Environment - current issues: contamination of soil and groundwater with agricultural chemicals, pesticides; salination, water-logging of soil due to poor irrigation methods; Caspian Sea pollution; diversion of a large share of the flow of the Amu Darya into irrigation contributes to that river's inability to replenish the Aral Sea; desertification

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

Geography - note: landlocked

@Turkmenistan:People

Population: 4,518,268 (July 2000 est.)

Age structure: 0-14 years: 38% (male 887,088; female 850,384) 15-64 years: 58% (male 1,277,176; female 1,321,465) 65 years and over: 4% (male 69,383; female 112,772) (2000 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.87% (2000 est.)

Birth rate: 28.88 births/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Death rate: 9.04 deaths/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Net migration rate: -1.11 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 est.)