Country Profile- Annie Chang

Country Profile by Annie Chang

Physical Geography

Official name of country: Republic of Uzbekistan

Climate: mostly midlatitude desert, long, hot summers, mild winters; semiarid grassland in east.

Absolute location: 41 00 N, 64 00 E

Relative location: Central Asia, north of Afghanistan

Political Geography

Type of government: republic

Major political parties: Adolat Social Democratic Party, Democratic National Rebirth Party, liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan

Capital: Tashkent (Toshkent)

International Organization participation: ADB, CIS, CSTO, EAEC, EAPC, EBRD, ECO, FAO, GCTU, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt (signatory), ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Interpol, IOC, ISO, ITSO, ITU, MIGA, NAM, OIC, OPCW, OSCE, PFP, SCO, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO (observer)

Size of armed forces: males age 16-49/6,340,446; females age 16-49/ 6,559,769 (2009est.)

Cultural Geography

Official language: Uzbek

Other languages spoken: Russian, Tajik, and others

Ethnic composition: Uzbek 80%, Russian 5.5%; Kazakh 3%, Karakalpak 2.5%, Tartar 1.5%, Other 2.5% (1996 est.)

Major religions: Muslim 88% (mostly Sunnis), Eastern Orthodox 9%, other 3%

Population: 27,606,007 (2009 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.935% (2009 est.)

Major cities: Tashkent, Qarshi, Navoly, Buxoro

Infant mortality rate: 23.43 deaths/ 1,000 live births

Average life expectancy: total- 71.96 years, male- 68.95 years, female- 75.15 years (2009 est.)

Economic Geography

GDP (Gross Domestic Product): $ 71.63 billion (2008 est.)

Percent of arable land used for agriculture: 10.51%

Natural resources: Natural gas, petroleum, coal, gold, uranium, silver, copper, lead and zinc, tungsten, molybdenum

Major agriculture and industrial products: cotton, vegetables, fruits, grain, livestock; textiles, food processing, machine building, metallurgy, gold, petroleum, natural gas, chemicals

Major exports and imports: cotton, gold, energy products, food products, automobiles; machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, chemicals

Currency: Uzbekistani soum (UZS) per US dollar: 1,317 (2008 est.)

Balance of trade: export- $10.37 billion, import-$7.07 billion, total- +$3.3 billion

History:

1944 - Some 160,000 Meskhetian Turks deported from Georgia to Uzbekistan by Joseph Stalin.

1990 - Communist Party of Uzbekistan declares economic and political sovereignty. Islam Karimov becomes president

1994 - Uzbekistan signs an economic integration treaty with Russia, and an economic, military and social cooperation treaty with Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

1996 - Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan agree to create a single economic market.

1999 - Bombs in Tashkent kill more than a dozen people. President blames "fanatics" from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU).

2001 June - Some 70 people are jailed for terrorism following cross-border incursions in the south by Islamic militants in 2000.

2003 May - Tashkent hosts annual meeting of European Bank for Reconstruction and Development which expresses disappointment at President Karimov's failure to condemn torture.

2004 April - European Bank for Reconstruction and Development says it is to slash aid because of Uzbekistan's poor record on economic reform and human rights.

2004 December - Parliamentary elections: Opposition parties are barred from taking part.

2009 Feburary - Court sentences five contributors to an Islamic religious newspaper to jail on charges of inciting religious extremism. Paper closed in 2008 on suspicion of involvement with Turkish Islamic Nurcular movement.

Sources: The CIA World Factbook, BBC news