Geography of Tajikistan

Location: Central Asia, west of China

Geographic coordinates: 39 00 N, 71 00 E

Map references: Commonwealth of Independent States

Area:
total: 143,100 sq km
land: 142,700 sq km
water: 400 sq km

Area - comparative: slightly smaller than Wisconsin

Land boundaries:
total: 3,651 km
border countries: Afghanistan 1,206 km, China 414 km, Kyrgyzstan 870 km, Uzbekistan 1,161 km

Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)

Maritime claims: none (landlocked)

Climate: midlatitude continental, hot summers, mild winters; semiarid to polar in Pamir Mountains[?]

Terrain: Pamir[?] and Alay[?] mountains dominate landscape; western Fergana Valley[?] in north, Kofarnihon and Vakhsh Valleys[?] in southwest

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Syrdariya 300 m
highest point: Pik Imeni Ismail Samani 7,495 m

Natural resources: hydropower, some petroleum, uranium, mercury, brown coal[?], lead, zinc, antimony, tungsten

Land use:
arable land: 6%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 25%
forests and woodland: 4%
other: 65% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 6,390 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: NA

Environment - current issues: inadequate sanitation facilities; increasing levels of soil salinity; industrial pollution; excessive pesticides; part of the basin of the shrinking Aral Sea suffers from severe overutilization of available water for irrigation and associated pollution

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Environmental Modification, Ozone Layer Protection
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note: landlocked

See also : Tajikistan