a:
total area: 143,100 sq km
land area: 142,700 sq km
comparative area: slightly smaller than Wisconsin

Land boundaries:
total: 3,651 km
border countries: Afghanistan 1,206 km, China 414 km, Kyrgyzstan 870
km, Uzbekistan 1,161 km

Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)

Maritime claims: none (landlocked)

International disputes: boundary with China in dispute;
territorial dispute with Kyrgyzstan on northern boundary in Isfara
Valley area; Afghanistan's and other foreign support to Islamic
fighters in Tajikistan's civil war based in northern Afghanistan

Climate: midlatitude continental, hot summers, mild winters;
semiarid to polar in Pamir Mountains

Terrain: Pamir and Altai Mountains dominate landscape; western
Fergana Valley in north, Kofarnihon and Vakhsh Valleys in southwest
lowest point: Syrdariya 300 m
highest point: Qullai Kommunizm 7,495 m

Natural resources: significant hydropower potential, some
petroleum, uranium, mercury, brown coal, lead, zinc, antimony,
tungsten

Land use:
arable land: 6%
permanent crops: 0%
meadows and pastures: 23%
forest and woodland: 0%
other: 71%

Irrigated land: 6,940 sq km (1990)

Environment:
current issues: inadequate sanitation facilities; increasing levels
of soil salinity; industrial pollution; excessive pesticides; part
of the basin of the shrinking Aral Sea suffers from severe
overutilization of available water for irrigation and associated
pollution
natural hazards: NA
international agreements: NA

Geographic note: landlocked

People
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Population: 5,916,373 (July 1996 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 43% (male 1,282,846; female 1,258,302)
15-64 years: 53% (male 1,546,264; female 1,566,365)
65 years and over: 4% (male 110,705; female 151,891) (July 1996 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.54% (1996 est.)

Birth rate: 33.78 births/1,000 population (1996 est.)

Death rate: 8.43 deaths/1,000 population (1996 est.)

Net migration rate: -9.93 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1996 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.73 male(s)/female
all ages: 0.99 male(s)/female (1996 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 113.1 deaths/1,000 live births (1996 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 64.45 years
male: 60.84 years
female: 68.24 years (1996 est.)

Total fertility ra