Turkmenistan country profile
Known for its autocratic government and large gas reserves, Turkmenistan has been an island of stability in restive Central Asia.
Known for its autocratic government and large gas reserves, Turkmenistan has been an island of stability in restive Central Asia.
Despite the gas wealth, much of the population lives in poverty. After independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, the country entered a period of isolation that has only recently begun to end.
Turkmenistan produces roughly 70 billion cubic metres of natural gas each year, and about two-thirds of its exports go to Russia's Gazprom gas monopoly.
The government has sought out gas deals with several other countries, including China and neighbouring Iran, in order to reduce its dependency on Russia.
TURKMENISTAN: FACTS
Capital: Ashgabat
Area: 491,210 sq km
Population: 5.6 million
Language: Turkmen
Life expectancy: 64 years (men) 71 years (women)
LEADER
President: Serdar Berdymukhamedov
Serdar Berdymukhamedov took over in March 2022 as the third president of the authoritarian state.
His father Gurbanguly had become president in 2007, on the death of his own mentor Saparmyrat Niyazov.
Like his predecessors, President Berdymukhamedov wields absolute power, and is the focus of a personality cult in the state-run media. The Turkmenistan legislature is considered to be a rubber stamp parliament by outside observers,
MEDIA
The government has an absolute monopoly of the media and state TV and radio pump out a steady stream of propaganda.
Reporters Without Borders has called Turkmenistan "an ever-expanding news black hole".
Foreign news and opposition websites are blocked and international social networks are often inaccessible.
TIMELINE
Image caption,
Participants in an independence day parade in Ashgabat
Some key events in Turkmenistan's history:
6th century BC - Area of what is now Turkmenistan forms part of the Persian Empire of Cyrus the Great.
4th century BC - Alexander the Great of Macedonia conquers Central Asia.
7th century AD - Arabs conquer Central Asia and convert inhabitants Islam.
10th-13th Centuries - Nomadic Oghuz Seljuk tribes - the ancestors of present-day Turkmens - and Mongols immigrate from northeast; Genghis Khan conquers the region.
15th-17th Centuries - Southern part of modern Turkmenistan comes under Persian rule, while the northern part is dominated by the Uzbek-ruled states of Khiva and Bukhara.
1881 - Area of present-day Turkmenistan incorporated into Russian Turkestan after Battle of Gok Tepe.
1916 - Turkmens join other Central Asians in violently opposing Russian decree conscripting them for non-combatant duties.
1921 - Turkmenistan forms part of the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR).
1925 - Turkmenistan becomes a fully-fledged constituent republic of the USSR.
1948 - Over 100,000 killed when earthquake devastates Ashgabat.
1960-67 - Turkmen cotton production expands dramatically following the completion of the Karakum Canal.
1991- Turkmenistan proclaims independence, with Saparmurat Niyazov as its leader.
1999 - Parliament votes Saparmurat Niyazov president for life.
2002 - President Niyazov renames the months of the year after himself, his mother and a book he wrote, the Ruhnama.
2007 - Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov becomes president on the death of his mentor Saparmyrat Niyazov. No opposition candidate was allowed to take part in the presidential election.
2009 - A pipeline is opened for gas exports to China, breaking Russia's stranglehold on Turkmenistan's energy reserves.
2015 - Construction work starts on a $10bn pipeline which will carry gas from Turkmenistan to India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
2022 - Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov steps down as president in favour of his own son Serdar.
Image caption,
The late President Niyazov developed a personality cult, embodied by a rotating, gold statue of himself
BBC MONITORING
Overview
Turkmenistan is a country in Central Asia bordered by the Caspian Sea and largely covered by the Karakum Desert. It’s known for archaeological ruins including those at Nisa and Merv, major stops along the ancient trade route the Silk Road. Ashgabat, the capital, was rebuilt in Soviet style in the mid-20th century and is filled with grand monuments honoring former president Saparmurat Niyazov.
About Turkmenistan
GDP growth rate: 6.3% annual change (2023) World Bank
Gross domestic product: 59.89 billion USD (2023) World Bank
GDP per capita: 9,190.67 USD (2023) World Bank
Life expectancy: 69.41 years (2022) World Bank
Population: 6.516 million (2023) World Bank
Economy of Turkmenistan
Article Talk
The economy of Turkmenistan continues to recover from the 2014 downturn in hydrocarbon prices, but remains "in the grip of its worst economic crisis since the immediate post-independence period, driven in part by low gas prices, the suspension of gas exports to Russia between 2016 and 2019...and poor harvests."
Former President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow at a session of the Cabinet of Ministers on 11 March 2021, called the rate of GDP growth unsatisfactory. When discussing the 2021 government budget, he noted that 2021 would be "as difficult" a year as 2020 had been. According to the 2020 Investment Climate Statement of the US Department of State, Turkmenistan's economy depends heavily on the production and export of natural gas, oil, petrochemicals and, to a lesser degree, cotton, wheat, and textiles. The economy is still recovering from a deep recession that followed the late 2014 collapse in global energy prices. The current investment climate is considered high risk for US foreign direct investment.
Economy of
Turkmenistan
Oil platform of Turkmenistan in the Caspian Sea
Currency
Turkmen manat (TMT)
Fiscal year
Calendar year
Trade organisations
CIS, ECO
Statistics
GDP
Increase US$90.904 billion (nominal, 2024 est.)
Increase US$131.710 billion (PPP, 2024 est.)
GDP rank
94th (PPP, 2023)
GDP growth
6.2% (2018) 6.3% (2019)
1.8% (2020e) 4. (2021f)
GDP per capita
Increase US$14,434 (nominal, 2023 est.)
Increase US$20,914 (PPP, 2023 est.)
Source: Wikipedia