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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Turkmenistan
Index
Turkmenistan's population is rather stable, with distribution between
urban and rural areas and migration trends showing minor changes between
censuses (see table 3, Appendix). The annual population growth rate,
however, is rather high, and population density has increased
significantly in the last forty years.
Size and Distribution
In 1993 Turkmenistan had a population of 4,254,000 people, making it
the fifth most sparsely populated former Soviet republic. Of that number,
Turkmen comprised about 73 percent, Russians nearly 10 percent, Uzbeks 9
percent, Kazaks 2 percent, and other ethnic groups the remaining 5 percent
(see table 4, Appendix). According to the last Soviet census (1989), the
total Turkmen population in the Soviet Union was 2,728,965. Of this
number, 2,536,606 lived in Turkmenistan and the remainder in the other
republics. Outside of the CIS, approximately 1.6 million Turkmen live in
Iran, Afghanistan, and China (see The Spoken Language, this ch.).
Population density increased in the republic from one person per square
kilometer in 1957 to 9.2 persons per square kilometer in 1995. Density
varies drastically between desert areas and oases, where it often exceeds
100 persons per square kilometer. Within Turkmenistan, the population is
50.6 percent female and 49.4 percent male. In 1995 the estimated annual
growth rate was 2.0 percent, and the fertility rate was 3.7 births per
woman (a decline of 1.5 births per woman since 1979) (see table 2,
Appendix). The population was demographically quite young, with 40 percent
aged fourteen or younger and only four percent aged over sixty-four.
Data as of March 1996
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