Map of Kyrgyzstan

Location of KyrgyzstanKyrgyzstan is a rugged Central Asian country along the Silk Road, the ancient trade route between China and the Mediterranean. The Tian Shan mountains, which surround the old caravan route and dominate the country, are home to snow leopards, lynx and sheep. In the south, the millennia-old city of Osh has a huge, busy bazaar that was a stop on the Silk Road.

Kyrgyzstan Weather, climate and geographyWeather & climateKyrgyzstan has a continental climate with cold winters and warm summers. In the lowlands, the temperature ranges from around -6°C (21°F) in January to 24°C (75°F) in July. In the low-lying Fergana Valley of the south temperatures may peak as high as the low 40s in summer.In the highlands, the temperatures range from between -20° (-4°F in January to 12°C (54°F) in July, although some high mountain valleys can drop as low as -30°C (-22°F) in winter. Rainfall is fairly low throughout the country but there can be heavy snowfalls during winter. The wettest area is the mountains above the Fergana Valley; the driest, the southwest shore of Lake Issyk-Kul. March to May and October to November are usually the wettest months

Vegetation cover in kyrgyzstanThe vegetation in Kyrgyzstan is classified vertically into three belts: 

The first and the lowest of these lies below 1 500 metres and was historically dominated by grass steppe, with marshes and reed-beds along rivers such as the Chu. Much of this, particularly where irrigation has been developed and the land drained, is now under settled agriculture, except in areas which are too arid or the gradient too steep. In the south-west on the fringes of Ferghana where there is higher precipitation along the mountain slopes relic ancient fruit and nut forests occur.

The second belt between 1 500 and 3 000 metres is mainly open mountain grasslands and scrub, with some broadleaf and conifer forest, depending on the location and configuration of the

mountain ranges and valleys up to a tree line that never exceeds 3 000 metres. 

The third and highest belt above 3 000 metres comprises alpine grassland and sub-alpine meadows, intercalated with permanent snow-fields, glaciers and rocks.

Natural resources of kyrgyzstanSoviet geologists have estimated Kyrgyzstan's coal reserves at about 27 billion tons, of which the majority remained entirely unexploited in the mid-1990s. About 3 billion tons of that amount are judged to be of highest quality. This coal has proven difficult to exploit, however, because most of it is in small deposits deep in the mountains. Kyrgyzstan also has oil resources; small deposits of oil-bearing shale have been located in southern Kyrgyzstan, and part of the Fergana oil and natural gas complex lies in Kyrgyzstani territory. In the Osh region, four pools of oil, four of natural gas, and four mixed pools have been exploited since the 1950s; however, the yield of all of them is falling in the 1990s. In 1992 their combined output was 112,000 tons of oil and 65 million cubic meters of natural gas, compared with the republic's annual consumption of 2.5 million tons of oil and 3 billion cubic meters of natural gas.

Kyrgyzstan's iron ore deposits are estimated at 5 billion tons, most containing about 30 percent iron. Copper deposits in the mountains are located in extremely complex mineral deposits, making extraction costly. The northern mountains also contain lead, zinc, molybdenum, vanadium, and bismuth. The south has deposits of bauxite and mercury; Kyrgyzstan was the Soviet Union's main supplier of mercury, but in the 1990s plummeting mercury prices have damaged the international market. A tin and tungsten mine was 80 percent complete in 1995. Kyrgyzstan had a virtual monopoly on supplying antimony to the Soviet Union, but post-Soviet international markets are small and highly specialized. Uranium, which was in high demand for the Soviet Union's military and atomic energy programs, no longer is mined in Kyrgyzstan.

The Soviet Union's largest gold mine was located at Makmal in Kyrgyzstan, and in the Soviet period Kyrgyzstan's 170 proven deposits put it in third place behind only Russia and Uzbekistan in gold production in the union. Two more promising deposits, at Kumtor and Jerui, have been discovered. Kumtor, said to be the seventh-largest gold deposit in the world with an estimated value of US$5.5 billion, is being explored by the Canadian Metals Company (Cameco), a uranium company, in a joint-venture operation. Gold deposits are concentrated in Talas Province in north-central Kyrgyzstan, where as much as 200 tons may exist; deposits in Makmal are estimated at sixty tons. Deposits adjacent to the Chatkal River in the northwest amount to an estimated 150 tons.

The terms of the agreement for Kumtor exploitation with Cameco, which gains one-third of profits from gold extraction, caused public concern in 1992. To improve control of the mineral-extraction and refining processes, and to address the uncontrolled movement of precious metals out of the country, President Akayev created a new administrative agency, Kyrgyzaltyn (Kyrgyzstan Gold), to replace Yuzhpolmetal, the Soviet-era body responsible for precious metals. In January 1993, Akayev also brought the country's antimony and mercury mines into Kyrgyzaltyn. The latter are especially important because mercury is used to refine gold. Control of the mercury mines makes more likely the realization of Akayev's hope that Kyrgyzstan will become more than just a supplier of raw materials.

Although Kyrgyzstan has one of the largest proven gold reserves in the world, in the early 1990s fuel and spare parts shortages combined with political disputes to hamper output (see Government and Politics, this ch.). Production in 1994 was 3.5 tons, but the output goal for 1996 was ten tons.

Kyrgyzstan's major energy source, water, has also been discussed as a commercial product. The export of bottled mineral and fresh water was the object of several unrealized plans in the mid-1990s.

Beautiful views in kyrgyzstanIssyk-Kul

Song kol lake

Burana tower

Ala Archa National Park

Sulayman Mountain

Tree in the mountains of kyrgyzstan

1. Jeti-Ögüz resort

1. Tash Rabat

1. Kyrgyz Ala-Too Range

1. Altyn Arashan

Kyrgyzstan products

KYMYZ

KURUT

CHALAP

sunfun

holistic

white beans

Organic walnut

Komamono honpo

hamilton

lightlink

Kyrgyzstan population

Kyrgyzstan Population clock04-08-2015 17:57:51

5 897 983 Current population

2 909 196 Current male population (49.3%)

2 988 787 Current female population (50.7%)

78 418 Births this year

272 Births today

22 505 Deaths this year

78 Deaths today

-8 617 Net migration this year

-30 Net migration today

47 296 Population growth this year

164 Population growth today

Kyrgyzstan population 2015During 2015 Kyrgyzstan population is estimated to be increased by 83 489 people and reach 5 934 176 in the beginning of 2016. The natural increase is expected to be positive, as the number of births will exceed the number of deaths by 98 701. If external migration will remain on the previous year level, the population will be declined by 15 212 due to the migration reasons. It means

that amount of people who leaves Kyrgyzstan to settle permanently in another country (emigrants) will prevail over the amount of people who moves into the country (to which they are not native) in order to settle there as permanent residents (immigrants).

Population dynamics in 2015According to our estimations, daily change rates of Kyrgyzstan population in 2015 will be the following:

379 live births average per day (15.80 in a hour) 109 deaths average per day (4.53 in a hour) -42 emigrants average per day (-1.74 in a hour)

Kyrgyzstan population historyYear Population Growth Rate

1960 2 172 300 N/A %

1961 2 255 900 3.85 %

1962 2 333 400 3.44 %

1963 2 413 700 3.44 %

1964 2 495 300 3.38 %

1965 2 573 300 3.13 %

1966 2 655 300 3.19 %

1967 2 736 500 3.06 %

1968 2 818 300 2.99 %

1969 2 894 800 2.71 %

1970 2 959 900 2.25 %

1971 3 022 300 2.11 %

1972 3 088 200 2.18 %

1973 3 153 800 2.12 %

1974 3 223 900 2.22 %

1975 3 292 400 2.12 %

1976 3 358 700 2.01 %

1977 3 423 900 1.94 %

1978 3 487 100 1.85 %

1979 3 552 000 1.86 %

1980 3 617 400 1.84 %

1981 3 685 800 1.89 %

1982 3 759 300 1.99 %

1983 3 838 300 2.10 %

1984 3 916 400 2.03 %

1985 3 990 300 1.89 %

1986 4 066 500 1.91 %

1987 4 144 600 1.92 %

1988 4 218 400 1.78 %

1989 4 307 500 2.11 %

1990 4 391 200 1.94 %

1991 4 463 600 1.65 %

1992 4 515 400 1.16 %

1993 4 516 700 0.03 %

1994 4 515 100 -0.04 %

1995 4 560 400 1.00 %

1996 4 628 400 1.49 %

1997 4 696 400 1.47 %

1998 4 769 000 1.55 %

1999 4 840 400 1.50 %

2000 4 898 400 1.20 %

2001 4 945 100 0.95 %

2002 4 990 700 0.92 %

2003 5 043 300 1.05 %

2004 5 104 700 1.22 %

2005 5 162 600 1.13 %

2006 5 218 400 1.08 %

2007 5 268 400 0.96 %

2008 5 318 700 0.95 %

2009 5 383 300 1.21 %

2010 5 447 900 1.20 %

2011 5 514 600 1.22 %

2012 5 607 200 1.68 %

2013 5 687 215 1.43 %

2014 5 768 372 1.43 %

2015 5 850 687 1.43 %

Ethnic in KyrgyzstanAccording to a 1999 census, about 65% of the population were

Kyrgyz, about 14% were Uzbeks, 13% were Russians, 1% Dungan (ethnic Chinese

Muslims), 1% Uighur, 1% Tatar, and0.4% German. About 420,000 ethnic Kyrgyz reside elsewhere in the former Soviet Union and 170,000 in China. Kyrgyz speak a Turkic language and most are Sunni Muslims. There are major ethnic and clan-based cleavages, including north-south clan and regional tensions that threaten fragmentation.

According to some reports, 10% or more of Russians left Kyrgyzstan during 1991 because of ethnic tensions. Ethnic Germans, deported to Kyrgyzstan by Stalin during World War II, are also leaving Kyrgyzstan. In June 1990, in the Osh region on the eastern edge of the fertile Fergana Valley, a major ethnic

conflict broke out between Kyrgyz and Uzbek inhabitants over land distribution. Approximately 250 people died in what has been termed "the most explosive region of Central Asia," because of its mixed population of Uzbeks and Kyrgyz, poverty, and high unemployment. Periodic clashes also occur between Kyrgyz and Tajiks along the border with Tajikistan over water resources. Beefed-up Kyrgyz security forces were placed in Osh and Alais regions in early 1993 to prevent spillover from fighting going on between Tajik ex-communists and oppositionists in the mountains of northern Tajikistan and to halt the inflow of Tajik refugees.

Almazbek Atambayevhas been the President of Kyrgyzstan since 1 December 2011. He previously was Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan from 17 December 2010 to 1 December 2011, having also been Prime Minister from 29 March 2007 until 28 November 2007. He also served as Chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan from 30 July 1999 to 23 September 2011.

On 20 April 2009, Atambayev was announced as a candidate for the July 2009 Kyrgyz presidential elections.But on polling day Atambayev withdrew his candidacy claiming "widespread fraud": "Due to massive, unprecedented violations, we consider these elections illegitimate and a new election should be held".

Atambayev has repeatedly presented himself as a pro-Russian politician. He has announced Kyrgyzstan’s entry into the Customs Union, promised to secure the withdrawal of the American base from the country in 2014, and has spoken of the need for closer economic relations with Russia, which temporarily employs about 500,000 citizens of Kyrgyzstan; however, he also expressed his wish to achieve greater economic and energy independe nce from it.