Discover the central Asian nation of Azerbaijan in this easy-to-read summary of its international relations, economy, government, and people & culture.

1. Azerbaijan
Bisignis Institute

2. Overview

3. Overview
Azerbaijan is an oil and gas rich country located on
the western shore of the Caspian Sea. The country's
population, numbering over 8 million, is majority-Turkic
and majority-Shia Muslim.

4. Overview
Azerbaijan was briefly independent (from 1918 to
1920) after the collapse of the Russian Empire; it was
later integrated into the Soviet Union for 7 decades.

5. Overview
Large oil export revenues have paid for infrastructure
projects and improved living standards. The poverty
rate has been decreased and infrastructure
investment has grown substantially in recent years due
to revenue from oil and gas production.

6. Overview
The World Bank named the country as one of the
world's fastest reforming nations in its 2009 "Doing
Business" report.
Azerbaijan is ranked number five on the Bisignis
Institute's Emerging Market Energy Security Growth
Prosperity Index®.

7. Overview
The World Bank named the country as one of the
world's fastest reforming nations in its 2009 "Doing
Business" report.
Azerbaijan is ranked number five on the Bisignis
Institute's Emerging Market Energy Security Growth
Prosperity Index®.

8. International Relations
Armenia

9. Armenia
Azerbaijan has yet to fix its dispute with Armenia over
Nagorno-Karabakh, a mostly Armenian-populated
area that Moscow acknowledged in 1923 as an
independent region inside Soviet Azerbaijan after
Armenia and Azerbaijan disputed the status of the
region.

10. Armenia
Armenia and Azerbaijan started fighting over the area
in 1988; the battle intensified after both nations
achieved independence from the Soviet Union in
1991. By May 1994, when a cease-fire took hold,
ethnic Armenian troops held not only NagornoKarabakh but also seven bordering provinces in the
territory of Azerbaijan.

11. International Relations
Europe

12. Europe
Azerbaijan became a member of the Council of
Europe in 2001.

13. International Relations
United Nations

15. United Nations
In October 2011, Azerbaijan was awarded one of the
six non-permanent seats on the U.N. Security Council.
From January 2012, Azerbaijan will sit together with
permanent members of the Security Council (France,
China, Russia, the U.K. and the U.S.) for a duration of 2
years.

16. International Relations
United States

17. United States
The United States established diplomatic relations with
Azerbaijan in 1992, after its independence from the
Soviet Union. The U.S. and Azerbaijan have a bilateral
trade agreement and a bilateral investment treaty.

18. Economy

19. Economy
Azerbaijan experienced strong economic growth from
2006 to 2010. The growth was credited to sizable and
growing oil and gas exports, but some non-export
industries also had double-digit growth, including
construction, banking, and real estate. In recent
years, Azerbaijan has tried to diversify its economy
and minimize its dependence on its natural resources.

20. Economy
Economic growth reached double digit figures
between 2006 and 2008 before sliding back to 3.7 % in
2010. In 2012, economic growth increased to to 3.8 %.

21. Economy
Oil & gas

22. Oil & gas
Continued production decreases in the oil sector
were offset by strong growth in the non-oil sector. The
non-oil sector growth may be driven primarily by
government investment, which may not be
sustainable if oil production continues to decline.

23. Oil & gas
Oil exports through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline,
the Baku-Novorossiysk, and the Baku-Supsa pipelines
continue to be the primary economic driver, but
efforts to raise Azerbaijan's gas production are in
progress.

24. Oil & gas
The eventual conclusion of the geopolitically
important Southern Gas Corridor between Azerbaijan
and Europe will create another, albeit, scaled-down
source of income from energy exports.

25. Oil & gas
In 1994, Azerbaijan endorsed an oil contract worth
$7.4 billion with a Western consortium. Ever since,
Western companies have invested millions of dollars in
the development of the country's oil and gas reserves.
The economy as a whole has not benefited as much
as it might have otherwise done.

26. Economy
International trade

27. International trade
Trade with Russia and the other former Soviet republics
is decreasing in importance, while trade is developing
with Turkey and the countries in Europe.

28. International trade
Long-term prospects depend on world oil costs,
Azerbaijan's ability to negotiate export routes for its
expanding gas production, and its ability to use its
energy riches to promote growth and stimulate
employment in non-energy sectors of the economy.

29. International trade
U.S. firms are involved in offshore oil development
projects with Azerbaijan and are looking into
emerging investment prospects in Azerbaijan in
telecommunications and other industries.

30. International trade
Azerbaijan has been designated as a beneficiary
nation under the Generalized System of Preferences
(GSP) program, under which a variety of goods that
Azerbaijan might seek to export are eligible for dutyfree access to the United States.

31. International trade
The GSP program gives an incentive for investors to go
to Azerbaijan and export certain products duty-free to
the U.S. market.

32. Government

33. Government
President Ilham Aliyev came to office in 2003,
succeeding his father Heydar, and was re-elected in
2008 and in 2013.

34. People & culture

36. People & culture
Roughly one-fourth of the country's residents live in the
capital, Baku, a cosmopolitan urban hub that
combines ultra-modern skyscrapers with a historic
Walled City that is recognized by UNESCO as a World
Heritage Site.

37. People & culture
Culturally, Azerbaijan has also looked to raise its profile
internationally. In 2011, the country won the Eurovision
Song Contest, a continent-wide musical competition.
Due to this success, Azerbaijan will host the next
Eurovision contest which has been slated to occur in
Baku in May, 2012.

38. People & culture
The national sport of Azerbaijan is chess.

39. Sources:
Azerbaijan | CIA World Factbook
U.S. Relations With Azerbaijan | U.S. State Department
Azerbaijan profile | BBC News
Country Profile: Azerbaijan | CNN