Demographics of Turkmenistan

The Demographics of Turkmenistan is about the demographic features of the population of Turkmenistan, including population growth, population density, ethnicity, education level, health, economic status, religious affiliations, and other aspects of the population. The ethnic majority in Turkmenistan call themselves Turkmen.

Population of Turkmenistan (in millions) from 1950-2009.

Demographic trends

The population of Turkmenistan increased from 1.5 million in the 1959 census to 4.5 million in the 1995 census.^[1] The population continued growing to over 5 million in 2001-2006.^[2]

Vital statistics^[3]

	Average population (x 1000)	Live births	Deaths	Natural change	Crude birth rate (per 1000)	Crude death rate (per 1000)	Natural change (per 1000)
1979	2 792	97 511	21 583	75 928	34.9	7.7	27.2
1980	2 861	98 069	23 863	74 206	34.3	8.3	25.9
1981	2 931	100 627	24 883	75 744	34.3	8.5	25.8
1982	3 003	104 340	23 984	80 356	34.7	8.0	26.8
1983	3 076	108 171	26 015	82 156	35.2	8.5	26.7
1984	3 151	111 083	25 760	85 323	35.3	8.2	27.1
1985	3 229	116 285	26 080	90 205	36.0	8.1	27.9
1986	3 310	122 337	27 865	94 472	37.0	8.4	28.5
1987	3 393	126 787	26 802	99 985	37.4	7.9	29.5
1988	3 479	125 887	27 317	98 570	36.2	7.9	28.3
1989	3 571	124 992	27 609	97 383	35.0	7.7	27.3
1990	3 668	125 343	25 755	99 588	34.2	7.0	27.2
1991	3 772	126 248	27 403	98 845	33.5	7.3	26.2
1992	3 883	131 034	27 509	103 525	33.7	7.1	26.7
1993	3 993	130 708	31 171	99 537	32.7	7.8	24.9
1994	4 096	129 700	32 067	97 633	31.7	7.8	23.8

Ethnic groups

The table shows the ethnic composition of Turkmenistan's population (in percent) between 1926 and 1995.^[1] There has been a sharp decline in the European ethnic groups (Russians and Ukrainians) and also Tatars and Kazakhs since independence (as captured in the 1979 and 1995 censuses). Uzbeks are now the second largest ethnic group in Turkmenistan, with Russians relegated to the third place. According to data announced in Ashgabat in February 2001, 91% of the population are Turkmen, 3% are Uzbeks, and 2% are Russians. Between 1989 and 2001 the number of Turkmen in Turkmenistan doubled (from 2.5 to 4.9 million), while the number of Russians dropped by two-thirds (from 334,000 to slightly over 100,000).^[4] However, this rapid growth seems rather unlikely.

Population of Turkmenistan according to ethnic group 1926–1995

Ethnic group	census 19261		census 19392		census 19593		census 19704		census 19795		census 19896		census 1995
	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
Turkmens	719,792	71.9	741,488	59.2	923,724	60.9	1,416,700	65.6	1,891,695	68.4	2,536,606	72.0	3,403,639	76.7
Uzbeks	104,971	10.5	107,451	8.6	125,231	8.3	179,498	8.3	233,730	8.5	317,333	9.0	408,259	9.2
Russians	75,357	7.5	232,924	18.6	262,701	17.3	313,079	14.5	349,170	12.6	333,892	9.5	297,319	6.7
Kazakhs	9,471	0.9	61,397	4.9	69,522	4.6	68,519	3.2	79,539	2.9	87,802	2.5	88,752	2.0
Tatars	4,769	0.5	19,517	1.6	29,946	2.0	36,457	1.7	40,432	1.5	39,277	1.1	35,501	0.8
Azeris	4,229	0.4	7,442	0.6	12,868	0.8	16,775	0.8	23,548	0.9	33,365	0.9		0.8
Armenians	13,859	1.4	15,996	1.3	19,696	1.3	23,054	1.1	26,605	1.0	31,829	0.9		0.8
Balochi	9,974	1.0	5,396	0.4	7,626	0.5	12,374	0.6	18,584	0.7	28,280	0.8		0.8
Ukrainians	6,877	0.7	21,778	1.7	20,955	1.4	35,398	1.6	37,118	1.3	35,578	1.0		0.5
Others	51,615	5.2	38,494	3.1	44,106	2.9	57,026	2.6	64,327	2.3	78,755	2.2		1.7
Total	1,000,914		1,251,883		1,516,375		2,158,880		2,764,848		3,522,717		4,437,600
1 Source: [1]. 2 Source: [2]. 3 Source: [3]. 4 Source: [4]. 5 Source: [5]. 6 Source: [6].

CIA World Factbook demographic statistics

For more information, see this country's entry in the CIA World Factbook

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook as of September 2009, unless otherwise indicated.

Age structure

0-14 years: 28.9% (male 713,698/female 697,222)
15-64 years: 66.9% (male 1,618,678/female 1,646,992)
65 years and over: 4.3% (male 90,352/female 117,945) (2009 est.)

Sex ratio

at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.77 male(s)/female
total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2009 est.)

Infant mortality rate

Total: 45.36 deaths/1,000 live births
Male: 53.85 deaths/1,000 live births
Female: 36.46 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 67.87 years
male: 64.94 years
female: 70.95 years (2009 est.)

Nationality

noun: Turkmen(s)
adjective: Turkmen

Religion

Muslim 89%, Eastern Orthodox 9%, unknown 2% (2003)

Language

Turkmen 72%, Russian 12%, Uzbek 9%, other 7%.

Nearly 22% of the non-Russian population indicated in the 1995 census that they spoke Russian fluently.^[1] According to Ethnologue, up to 50% claim "good knowledge" of Russian.

Other languages include the Balochi language, which was spoken by 36,600 people in 1995.^[1]

Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 98.8%
male: 99.3%
female: 98.3% (1999 est.)

See also

Demography of Central Asia

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Population census of Turkmenistan 1995, Vol. 1, State Statistical Committee of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, 1996.
2. ^ Population estimates for Turkmenistan 2001-2006, Demoscope Weekly, No. 355-356, 1–18 December 2008.
3. ^ http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/dyb/dyb2.htm#2001 United nations. Demographic Yearbooks
4. ^ Ethnic composition of Turkmenistan in 2001, Demoscope Weekly, No. 37-38, 8–21 October 2001.