Azerbaijan-
conventional long form: Republic of Azerbaijan-
Capital:
Type of Government: -
Administrative Divisions: -
Age Structure: -
Agriculture: -
Airports: -
With Paved Runways:
With Unpaved Runways:
Area: total: 86,600 sq km.
slightly smaller than Maine
Background: Azerbaijan - a nation with a Turkic and majority-Muslim population - regained its independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Despite a 1994 cease-fire, Azerbaijan has yet to resolve its conflict with Armenia over the Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh enclave (largely Armenian populated). Azerbaijan has lost 16% of its territory and must support some 571,000 internally displaced persons as a result of the conflict. Corruption is ubiquitous and the promise of widespread wealth from Azerbaijan's undeveloped petroleum resources remains largely unfulfilled.-
Birth rate: -
Budget: -
Coastline: 0 km (landlocked); note - Azerbaijan borders the Caspian Sea (800 km, est.)-
Climate: dry, semiarid steppe
Communications: -
Constitution:
Currency: -
Current account balance: -
Death rate: -
Debt - external: -
Dependency status: -
Dependent areas:
Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Reno L. HARNISH III
Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Hafiz PASHAYEV
Disputes - international: Armenia supports ethnic Armenian secessionists in Nagorno-Karabakh and since the early 1990s has militarily occupied 16% of Azerbaijan - Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) continues to mediate dispute; 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; 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 cannot resolve the alignment of their boundary at certain crossing areas-
Distribution of family income: -
Economic aid - donor: -
Economic aid - recipient:
Economy - overview: Azerbaijan's number one export is oil. Azerbaijan's oil production declined through 1997 but has registered an increase every year since. Negotiation of production-sharing arrangements (PSAs) with foreign firms, which have thus far committed $60 billion to long-term oilfield development, should generate the funds needed to spur future industrial development. Oil production under the first of these PSAs, with the Azerbaijan International Operating Company, began in November 1997. A consortium of Western oil companies is scheduled to begin pumping 1 million barrels a day from a large offshore field in early 2006, through a $4 billion pipeline it built from Baku to Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. Economists estimate that by 2010 revenues from this project will double the country's current GDP. Azerbaijan shares all the formidable problems of the former Soviet republics in making the transition from a command to a market economy, but its considerable energy resources brighten its long-term prospects. Baku has only recently begun making progress on economic reform, and old economic ties and structures are slowly being replaced. Several other obstacles impede Armenia's economic progress: the need for stepped up foreign investment in the non-energy sector, the continuing conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, and the pervasive corruption. Trade with Russia and the other former Soviet republics is declining in importance while trade is building with Turkey and the nations of Europe. Long-term prospects will depend on world oil prices, the location of new pipelines in the region, and Azerbaijan's ability to manage its oil wealth.-
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Elevation extremes: lowest point: Caspian Sea -28 m
Environment - current issues: local scientists consider the Abseron Yasaqligi (Apsheron Peninsula) (including Baku and Sumqayit) and the Caspian Sea to be the ecologically most devastated area in the world because of severe air, soil, and water pollution; soil pollution results from oil spills, from the use of DDT as a pesticide, and from toxic defoliants used in the production of cotton
Environment - International Agreements: party to: Air Pollution, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands-
Ethnic groups: -
Exchange rates: -
Executive branch: -
Exports: -
Exports - partners: -
Fiscal year:
Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of blue (top), red, and green; a crescent and eight-pointed star in white are centered in red band-
GDP (official exchange rate): -
GDP (purchasing power parity): -
GDP - composition by sector: -
GDP - per capita: -
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Geographic coordinates: 40 30 N, 47 30 E
Geography - note: both the main area of the country and the Naxcivan exclave are landlocked-
Government - note: -
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: -
HIV/AIDS - deaths: -
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
Heliports: 2 (2005 est.)-
Household income or consumption by percentage share: -
Illicit drugs: -
Imports: -
Imports - partners: -
Independence: -
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Industries: -
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Inflation rate (consumer prices): -
International organization participation: -
Internet country code: -
Internet hosts: -
Internet users: -
Investment (gross fixed):
Irrigated land: 14,550 sq km (1998 est.)-
Judicial branch: -
Labor force: -
Labor force - by occupation:
Land boundaries: total: 2,013 km
Land use: arable land: 19.63%-
Languages:
Legal system: based on civil law system-
Legislative branch:
Life expectancy at birth: -
Literacy:
Location: Southwestern Asia, bordering the Caspian Sea, between Iran and Russia, with a small European portion north of the Caucasus range-
Major infectious diseases:
Manpower available for military service: males age 18-49: 1,961,973 (2005 est.)
Manpower fit for military service: males age 18-49: 1,314,955 (2005 est.)
Manpower reaching military service age annually: males: 82,358 (2005 est.)
Map references: Asia
Maritime claims: none (landlocked)-
Median age: -
Merchant marine: -
Military - note: -
Military branches:
Military expenditures - dollar figure: $121 million (FY99)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 2.6% (FY99)
Military service age and obligation: 18 years of age for compulsory and voluntary military service; law passed December 2001 raises maximum conscription age from 28 to 35 (December 2001)-
National holiday: -
Nationality:
Natural gas - consumption: 6.72 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - exports: 0 cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - imports:
Natural gas - production: 5.72 billion cu m (2001 est.)-
Natural gas - proved reserves:
Natural hazards: droughts
Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, nonferrous metals, alumina-
Net migration rate: -
Oil - consumption: -
Oil - exports: -
Oil - imports: -
Oil - production: -
Oil - proved reserves: -
People - note:
Political parties and leaders:
Political pressure groups and leaders: Sadval, Lezgin movement; self-proclaimed Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh Republic; Talysh independence movement; Union of Pro-Azerbaijani Forces (UPAF)
Population: 7,911,974 (July 2005 est.)-
Population below poverty line: -
Population growth rate:
Ports and terminals: Baku (Baki)-
Public debt: -
Radio broadcast stations: -
Railways:
Refugees and internally displaced persons: IDPs: 571,000 (conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh) (2004)-
Religions: -
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
Roadways: total: 27,016 km-
Sex ratio:
Suffrage: -
Telephone system: -
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Terrain: large, flat Kur-Araz Ovaligi (Kura-Araks Lowland) (much of it below sea level) with Great Caucasus Mountains to the north, Qarabag Yaylasi (Karabakh Upland) in west; Baku lies on Abseron Yasaqligi (Apsheron Peninsula) that juts into Caspian Sea-
Total fertility rate: -
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