FACTS

Location: Central Asia, bordering the Caspian Sea, between Iran and Kazakhstan

Area (only Total) total: 488,100 sq km

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

Population: 5,179,571 (July 2008 est.)

Main Language (only first): Turkmen 72%

Government type: republic; authoritarian presidential rule, with little power outside the executive branch

Capital (Name): Ashgabat (Ashkhabad)

Capital (Time Difference): UTC+5

Independence: 27 October 1991 (from Soviet Union)

National holiday: Independence Day, 27 October (1991)