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:
4,952,081 (July 2005 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 35.7% (male 909,113/female 860,128)
15-64 years: 60.2% (male 1,462,198/female 1,516,836)
65 years and over: 4.1% (male 78,119/female 125,687) (2005 est.)

Median age:
total: 21.56 years
male: 20.68 years
female: 22.44 years (2005 est.)

Population growth rate:
1.81% (2005 est.)

Birth rate:
27.68 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Death rate:
8.78 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Net migration rate:
-0.81 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.96 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.62 male(s)/female
total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2005 est.)