Population and Demographics

The majority of Turkmenistan's citizens are ethnic Turkmen with sizeable minorities of Russians and Uzbeks. Smaller minorities include Ukrainians, Kazakhs, Azeris, Armenians and Tatars. Turkmen is the official language of Turkmenistan, though Russian still is widely spoken as a 'language of inter-ethnic communication' (per the 1992 Constitution).

The name Turkmen, both for the people and for the nation itself, is said to be self-referential from the period the Russians first encountered the people, parsing as Turk-men, or 'I am Turk'.

Facts and Figures

• Population: 5,097,028
• Age Structure:
  • 0-14 years: 34.7% (male 900,718/female 866,930)
  • 15-64 years: 60.9% (male 1,537,638/female 1,567,049)
  • 65 years and over: 4.4% (male 97,454/female 127,239)
• Median Age:
  • Total: 22.3 years
  • Male: 21.7 years
  • Female: 22.9 years
• Population Growth Rate: 1.617%
• Birth Rate: 25.36 births/1,000 population
• Death Rate: 6.17 deaths/1,000 population
• Net Migration Rate: -3.01 migrant(s)/1,000 population
• Sex Ratio:
  • At birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
  • Under 15 years: 1.039 male(s)/female
  • 15-64 years: 0.981 male(s)/female
  • 65 years and over: 0.766 male(s)/female
  • Total population: 0.99 male(s)/female
• Infant Mortality Rate:
  • Total: 53.49 deaths/1,000 live births
  • Male: 57.84 deaths/1,000 live births
  • Female: 48.91 deaths/1,000 live births
• Life Expectancy at Birth:
  • Total population: 68.3 years
  • Male: 65.23 years
  • Female: 71.54 years
• Total Fertility Rate: 3.13 children born/woman
• HIV/AIDS:
  • Adult prevalence rate: less than 0.1%
  • People living with HIV/AIDS: less than 200
• Ethnic Groups:
  • Turkmen 85%
  • Uzbek 5%
  • Russian 4%
  • Other 6%
• Religions:
  • Muslim 89%
  • Eastern Orthodox 9%
  • Unknown 2%
• Languages:
  • Turkmen 72%
  • Russian 12%
  • Uzbek 9%
  • Other 7%
• Literacy:
  • Total population: 98.8%
  • Male: 99.3%
  • Female: 98.3%