Main Brochure.indd

TAJIKISTANA COUNTRY OF OPPORTUNITY & OPTIMISMOne out of every two people in Tajikistan is under the age of 19 and 50 percent of this group is female. Women and children,therefore, have to be the focus of development efforts – there is no option. Just as a house built on shifting sand cannotstand, a nation that does not invest in its children and women will not progress. Women and children must be seen andheard. This means being fully integrated into civil society so that they become a part of the decision-making process.HUMAN DEVELOPMENT TRENDSThe war, the general economic contraction and the loss of socialservices have caused a drastic deterioration in overall living conditionsthroughout the country. Tajikistan’s per capita annual GDP2002 stands at around US $236, making it the most impoverishedof the former Soviet republics and one of the poorest countries inthe world. It is estimated that 64% of the population is living belowthe national poverty line.Unemployment, virtually nonexistent before independence, hasincreased to approximately 12 per cent. Real wages have declinedby 80 per cent since 1991, as nominal wages averaging US $13.2per month have failed to keep pace with Tajikistan’s high post-independenceinflation rates.The problems the country must confront are disproportionate to itssize. It has an onerous external debt, increasing drug use amongstits youth, a crumbling infrastructure and the danger of HIV andAIDS exploding into an epidemic. Migration out of the country is acompounding factor. As many men seek employment elsewhere,particularly in Russia, the burden on women to keep the familytogether increases. Resulting financial strains are forcing childrenonto the streets seeking menial labor to make family ends meet.When poverty and social stress become too great, many parentsare placing their children into state institutions.Nearly all indicators of human development noted in the CommonCountry Assessment are low or are declining. Tajikistan’s rankingin the Human Development Index fell from 97 th out of 173 coun-