Azerbaijan

Republic of Azerbaijan

National Name: Azarbaycan Respublikasi

President: Ilham Aliyev (2003)

Prime Minister: Artur Rasizade (2003)

Land area: 33,243 sq mi (86,100 sq km); total area: 33,436 sq mi (86,600 sq km)

Population (2006 est.): 7,961,619 (growth rate: 0.7%); birth rate: 20.7/1000; infant mortality rate: 79.0/1000; life expectancy: 63.9; density per sq mi: 238

Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Baku, 2,118,600 (metro area), 1,235,400 (city proper), a port on the Caspian Sea

Other large cities (2004 est.): Ganja, 303,000; Sumgait, 280,500

Monetary unit: Manat

Languages: Azerbaijani Turkic 89%, Russian 3%, Armenian 2%, other 6% (1995 est.)

Ethnicity/race: Azeri 90.6%, Dagestani 2.2%, Russian 1.8%, Armenian 1.5%, other 3.9% (1999). Note: almost all Armenians live in the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh region

Religions: Islam 93%, Russian Orthodox 3%, Armenian Orthodox 2%, other 2% (1995 est.)

Literacy rate: 97% (1989 est.)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2005 est.): $37.03 billion; per capita $4,700. Real growth rate: 19.7%. Inflation: 12%. Unemployment: 1.2% (official rate). Arable land: 20.62%. Agriculture: cotton, grain, rice, grapes, fruit, vegetables, tea, tobacco; cattle, pigs, sheep, goats. Labor force: 5.45 million; agriculture and forestry 41%, industry 7%, services 52% (2001). Industries: petroleum and natural gas, petroleum products, oilfield equipment; steel, iron ore; cement; chemicals and petrochemicals; textiles. Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, nonferrous metals, alumina. Exports: $6.117 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): oil and gas 90%, machinery, cotton, foodstuffs. Imports: $4.656 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery and equipment, oil products, foodstuffs, metals, chemicals. Major trading partners: Italy, Czech Republic, Germany, Indonesia, Romania, Georgia, Russia, Turkey, France, UK, Ukraine, Netherlands, U.S. (2004).

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 1,025,400 (2004); mobile cellular: ,456,500 (2004). Radio broadcast stations: AM 10, FM 17, shortwave 1 (1998). Television broadcast stations: 2 (1997). Internet hosts: 460 (2005). Internet users: 408,000 (2005).

Transportation: Railways: total: 2,957 km (2004). Highways: total: 27,016 km; paved: 12,698 km (including 128 km of expressways); unpaved: 14,318 km (2003). Ports and harbors: Baku (Baki). Airports: 45 (2005).

International disputes: Armenia supports ethnic Armenian secessionists in Nagorno-Karabakh and since the early 1990s has militarily occupied 16% of Azerbaijan; over 800,000 mostly ethnic Azerbaijanis were driven from the occupied lands and Armenia; about 230,000 ethnic Armenians were driven from their homes in Azerbaijan into Armenia; Azerbaijan seeks transit route through Armenia to connect to Naxcivan exclave; Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) continues to mediate dispute; Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia ratify Caspian seabed delimitation treaties based on equidistance, while Iran continues to insist on an even one-fifth allocation and challenges Azerbaijan's hydrocarbon exploration in disputed waters; bilateral talks continue with Turkmenistan on dividing the seabed and contested oilfields in the middle of the Caspian; Azerbaijan and Georgia continue to discuss the alignment of their boundary at certain crossing areas

 

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