Turkmenistan¹ (population 6.56 million people)² is a country in Central Asia that occupies 488,100 sq km of land.³ One of the former Soviet republics, it declared its independence in October 1991 after the break-up of the USSR. With 1,768 km of Caspian Sea coastline to the West, the country adjoins Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to the North, and Afghanistan and Iran to the South. The Karakum desert spreads over 80 per cent of the country with the Kopet Dag Mountains separating Turkmenistan from Iran. Ashgabat is the capital of the country, with a population of 450,000 people. Approximately 45 per cent of the population (1995) live in urban centres and most of the remainder in river valleys.⁴ Languages spoken include Turkmen and Russian.⁵

According to the United Nations human development index (HDI), Turkmenistan is ranked 97/177 countries worldwide (value 0.738).⁶ This places Turkmenistan in the group of countries with medium human development.