarded as unreliable (2006 est.)

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GDP - per capita (PPP): $8,500 (2006 est.)

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GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 24.4% industry: 33.9% services: 41.7% (2006 est.)

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Labor force: 2.32 million (2003 est.)

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Labor force - by occupation: agriculture: 48.2% industry: 13.8% services: 37% (2003 est.)

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Unemployment rate: 60% (2004 est.)

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Population below poverty line: 58% (2003 est.)

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Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 2.6% highest 10%: 31.7% (1998)

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Distribution of family income - Gini index: 40.8 (1998)

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Inflation rate (consumer prices): 11% (2006 est.)

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Investment (gross fixed): 28.8% of GDP (2006 est.)

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Budget: revenues: $1.803 billion expenditures: $2.063 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2006 est.)

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Agriculture - products: cotton, grain; livestock

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Industries: natural gas, oil, petroleum products, textiles, food processing

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Industrial production growth rate: 22% (2003 est.)

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Electricity - production: 10.79 billion kWh (2004 est.)

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Electricity - consumption: 9.03 billion kWh (2004)

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Electricity - exports: 1 billion kWh (2004)

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Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (2004)

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Oil - production: 213,700 bbl/day (2004 est.)

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Oil - consumption: 95,000 bbl/day (2004 est.)

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Oil - exports: 117,800 bbl/day (2004 est.)

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Oil - imports: NA bbl/day

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Oil - proved reserves: 546 million bbl (1 January 2005 est.)

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Natural gas - production: 58.57 billion cu m (2004 est.)

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Natural gas - consumption: 16.57 billion cu m (2004 est.)

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Natural gas - exports: 42 billion cu m (2004 est.)

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Natural gas - imports: 0 cu m (2004 est.)

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Natural gas - proved reserves: 2.01 trillion cu m (1 January 2005 est.)

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Current account balance: $321.2 million (2006 est.)

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Exports: $5.421 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

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Exports - commodities: gas, crude oil, petrochemicals, cotton fiber, textiles

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Exports - partners: Ukraine 47.2%, Iran 16.3%, Azerbaijan 4.3% (2006)

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Imports: $3.936 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

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Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs

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Imports - partners: UAE 13.7%, Azerbaijan 11.8%, Turkey 9.9%, Ukraine 8.1%, Russia 8%, Germany 6.9%, Iran 6.7%, China 5.7% (2006)

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Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $3.518 billion (2006 est.)

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Debt - external: $2.4 billion to $5 billion (2001 est.)

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Economic aid - recipient: $16 million from the US (2001)

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Currency (code): Turkmen manat (TMM)

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Exchange rates: Turkmen manat per US$ - 11,100 (2006) official rate note: in recent years the unofficial rate has hovered around 24,000 to 25,000 Turkmen manats to the dollar

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Fiscal year: calendar year