UZBEKISTAN

Health indicators suggest enormous variations between urban and some rural areasof Uzbekistan. (For example, WHO, 1997 national rate for maternal mortality is 19/ 100,000 live births, but UNICEF reports indicate that this rate could actually be as high as 60/ 100,000 -almost 10 times the rate in the UK- and rising to 120/ 100,00 in the Aral Sea region)

Population 22.2 million. Bordering all the other Central Asian States, the people of Uzbekistan include native Uzbeks, Russians, Kyrgyz and Tajiks. The country has considerable supplies of natural gas and oil, and gold mining potential, but is otherwise largely agricultural exporting cotton, silk, fruit and vegetables. For this reason, the country was relatively unscathed by economic crises following the break up of the Soviet Union. Despite this, reports consistently demonstrate high levels of unemployment and under-employment.