republic; authoritarian presidential rule, with little power outside the executive branch
republic
Independence date
1 September 1991 (from Soviet Union)
Religions
Muslim 88% (mostly Sunnis), Eastern Orthodox 9%, other 3%
mainland - Christian 30%, Muslim 35%, indigenous beliefs 35%; Zanzibar - more than 99% Muslim
Languages
Uzbek 74.3%, Russian 14.2%, Tajik 4.4%, other 7.1%
Kiswahili or Swahili (official), Kiunguja (name for Swahili in Zanzibar), English (official, primary language of commerce, administration, and higher education), Arabic (widely spoken in Zanzibar), many local languages note: Kiswahili (Swahili) is the mother tongue of the Bantu people living in Zanzibar and nearby coastal Tanzania; although Kiswahili is Bantu in structure and origin, its vocabulary draws on a variety of sources including Arabic and English; it has become the lingua franca of central and eastern Africa; the first language of most people is one of the local languages
Exports
cotton, gold, energy products, mineral fertilizers, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, textiles, food products, machinery, automobiles
External Debt
$8,570,000,000 $
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)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
3.500%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
6
0
Location
Central Asia, north of Afghanistan
Eastern Africa, bordering the Indian Ocean, between Kenya and Mozambique
Area
447,400 km sq
947,300 km sq
Coastline
0 km
1,424 km
Climate
mostly midlatitude desert, long, hot summers, mild winters; semiarid grassland in east
varies from tropical along coast to temperate in highlands
