Economy

Tajikistan's economy is dependent on agriculture and livestock raising, due in part to the economic collapse that occurred with the end of Soviet rule and nearly a decade of civil strife in the 1990s. Two thirds of the population is engaged in subsistence agriculture, and some 900,000 members of the workforce are employed in Russia or other foreign countries. More than half the country's population lives in poverty, and official corruption is a serious problem.

Tajikistan's lowlands specialize in the cultivation of cotton, wheat, barley, fruit (including wine grapes), vegetables, and mulberry trees (for silk). Karakul sheep, dairy cattle, goats, and yaks are raised. The republic's mountains hold deposits of silver, gold, uranium, tungsten, zinc, lead, coal, antimony, salt, and mercury, but mining and raw-materials processing, which were formerly important, have diminished since the economic collapse of the 1990s. There is some petroleum. Tajikistan is well provided with hydroelectric resources, but due to poor management the country has suffered from seasonal power shortages in recent years. Cotton ginning, silk spinning, winemaking, carpet weaving, metals processing, and the manufacture of textiles were also leading industries, but these too have been curtailed. The surviving and revived industries include some aluminum, zinc, and lead processing; hydropower generation; light manufacturing (chemicals and fertilizers); and food processing.

Aluminum, electricity, cotton, fruits, vegetable oil, and textiles are exported. Imports include electricity, petroleum products, aluminum oxide, machinery and equipment. Trade is primarily with the Netherlands, Russia, Uzbekistan, and Turkey. The country's economic problems and political turmoil have led Tajikistan to become an important heroin smuggling transit point.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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