Population: In 2005 Kyrgyzstan’s population was estimated at 5,146,281. The annual growth rate is 1.29 percent. In the early 2000s, increased emigration of Russians and other minority nationalities with technical expertise has been an important economic issue. In 2005 the net migration rate was –2.47 persons per 1,000 population. The population is concentrated in small areas in the north and southwest in the Chu (north-central), Fergana (southwestern), and Talas (northwestern) valleys. About two-thirds of the population lives in rural areas, and that figure has risen as the predominantly urban Russian population decreases.

Demography: In 2005 some 32 percent of the population was 14 years of age or younger, and 6 percent was 65 years of age or older. The birthrate was nearly 22.5 births per 1,000 population, and the death rate was 7.1 per 1,000 population. Infant mortality was 35.6 deaths per 1,000 live births. Life expectancy for the total population was 68.2 years: 72.4 years for females and 64.2 years for males. The fertility rate was 2.7 births per woman. In 2005 the population’s sex ratio was 0.96 males to 1 female.

Ethnic Groups: In 2004 the following ethnic groups were present in Kyrgyzstan: 65 percent Kyrgyz, 14 percent Uzbek, 13 percent Russian, 1 percent Dungan (ethnic Chinese Muslim), 1 percent Tatar, 1 percent Uyghur, and 1 percent Ukrainian. Substantial numbers of Tajik refugees entered the country in the 1990s. In the early 2000s, about 15,000 Russians left the country annually. The Uzbek minority is concentrated around the southwestern city of Osh, and the Russian population is concentrated in Bishkek and adjacent Chu Province.

Languages: In the post-Soviet era, designation of official languages has been a sensitive issue in Kyrgyzstan. After a government campaign to expand the use of Kyrgyz in the 1990s, in 2001 the legislature designated Russian as the country’s second official language, alongside Kyrgyz. Russian is the primary language of commerce and higher education.

Religion: About 80 percent of Kyrgyzstan’s population is Muslim, and 16 percent is Christian. The vast majority of the Kyrgyz and Uzbek populations are Sunni Muslims. The Kyrgyz practice a version of Islam that is influenced by earlier beliefs and practices and by the nomadic nature of earlier Kyrgyz society. This combination is most prevalent in the north; the Islam practiced in the southwestern population centers (where the Uzbek minority is concentrated) resembles more closely that practiced elsewhere in Central Asia. Most of the Russian population professes Russian Orthodoxy. In the post-Soviet era, some Protestant and Roman Catholic missionary activity has taken place, but proselytization has been discouraged officially and unofficially. A “black list” of harmful sects includes the Seventh Day Adventists, Ba’hai Muslims, and Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Education and Literacy: In 2004 the literacy rate in Kyrgyzstan was 98.7 percent. Education is compulsory for nine years, between ages seven and 15. Following four years of primary and five years of lower secondary school, the system offers two years of upper secondary school, specialized secondary school, or vocational/technical school. In 2001 some 89 percent of the relevant age-group was enrolled in the compulsory program, but this figure has decreased in the early 2000s. In 2002 some 44 institutions of higher learning were operating, most notably the Kyrgyz State University, Kyrgyz Technical University, and Kyrgyz-Russian Slavonic University. Primary and secondary schools teach in Kyrgyz, but the language of instruction in the higher institutions is Russian. Budget cuts that have reduced teacher salaries and equipment availability are reflected disproportionately in reduced numbers of female students. In 2002 some 4.5 percent of gross domestic product was spent on education.

Health: In the post-Soviet era, Kyrgyzstan’s health system has suffered increasing shortages of health professionals and medicine. Kyrgyzstan must import nearly all its pharmaceuticals. The increasing role of private health services has supplemented the deteriorating state-supported system. In the early 2000s, public expenditures on health care decreased as a percentage of total expenditures, and the ratio of population to number of doctors increased substantially, from 296 per doctor in 1996 to 355 per doctor in 2001. A national primary-care health system, the Manas Program, was adopted in 1996 to restructure the Soviet system that Kyrgyzstan inherited. The number of people participating in this program has expanded gradually, and province-level family medicine training centers now retrain medical personnel. A mandatory medical insurance fund was established in 1997.

Largely because of drug shortages, in the late 1990s and early 2000s the incidence of infectious diseases, especially tuberculosis, has increased. The major causes of death are cardiovascular and respiratory conditions. Official estimates of the incidence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have been very low (in 2001 the estimate was less than 0.1 percent of the adult population). However, HIV is concentrated in Kyrgyzstan’s narcotics-abusing and prison populations, particularly in Osh. Because narcotics abuse is increasing rapidly in the cities, HIV incidence is expected to do likewise.

Welfare: The need to reform revenue collection and allocation systems has delayed a planned revision of the state unemployment insurance system. Unemployment benefits are paid for 26 weeks at the minimum wage level. Workers are eligible for state-funded pensions at age 60 for men and age 55 for women. Disabled workers receive the pension amount with a supplement. The state, which controls almost all pension funds in Kyrgyzstan, has been chronically late in pension payments. As a step in a long-term pension reform program, some private pension funds began to appear in 2003. In 2004 the minimum pension was US$5.10 per month (12 percent of the average wage, US$42.50), an amount that has been inadequate to support a majority of recipients. In 2003 an estimated 50 percent of citizens lived below the poverty line; the figure was about 80 percent in the southern regions of Kyrgyzstan. The government’s 10-year Comprehensive Development Framework includes a poverty reduction program supported by the International Monetary Fund.