republic; authoritarian presidential rule, with little power outside the executive branch
federal republic
Independence date
1 September 1991 (from Soviet Union)
7 September 1822 (from Portugal)
Religions
Muslim 88% (mostly Sunnis), Eastern Orthodox 9%, other 3%
Roman Catholic (nominal) 73.6%, Protestant 15.4%, Spiritualist 1.3%, Bantu/voodoo 0.3%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.2%, none 7.4% (2000 census)
Languages
Uzbek 74.3%, Russian 14.2%, Tajik 4.4%, other 7.1%
Portuguese (official and most widely spoken language); note - less common languages include Spanish (border areas and schools), German, Italian, Japanese, English, and a large number of minor Amerindian languages
Exports
cotton, gold, energy products, mineral fertilizers, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, textiles, food products, machinery, automobiles
transport equipment, iron ore, soybeans, footwear, coffee, autos
External Debt
$10,460,000,000 $
$405,300,000,000 US
Exchange Rate
Uzbekistani soum (UZS) per US dollar - 1,317 (2008 est.), 1,263.8 (2007), 1,219.8 (2006), 1,020 (2005), 971.265 (2004)
reals (BRL) per US dollar - 1.8644 (2008 est.), 1.85 (2007 est.), 2.1761 (2006), 2.4344 (2005), 2.9251 (2004)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
3.500%
1.300%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
6
15
Location
Central Asia, north of Afghanistan
Eastern South America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean
Area
447,400 km sq
8,514,877 km sq
Coastline
0 km
7,491 km
Climate
mostly midlatitude desert, long, hot summers, mild winters; semiarid grassland in east
