Geographic coordinates: 41 00 N, 64 00 E

Map references: Commonwealth of Independent States

Area:
total: 447,400 sq km
land: 425,400 sq km
water: 22,000 sq km

Area-comparative: slightly larger than California

Land boundaries:
total: 6,221 km
border countries: Afghanistan 137 km, Kazakhstan 2,203 km, Kyrgyzstan
1,099 km, Tajikistan 1,161 km, Turkmenistan 1,621 km

Coastline: 0 km
note: Uzbekistan borders the Aral Sea (420 km)

Maritime claims: none (doubly landlocked)

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

Terrain: mostly flat-to-rolling sandy desert with dunes; broad, flat
intensely irrigated river valleys along course of Amu Darya, Sirdaryo,
and Zarafshon; Fergana Valley in east surrounded by mountainous
Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan; shrinking Aral Sea in west

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Sariqarnish Kuli -12 m
highest point: Adelunga Toghi 4,301 m

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

Land use:
arable land: 9%
permanent crops: 1%
permanent pastures: 46%
forests and woodland: 3%
other: 41% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 40,000 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: NA

Environment-current issues: drying up of the Aral Sea is resulting in
growing concentrations of chemical pesticides and natural salts; these
substances are then blown from the increasingly exposed lake bed and
contribute to desertification; water pollution from industrial wastes
and the heavy use of fertilizers and pesticides is the cause of many
human health disorders; increasing soil salinization; soil
contamination from agricultural chemicals, including DDT

Environment-international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Environmental
Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography-note: along with Liechtenstein, one of the only two doubly
landlocked countries in the world

@Uzbekistan:People

Population: 23,784,321 (July 1998 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 38% (male 4,591,140; female 4,451,246)
15-64 years: 57% (male 6,755,371; female 6,874,483)
65 years and over: 5% (male 435,036; female 677,045) (July 1998 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.33% (1998 est.)

Birth rate: 23.69 births/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Death rate: 7.68 deaths/1,000 population (1998 est.)