Country explorer: Tajikistan

Tajikistan has experienced notable economic growth with gradual improvements in GDP per capita and a significant reduction in poverty levels, despite facing challenges such as high unemployment rates and fluctuating inflation, characteristics that it shares with its lower-middle-income country peers.

Tajikistan has witnessed significant demographic shifts characterized by steady population growth, high net migration losses, a persistently high fertility rate, and improvements in life expectancy, reflecting a young and growing population alongside evolving socio-economic conditions, similar to trends observed in other lower-middle-income countries.

Tajikistan has experienced notable improvements in access to clean fuels for cooking, electricity, and safely managed drinking water, reflecting broader societal advancements similar to those of other lower-middle-income countries, yet still faces challenges in safely managed sanitation evidenced by a lack of data.

Tajikistan has demonstrated commendable progress in human development, reflected in notable improvements in its Human Development Index, reductions in child mortality, a high literacy rate, and gains in average learning-adjusted years of schooling, a trajectory mirroring advances common to lower-middle-income countries but distinguished by its significant strides in education outcomes.

Tajikistan has experienced modest increases in forest area and renewable internal freshwater resources per capita, while facing rising per capita CO2 emissions and a significant reliance on hydroelectric power, highlighting a path of gradually increasing environmental commitments within the bounds of its significant hydroelectric potential, akin to its Central Asian counterparts yet distinct in its notably low CO2 emissions and high freshwater availability.

Tajikistan has seen a gradual but significant enhancement in its technological and innovative landscape, marked by increased internet usage, mobile phone subscriptions, and a burgeoning output in scientific research, mirroring broader trends observed across lower-middle-income countries.

Tajikistan has experienced a significant cultural and societal transformation reflected in its steadily improving life satisfaction scores and gender equality, against a backdrop of a high and stable age dependency ratio and a notable increase in the share of the population born abroad.

Tajikistan has experienced notable governance challenges, reflected in its consistently low and sometimes declining scores across rule of law, corruption perception, civil liberties, and press freedom indices, sharing common governance issues with its regional peers but with distinctive declines in political civil liberties and press freedom.