Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, coal, sulfur, salt
Land use: arable land: 4% permanent crops: 0% other: 96% (1998 est.)
Irrigated land: 18,000 sq km (1998 est.)
Natural hazards: NA
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; the western and central low-lying, desolate portions of the country make up the great Garagum (Kara-Kum) desert, which occupies over 80% of the country; eastern part is plateau
People Turkmenistan
Population: 4,688,963 (July 2002 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years: 37.3% (male 895,536; female 853,301) 15-64 years: 58.6% (male 1,350,142; female 1,399,879) 65 years and over: 4.1% (male 72,784; female 117,321) (2002 est.)