Location: | Central Asia, north of Afghanistan |
| Geographic coordinates: | 41 00 N, 64 00 E |
| Map references: | Asia |
| Area: | total: 447,400 sq km
water: 22,000 sq km
land: 425,400 sq km |
| Area - comparative: | slightly larger than California |
| Land boundaries: | total: 6,221 km
border countries: Afghanistan 137 km, Kazakhstan 2,203 km, Kyrgyzstan 1,099 km, Tajikistan 1,161 km, Turkmenistan 1,621 km |
| Coastline: | 0 km (doubly landlocked); note - Uzbekistan includes the southern portion of the Aral Sea with a 420 km shoreline |
| Maritime claims: | none (doubly landlocked) |
| Climate: | mostly midlatitude desert, long, hot summers, mild winters; semiarid grassland in east |
| Terrain: | mostly flat-to-rolling sandy desert with dunes; broad, flat intensely irrigated river valleys along course of Amu Darya, Syr Darya (Sirdaryo), and Zarafshon; Fergana Valley in east surrounded by mountainous Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan; shrinking Aral Sea in west |
| Elevation extremes: | lowest point: Sariqarnish Kuli -12 m
highest point: Adelunga Toghi 4,301 m |
| Natural resources: | natural gas, petroleum, coal, gold, uranium, silver, copper, lead and zinc, tungsten, molybdenum |
| Land use: | arable land: 10.83%
permanent crops: 0.83%
other: 88.34% (2001) |
| Irrigated land: | 42,810 sq km (1998 est.) |
| Natural hazards: | NA |
| Environment - current issues: | shrinkage of the Aral Sea is resulting in growing concentrations of chemical pesticides and natural salts; these substances are then blown from the increasingly exposed lake bed and contribute to desertification; water pollution from industrial wastes and the heavy use of fertilizers and pesticides is the cause of many human health disorders; increasing soil salination; soil contamination from buried nuclear processing and agricultural chemicals, including DDT |
| Environment - international agreements: | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
| Geography - note: | along with Liechtenstein, one of the only two doubly landlocked countries in the world
Source: CIA World Factbook
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