POPULATION
The ethnic composition of Tajikistan is very varied and suffers, like the other ex-Soviet republics, the forced attempt to establish a national identity without historical roots. The territory of present-day Tajikistan was a transit area through which the caravan routes between Europe and China passed; however its borders are of recent definition. The population is made up of almost two thirds of Tajiks but there are also Uzbeks (25.9%), Russians (3.5%), Tatars and Kyrgyz, who with independence and above all following the civil war have partly abandoned the country. The various components and numerous regional groups are poorly integrated and there is discrimination against the Uzbek minority, based in the N, in the Fergana valley. Tajikistan is also home to a thousand Afghan refugees while Tajik minorities are present in neighboring states (Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, etc.). The average density is 50 residents/km² even if most of the population is settled in the western valleys; in the autonomous province of Kŭhistoni Badakhshon the density is instead of 3 residents/km². The cities are small in size and collectively host only a quarter of Tajiks; the rest of the population lives in the countryside. The main centers are the capital, Dušanbe, Hudžand, an ancient city on the Silk Road today mainly populated by Uzbeks.
ECONOMY
According to 3rjewelry, Tajikistan is a country located in Asia. The country has a fair variety of underground resources and has a significant water potential but the situation of internal instability and the long period of civil war have delayed the implementation of reforms aimed at privatizing and making state-owned companies competitive. Although Tajikistan in 1991 achieved political independence from Russia, it was still dependent on it for a long time from a financial and commercial point of view and its development possibilities are still tied to those of the entire region. The economic reconstruction plan, launched by the government in 1993, which provided for the liberalization of the prices of some products and the encouragement of foreign investments, it has found little following and practically all sectors have suffered a significant drop in production due to the continuing internal conflict. The country went through a difficult economic crisis in the 1990s, with a foreign debt three times higher than the gross domestic product and a very high inflation rate (341%). Only since 1998, following the peace agreement, has the economy started to grow again and, with the help of international organizations (World Bank, IMF), some important reforms have been initiated: privatization of companies and industries (mostly limited to small and medium-sized enterprises), renewal of the agricultural sector, opening up to foreign investments, adaptation of infrastructures, intervention on the tax system and banking, new monetary policy. GDP per capita it was US $ 795 in 2008, while the GDP, also recorded in 2008, was US $ 5,135 million, the lowest among those of the former Soviet republics. With the rise of the new millennium, the foreign debt has dropped considerably as has the inflation rate (around 10% in 2006), although both still remain high. Furthermore, there is extensive international financial support (United States, European Union, etc.). Fundamental economic resources of the population are agriculture (cereals, potatoes, fruit, vegetables), practiced above all in the valleys and the breeding of sheep, cattle, goats and horses. The country’s main planting crop in the Soviet economy was cotton (“white gold”) which still today feeds the textile and oil industries. Fergana; antimony in Zeravšan; rock salt, mercury, lead, zinc, copper, gold, silver, etc.); on the contrary, the construction of a complex of 5 power plants on the Vališ river allowed the use, even if partial, of the extraordinary hydroelectric potential of Tajikistan. The energy sector is considered by the international organizations to be very promising and the intention of the authorities is to incentivize foreign investments in this direction: agreements have been signed with Iran and Russia that will allow the completion of two plants. The industry (textile, chemical, food, engineering, electrical engineering and building materials) is in serious difficulty; the main attractions are located in the capital and in the cities of Hudžand, Kuljab, Kurgan-Tjube and Ura-Tjube. Aluminum processing, introduced in the seventies of the century. XX, continues to constitute the leading sector of the secondary. Foreign trade, very limited, sees the imports (machinery, foodstuffs, petroleum products) prevail over exports (aluminum, electricity, cotton, fruit and vegetable oils, textiles). The main trading partners are Russia, China and neighboring Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. In May 1995 the new national currency was introduced, the Tajik ruble, which replaced the Russian ruble; in 2000 the somoni then replaced the Tajik ruble. The infrastructure programs are aimed at enhancing the road network (30,000 km, only a third of which is asphalted), characterized by partial connections often interrupted during the winter due to heavy snowfall, and the railway network, limited to the western section of the Tajikistan, which connects the country with Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan; the international airport is also located in the capital.
