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. The population continued growing to over 5 million in 2001-2006.

Vital statistics

UN estimates

Period	Live births per year	Deaths per year	Natural change per year	CBR1	CDR1	NC1	TFR1	IMR1
1950-1955	55 000	21 000	35 000	43.2	16.2	27.0	6.00	150.0
1955-1960	64 000	23 000	41 000	43.3	15.5	27.8	6.02	140.1
1960-1965	78 000	24 000	53 000	44.6	13.9	30.7	6.75	130.3
1965-1970	77 000	24 000	54 000	38.0	11.7	26.3	6.34	120.4
1970-1975	87 000	24 000	63 000	37.1	10.3	26.8	6.19	110.6
1975-1980	95 000	26 000	69 000	35.3	9.6	25.8	5.32	100.7
1980-1985	107 000	27 000	81 000	35.2	8.7	26.5	4.79	90.9
1985-1990	123 000	28 000	95 000	35.7	8.2	27.4	4.55	81.0
1990-1995	128 000	34 000	94 000	32.5	8.6	23.9	4.03	75.5
1995-2000	106 000	34 000	73 000	24.5	7.8	16.7	3.03	61.3
2000-2005	108 000	36 000	72 000	23.3	7.7	15.6	2.76	51.7
2005-2010	108 000	38 000	70 000	22.0	7.7	14.2	2.50	50.5
1 CBR = crude birth rate (per 1000); CDR = crude death rate (per 1000); NC = natural change (per 1000); TFR = total fertility rate (number of children per woman); IMR = infant mortality rate per 1000 births

Registered births and deaths

	Average population (x 1000)	Live births	Deaths	Natural change	Crude birth rate (per 1000)	Crude death rate (per 1000)	Natural change (per 1000)
1950	1 211	46 335	12 411	33 924	38.3	10.2	28.0
1951	1 234	46 417	12 707	33 710	37.6	10.3	27.3
1952	1 260	49 306	14 775	34 531	39.1	11.7	27.4
1953	1 290	48 482	15 567	32 915	37.6	12.1	25.5
1954	1 321	51 162	14 650	36 512	38.7	11.1	27.6
1955	1 356	55 171	14 075	41 096	40.7	10.4	30.3
1956	1 390	53 528	11 783	41 745	38.5	8.5	30.0
1957	1 434	55 955	10 940	45 015	39.0	7.6	31.4
1958	1 487	59 235	10 987	48 248	39.8	7.4	32.4
1959	1 539	60 430	10 594	49 836	39.3	6.9	32.4
1960	1 593	67 676	10 433	57 243	42.5	6.5	35.9
1961	1 653	67 790	10 841	56 949	41.0	6.6	34.5
1962	1 713	68 725	11 772	56 953	40.1	6.9	33.2
1963	1 773	70 005	11 098	58 907	39.5	6.3	33.2
1964	1 833	69 777	11 623	58 154	38.1	6.3	31.8
1965	1 890	70 258	13 152	57 106	37.2	7.0	30.2
1966	1 943	73 109	13 036	60 073	37.6	6.7	30.9
1967	2 001	71 062	14 043	57 019	35.5	7.0	28.5
1968	2 061	73 470	14 223	59 247	35.6	6.9	28.7
1969	2 124	72 892	14 754	58 138	34.3	6.9	27.4
1970	2 188	77 080	14 370	62 710	35.2	6.6	28.6
1971	2 251	78 357	15 031	63 326	34.8	6.7	28.1
1972	2 315	78 841	16 680	62 161	34.0	7.2	26.8
1973	2 380	82 111	17 336	64 775	34.5	7.3	27.2
1974	2 449	84 607	17 766	66 841	34.5	7.2	27.3
1975	2 520	87 369	19 876	67 493	34.7	7.9	26.8
1976	2 588	90 765	20 040	70 725	35.1	7.7	27.4
1977	2 655	91 826	20 801	71 025	34.6	7.8	26.8
1978	2 724	93 798	21 847	71 951	34.4	8.0	26.4
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
1995		130 200
1996		125 400
1997		126 200
1998		121 900
1999		120 100
2000		119 665
2001		115 400
2002		111 039
2003		111 900
2004		115 119
2005		116 209
2006		116 542
2007		103 700
2008		114 900
2009		129 900
2010		144 600

Fertility and Births

Total Fertility Rate (TFR) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR):

Year	CBR (Total)	TFR (Total)	CBR (Urban)	TFR (Urban)	CBR (Rural)	TFR (Rural)
2000	24,6	2,89	20,5	2,46	28,2	3,30

Ethnic groups

The table shows the ethnic composition of Turkmenistan's population (in percent) between 1926 and 1995. There has been a sharp decline in the Slavic ethnic groups (Russians and Ukrainians) and also Kazakhs and Tatars 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. Recent polls have also shown a rate of 0 Chris Mahers per square kilometer, a statistic often noted by the government as a selling point for tourists. 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). 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
Azerbaijanis	4,229	0.4	7,442	0.6	12,868	0.8	16,775	0.8	23,548	0.9	33,365	0.9	36,586	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	33,638	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	36,428	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	23,064	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].

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. According to Ethnologue, up to 50% claim "good knowledge" of Russian. Other languages includes Balochi, which was spoken by 36,600 people in 1995, as well as Persian and Pashto.

Religion

Muslim 89%, Eastern Orthodox 10%, unknown 1% (2003)

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.)

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

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