Pre-Trip Information

Turkmenistan's population of  approximately 7.5  million is predominantly comprised of ethnic Turkmen (77 percent), with minorities of ethnic Uzbeks (nine percent), ethnic Russians (seven percent), ethnic Kazakhs (two percent), and others (five percent).

Turkmen, spoken by 72 percent of the population, is the official language, although a substantial percentage of Turkmen citizens are also Russian speakers. Uzbek is also spoken. The Turkmen language is a member of the southern Turkic (or Oghuz) ethno-linguistic family of languages, which is closely related to Kazak, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uighur, Uzbek, and others. Most of these Turkic languages are closely related and mutually intelligible. The Turkic languages are also sub-groups of the Altaic language group.

In terms of religious affiliation, 89 percent of Turkmen are Muslim, while 9 percent are Eastern Orthodox. The government of Turkmenistan, through its embassy in the United States, affirms the fact that its population, while being predominantly Sunni Muslim, does not share the fundamentalist beliefs of neighboring countries, and Turkmenistan is considered to be a secular state. Indeed, ancient tribal loyalties and affiliations are considered to be at least as important as religion and regional tribalism dominates to such a notable extent that each tribe is easily distinguished by its dialect, as well as its style and patterns of clothing, jewellery and carpets.


Human Development

Turkmens are expected to have an average life expectancy of 68 years of age -- 65 years for males, 71 years for females), according to recent estimates. The infant mortality rate is 53.5 deaths per 1,000 live births, a fairly high rate among post-Soviet countries. An estimated 98 percent of the total population, age 15 and older, can read and write. About 2.3 percent of GDP is spent on health expenditures.  Access to sanitation, water,  and health care is considered to be generally good.

One notable measure used to determine a country's quality of life is the Human Development Index (HDI), which has been compiled annually since 1990 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The HDI is a composite of several indicators, which measure a country's achievements in three main arenas of human development: longevity, knowledge and education, as well as economic standard of living. In a ranking of 169 countries, the HDI placed Turkmenistan in the medium human development category at 87th place.

Note: Although the concept of human development is complicated and cannot be properly captured by values and indices, the HDI, which is calculated and updated annually, offers a wide-ranging assessment of human development in certain countries, not based solely upon traditional economic and financial indicators.