Country profile: Azerbaijan
Facts and statistics on Azerbaijan including history, population,
politics, geography, economy, religion and climate
The Guardian,
Saturday 18 April 2009 Article history
Map of Azerbaijan. Source: Graphic

Potted history of the country: Fought over by Mongols, Ottomans and
Persians, by the 18th century Azerbaijan was a collection of Muslim
khanates. A century later Russia absorbed the country into its empire
and by 1900 Azerbaijan was supplying half of the world’s oil. It gained
independence in 1991. War with Armenia over the disputed
Nagorno-Karabakh region soon followed.

At a glance Location: Eastern South Caucasus, on the Caspian Sea
Neighbours: Armenia, Georgia Size: 33,400 square miles Population:
8,238,672 (91st) Density: 246.7 people per square mile Capital city:
Baku (population 1,893,300) Head of state: President ?Ã?lham Heydar oglu
Aliyev
Head of government: Prime minister Artur Tahir oglu Rasizade
Currency: Manat Time zone: Azerbaijan Standard Time (+4 hours)
International dialling code: +994 Website: president.az Data correct on
Saturday 18 April 2009 Political pressure points: President Ilham
Aliyev, who succeeded his father in a dubious election in 2003, has
crushed most dissent. Opposition members are frequently detained.
Armenia remains a sworn enemy 15 years after the war, and the risk of
renewed conflict is a constant threat.

Population mix: Azeris 90.6%, Lazs 2.2%, Russians 1.8% and Armenians
1.5%, unspecified numbers of Talish, Avars, Turks, Tatars, Ukrainians,
Sakhurs, Georgians, Kurds, Tats, Jews, Udins

Religious make-up: Muslim 96%

Main languages: Azerbaijani

Living national icons: Rustam Ibragimbekov (Oscar-nominated
screenwriter), Aziza Mustafa Zadeh (jazz singer), Alim Qasimov (folk
singer), Chingiz Abdullayev (novelist), Tahir Salahov (artist),
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (chess)

Azerbaijan on a map. Source: Graphic Landscape and climate: The
Caucasus mountains are a formidable northern frontier with Russia.
Their slopes are covered in forests that give way to orchards, and
farms used for intense cultivation of cotton and grain. Its eastern
border is the Caspian sea. Summer can be hot, winters mild.

Highest point: Bazarduzu Dagi 4,485 metres

Area covered by water: 193 square miles

Healthcare and disease: State spending on healthcare is among the
lowest of former Soviet states. One-quarter of its people do not have
access to safe water. Mortality rates from TB are 10 times the European
average. Malaria deaths, which spiked in the 1990s, have largely been
contained, but a danger remains.

Average life expectancy (m/f): 69/75

Average number of children per mother: 1.7

Maternal deaths per 100,000 live births: 82

Infant deaths per 1,000 births: 89

Adult HIV/Aids rate: 0.1%

Doctors per 1,000 head of population: 3.6

Adult literacy rate: 98.8% (m 99.5%/f 98.2%)

Economic outlook: Azerbaijan’
s economy grew rapidly from 2006-08 on the
back of increasing oil exports from huge reserves in the Caspian, but
falling commodity prices will stunt future growth.

Main industries: Petroleum and natural gas, steel, iron ore, cement and
textiles

Key crops/livestock: Wheat, rice barley maize, sheep, chickens

Key exports: Vegetable products, minerals, chemical industrial products

GDP: ?£10,138m (78th)

GDP per head: ?£1,195

Unemployment rate: 0.8%

Proportion of global carbon emissions: 0.14%

Most popular tourist attractions: Baku’s Unesco world heritage listed
old city.

Local recommendation: Krasnaya Sloboda, a settlement in the foothills
of the Caucasus, home to a community rumoured to be descendants of one
of the lost tribes of Israel.

Traditional dish: Yarpag dolmasi (vine leaves stuffed with mince)

Foreign tourist visitors per year: 1,177,277

Media freedom index (ranked out of 173): 150

Did you know … Caviar was once so abundant here that British troops
stationed at Baku in 1919 were fed it as cheap rations.

National anthem:
Thousands of lives have been sacrificed
Your bosom has become a battlefield
Every devoted soldier
Has become a hero

?· Information correct on date of first publication, Saturday 18 April
2009.