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 and
Sirdaryo Rivers; Fergana Valley in east surrounded by mountainous
Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan; shrinking Aral Sea in west
Natural resources: natural gas, petroleum, coal, gold, uranium,
silver, copper, lead and zinc, tungsten, molybdenum
Land use: arable land: 10% permanent crops: 1% meadows and pastures: 47% forest and woodland: 0% other: 42%
Irrigated land: 41,550 sq km (1990)
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
natural hazards: NA
international agreements: party to - Climate Change, Environmental
Modification, Ozone Layer Protection
Note: landlocked
@Uzbekistan:People
Population: 23,089,261 (July 1995 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 40% (female 4,553,432; male 4,670,496)
15-64 years: 55% (female 6,400,578; male 6,384,862)
65 years and over: 5% (female 656,933; male 422,960) (July 1995 est.)