Climate: dry, semiarid steppe
Terrain: large, flat Kur-Araz Lowland (much of it below sea level) with Great Caucasus Mountains to the north, Qarabag (Karabakh) Upland in west; Baku lies on Abseron (Apsheron) Peninsula that juts into Caspian Sea
Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, nonferrous metals, alumina
Land use: arable land: 18% permanent crops: 4% meadows and pastures: 25% forest and woodland: 0% other: 53%
Irrigated land: 14,010 sq km (1990)
Environment:
current issues: local scientists consider the Abseron (Apsheron)
Peninsula (including Baku and Sumqayit) and the Caspian Sea to be the
ecologically most devastated area in the world because of severe air,
water, and soil pollution; soil pollution results from the use of DDT
as a pesticide and also from toxic defoliants used in the production
of cotton
natural hazards: droughts; some lowland areas threatened by rising
levels of the Caspian Sea
international agreements: signed, but not ratified - Biodiversity,
Climate Change
Note: landlocked
@Azerbaijan:People
Population: 7,789,886 (July 1995 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 33% (female 1,241,952; male 1,315,313)
15-64 years: 61% (female 2,437,810; male 2,307,496)
65 years and over: 6% (female 303,926; male 183,389) (July 1995 est.)