Turkmenistan

Location	Central Asia, bordering the Caspian Sea, between Iran and Kazakhstan
Geographic coordinates	40 00 N, 60 00 E
Map references	Asia
Area	total: 488,100 sq km land: 469,930 sq km water: 18,170 sq km
Area - comparative	slightly larger than California
Land boundaries	total: 3,736 km border countries: Afghanistan 744 km, Iran 992 km, Kazakhstan 379 km, Uzbekistan 1,621 km
Coastline	0 km; note - Turkmenistan borders the Caspian Sea (1,768 km)
Maritime claims	none (landlocked)
Climate	subtropical desert
Terrain	flat-to-rolling sandy desert with dunes rising to mountains in the south; low mountains along border with Iran; borders Caspian Sea in west
Elevation extremes	lowest point: Vpadina Akchanaya -81 m note: Sarygamysh Koli is a lake in northern Turkmenistan with a water level that fluctuates above and below the elevation of Vpadina Akchanaya (the lake has dropped as low as -110 m) highest point: Gora Ayribaba 3,139 m
Natural resources	petroleum, natural gas, sulfur, salt
Land use	arable land: 4.51% permanent crops: 0.14% other: 95.35% (2005)
Irrigated land	18,000 sq km (2003)
Total renewable water resources	60.9 cu km (1997)
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural)	total: 24.65 cu km/yr (2%/1%/98%) per capita: 5,104 cu m/yr (2000)
Natural hazards	NA
Environment - current issues	contamination of soil and groundwater with agricultural chemicals, pesticides; salination, water logging of soil due to poor irrigation methods; Caspian Sea pollution; diversion of a large share of the flow of the Amu Darya into irrigation contributes to that river's inability to replenish the Aral Sea; desertification
Environment - international agreements	party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography - note	landlocked; the western and central low-lying desolate portions of the country make up the great Garagum (Kara-Kum) desert, which occupies over 80% of the country; eastern part is plateau