Tajikistan

Tajikistan: steady but modest growth, 1990–2024

Central Asia's poorest former Soviet republic, Tajikistan suffered a civil war in 1992-97 and remains one of the world's most remittance-dependent economies, with money sent home by workers in Russia equal to roughly a third or more of GDP. Between 1990 and 2024, Tajikistan's GDP per capita grew from $487 to $1,341 (current US$), a compound annual growth rate of 3.0% — steady but modest growth. Annual GDP growth averaged 2.8% with a year-to-year standard deviation of 9.6 points, reflecting considerable volatility and periodic crises. Structurally, agriculture's share of the economy moved from 32.7% to 22.9% of GDP (a classic decline as the economy industrialized/modernized), while services rose from 25.1% to 34.7% of GDP, underscoring a shift toward a services-driven economy. On human development, life expectancy rose from 58.6 to 71.9 years, while tertiary school enrollment moved from 24.2% to 35.6%, while the urban population share grew from 34.3% to 26.2%.

What this growth cost: Growth was not without cost: per-capita CO2 emissions fell from 2.90 to 0.92 tonnes CO2e per person; income inequality (Gini index) widened from 29.5 to 36.1; the poverty headcount ratio fell from 79.4% to 6.1%.