Azerbaijan
Name
| Official name | Republic of Azerbaijan |
|---|---|
| In Azerbaijani | Azərbaycan Respublikası |
| Demonym | Azerbaijani |
| Meaning of the name | Through Persian Āzarbāyjān from Atropates, the satrap of the region after Alexander; popularly "the land of fire" |
| Also called | The Land of Fire (Odlar Yurdu) |
Quick facts
| Capital | Baku (Bakı), on the Absheron Peninsula — also the largest city, more than 2 million in its urban area, and the world's lowest-lying capital at about 28 m (92 ft) below sea level |
|---|---|
| Official language | Azerbaijani (Azeri), a Turkic language written in the Latin alphabet since 1991; Russian widely known; Lezgian and Talysh among minorities |
| Currency | Manat — ISO code AZN, symbol ₼; 1 manat = 100 qəpik; the new manat of 2006 replaced 5,000 old manats; issued by the Central Bank of Azerbaijan |
| Time zone | Azerbaijan Time, UTC+4, all year — daylight saving abolished in 2016 |
| Calling code | +994 |
| Internet domain | .az |
| ISO 3166 codes | AZ · AZE · 031 |
| Vehicle registration code | AZ |
| Driving side | Right |
| Electricity | 220 V, 50 Hz; plug types C and F |
| Independence | Declared 30 August 1991; the Constitutional Act of 18 October 1991 restored the independence of 28 May 1918 |
| National days | 28 May, Independence Day (the first republic, 1918); 18 October, Independence Restoration Day; 9 November, State Flag Day |
| Constitution | Adopted by referendum on 12 November 1995 |
| Population | About 10.25 million (State Statistical Committee, 2025); 10.7 million by the CIA World Factbook's 2025 estimate |
| Area | 86,600 km² (33,400 sq mi), including the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic — an exclave of about 5,500 km² separated by Armenia; a little smaller than Maine |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | Three horizontal bands of blue, red and green with a white crescent and eight-pointed star on the red — the first republic's tricolor of 9 November 1918, restored on 5 February 1991, its shades standardized in 2013.Flag of Azerbaijan |
|---|---|
| National emblem | An eight-pointed star on a shield in the flag's colors, a flame at its center, on oak branches and ears of wheat — adopted 1993, on the 1920 design |
| National anthem | "Azərbaycan marşı" ("March of Azerbaijan") — music by Uzeyir Hajibeyov, words by Ahmad Javad; written 1919, adopted 1920, restored 1992 |
| National colors | Blue, red and green |
| National animal | The Karabakh horse, the mountain-steppe breed of the Karabakh region — widely cited |
| National fruit | The pomegranate — celebrated at the Goychay festival; the pomegranate motif was inscribed by UNESCO in 2020 — widely cited |
| National motif | The buta, the paisley teardrop of Azerbaijani art — widely cited |
| National music | The mugham, inscribed by UNESCO in 2008; the tar, its instrument, in 2012 |
| National craft | Carpet weaving — inscribed by UNESCO in 2010 |
| Flag Day | 9 November — State Flag Day, a non-working holiday since 2010 |
| Symbol status | The flag, emblem and anthem are fixed by the Constitution and law; the horse, fruit and motif are widely cited |
Geography
| Location | The South Caucasus, on the western shore of the Caspian Sea, between Russia and Iran — counted with Europe, with Asia, or with both |
|---|---|
| Coastline | None on the open sea — landlocked; about 713 km (443 mi) on the Caspian, the world's largest lake |
| Land borders | 2,468 km (1,534 mi) with five countries |
| Border with Armenia | 996 km (619 mi), including Nakhchivan's — closed since the 1990s |
| Border with Iran | 689 km (428 mi), along the Aras |
| Border with Georgia | 428 km (266 mi) |
| Border with Russia | 338 km (210 mi), along the Greater Caucasus |
| Border with Turkey | 17 km (11 mi) — the short frontier of Nakhchivan |
| Highest point | Bazardüzü, 4,466 m (14,652 ft), on the Russian border; Shahdag, 4,243 m, the highest entirely within |
| Lowest point | The Caspian Sea shore, about 28 m (92 ft) below sea level |
| Mean elevation | 384 m (1,260 ft) |
| Longest river | The Kura, about 1,515 km (941 mi) in all, some 900 km (560 mi) in Azerbaijan; the Aras, about 1,070 km (665 mi), on the southern border |
| Largest lake | The Caspian Sea, shared with four neighbors; within the country the Mingachevir reservoir, 605 km² (234 sq mi), and Lake Sarysu, the largest natural lake |
| Mountain ranges | The Greater Caucasus in the north; the Lesser Caucasus in the west; the Talysh mountains in the south |
| Lowlands | The Kura-Aras lowland at the center — much of it below sea level |
| Mud volcanoes | Nearly half of the world's mud volcanoes — several hundred — on the Absheron Peninsula and around Gobustan |
| Climate | Nine of the eleven climate zones — dry subtropical on the coast, humid subtropical in the southeast, alpine in the Caucasus |
| Natural hazards | Earthquakes; droughts and floods; the rising and falling Caspian |
| Natural resources | Petroleum and natural gas above all; iron ore, aluminum ore, copper, gold |
| Land use | Agricultural land about 58%; forest about 11% |
| National parks | Shirvan, Hirkan, Göygöl, Absheron, Shahdag, Zangezur and others |
| UNESCO World Heritage | 5 — the Walled City of Baku with the Maiden Tower (2000); the Gobustan rock art (2007); the historic center of Sheki (2019); the Hyrcanian Forests (2023); the cultural landscape of Khinalig and the Köç Yolu transhumance route (2023) |
| Administrative divisions | The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, and districts and cities grouped in 14 economic regions |
People
| Population | About 10.25 million (State Statistical Committee, 2025); 10.7 million (CIA World Factbook, 2025 est.) |
|---|---|
| Population density | About 120 per km² (310 per sq mi); the densest around Baku |
| Population growth | Under 1% a year |
| Median age | About 33 years |
| Life expectancy | About 74–76 years |
| Fertility rate | About 1.6 births per woman |
| Urban population | About 58% |
| Adult literacy | About 99.8% |
| Ethnic groups | Azerbaijani about 95%; Lezgins about 2%; Talysh, Russians, Avars, Tsakhurs, Georgians, Jews and Kurds (2019 est.) |
| Languages | Azerbaijani; Russian widely spoken; Lezgian, Talysh, Avar |
| Religion | Muslim about 97%, the majority Shia — a secular state by constitution; Orthodox Christians and Jews among the rest |
| Largest cities | Baku, Ganja, Sumgayit, Mingachevir, Lankaran, Shirvan, Nakhchivan |
| Human Development Index | 0.789 (2023 data, 2025 report) — high human development |
Government
| Form of government | Unitary presidential republic under the Constitution of 1995 |
|---|---|
| President | Ilham Aliyev, since 31 October 2003 — re-elected 2008, 2013, 2018 and on 7 February 2024 with 92.1% |
| Vice President | Mehriban Aliyeva, First Vice President since 2017 |
| Prime Minister | Ali Asadov, since 8 October 2019; reappointed 16 February 2024 |
| Parliament | The National Assembly (Milli Məclis), unicameral, 125 members elected for five years |
| Legal system | Civil law; a Constitutional Court |
| Nakhchivan | An autonomous republic with its own assembly under the Constitution |
| United Nations | Member since 2 March 1992; a non-permanent Security Council seat in 2012–13 |
| Council of Europe | Member since 25 January 2001 |
| Other memberships | The Commonwealth of Independent States, the OSCE, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the Organization of Turkic States, GUAM, the Non-Aligned Movement (chair 2019–23); a WTO observer |
| COP29 | Baku hosted the UN climate conference in November 2024 |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$76 billion (2025, IMF and World Bank) |
|---|---|
| GDP per capita | About US$7,300 (2025) |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$26,000 (2025) |
| GDP growth | About 1.5–2.5% a year (2025–26) as oil output declines |
| Economy by sector | Industry about 41%, services about 43%, agriculture about 7% (2020) |
| Currency | Manat (AZN) — pegged at 1.70 to the U.S. dollar since 2017 |
| Oil and gas | About 90% of exports and half of state revenue; SOCAR the state company; the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli oil field and the Shah Deniz gas field offshore |
| Pipelines | Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan (2006), 1,768 km (1,099 mi), to the Mediterranean; the Southern Gas Corridor — TANAP and TAP — carrying Shah Deniz gas to Turkey and Italy since 2020 |
| Exports | About US$27 billion (2024) — oil and gas above all; the EU takes about 58%, Italy alone about a third; Turkey about 19% |
| Import partners | Russia, Turkey, China, the EU |
| Income classification | Upper-middle income (World Bank) |
Transport & infrastructure
| Main airport | Heydar Aliyev International Airport, Baku |
|---|---|
| Airline | AZAL — Azerbaijan Airlines, the flag carrier |
| Main port | The Port of Baku at Alat — the largest on the Caspian; ferries and rail ferries to Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan |
| Railways | About 2,900 km (1,800 mi), Russian gauge; the Baku–Tbilisi–Kars line (2017) links the Caspian to Turkey |
| Baku Metro | Three lines, opened 1967 |
| Roads | About 19,000 km (11,800 mi) paved; the Baku–Alat–Astara highway to Iran; the Baku–Guba–Russia road |
| The Middle Corridor | The trans-Caspian trade route from China to Europe through Baku |
History in dates
| 4th century BC | The kingdom of Caucasian Albania in the north; Atropatene in the south |
|---|---|
| 7th century | The Arab conquest brings Islam |
| 1501 | The Safavid dynasty rises from Ardabil; Shia Islam takes root |
| 1813 · 1828 | The treaties of Gulistan and Turkmenchay divide Azerbaijan between Russia and Persia along the Aras |
| 1846 | The first industrially drilled oil well, at Bibi-Heybat near Baku |
| 1918 | The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, 28 May — the first secular republic in the Muslim world; women vote from 1919 |
| 1920 | The Red Army takes Baku, 28 April |
| 1949 | Neft Daşları, the first offshore oil platform in the world, begins production |
| 1991 | Independence restored, 18 October |
| 1994 | The "Contract of the Century" with Western oil companies, 20 September |
| 2003 | Ilham Aliyev succeeds his father Heydar as president |
| 2020 | The second Karabakh war, September–November |
| 2023 | Azerbaijan takes full control of Karabakh, September |
| 2024 | Aliyev re-elected, 7 February; COP29 in Baku, November |
| 2025 | A peace agreement with Armenia initialed in Washington, 8 August |
Records & firsts
| The lowest-lying capital | Baku, about 28 m below sea level |
|---|---|
| The first industrial oil well | Bibi-Heybat, 1846 — a decade before Pennsylvania |
| The first offshore oil platform | Neft Daşları, the Oil Rocks, 1949 — a town on stilts in the Caspian |
| The mud-volcano capital | Nearly half the mud volcanoes on Earth |
| The first Muslim-majority democracy | The republic of 1918–20, with women's suffrage in 1919 |
| Yanar Dag | The "burning mountain" on the Absheron Peninsula — a hillside of natural gas that has burned for decades |
| The Maiden Tower | Baku's 12th-century tower, a World Heritage site |
| The Flame Towers | Baku's three glass towers of 2012, lit each night as flames |
| Formula 1 | The Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Baku's city circuit since 2016 — with the fastest straight of the calendar |
| A Nobel laureate born in Baku | Lev Landau, Physics, 1962; the chess champion Garry Kasparov was born there too |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Azerbaijan?
The Republic of Azerbaijan — Azərbaycan Respublikası in Azerbaijani. The name is usually traced through Persian Āzarbāyjān to Atropates, the satrap who ruled the region after Alexander; the folk reading, "the land of fire," fits a country of burning hillsides and natural gas seeps.
What is the capital of Azerbaijan?
Baku (Bakı), on the Absheron Peninsula on the Caspian Sea — the largest city, with more than 2 million people in its urban area, and the largest city on the Caspian. At about 28 m (92 ft) below sea level it is the lowest-lying national capital in the world.
How big is Azerbaijan, and how many people live there?
About 86,600 km² (33,400 sq mi) including the Nakhchivan exclave — a little smaller than Maine — with about 10.25 million people by the State Statistical Committee (2025); the CIA World Factbook estimates 10.7 million.
What are the highest and lowest points of Azerbaijan?
Bazardüzü, 4,466 m (14,652 ft), in the Greater Caucasus on the Russian border, is the highest point; the shore of the Caspian Sea, about 28 m (92 ft) below sea level, is the lowest. The Kura-Aras lowland between them lies largely below sea level.
What is the longest river in Azerbaijan?
The Kura (Kür), about 1,515 km (941 mi) from its source in Turkey to the Caspian, of which some 900 km (560 mi) run through Azerbaijan; the Aras, its main tributary, forms the borders with Iran and Armenia. The Mingachevir reservoir on the Kura, 605 km² (234 sq mi), is the largest body of water inside the country.
What are the national symbols of Azerbaijan?
The tricolor flag with the crescent and eight-point star, the emblem and the anthem "Azərbaycan marşı" are fixed by the Constitution and law. The Karabakh horse as national animal, the pomegranate as national fruit and the buta motif are widely cited rather than designated; the mugham and carpet weaving are inscribed by UNESCO.
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