Azerbaijan

In brief

Azerbaijan is a country in Western Asia. Its capital is Baku. With 10.2 million inhabitants in 2025, it ranks 94th in the world by population, out of the 195 countries recognised by the UN. Its area is 86,600 km². Landlocked, it shares land borders with Armenia, Georgia, Iran, Russia and Türkiye.

GDP per capita stands at $7,411 (2025), 97th in the world. Life expectancy at birth is 74.6 years (2024). 59% of the population lives in cities.

History of Azerbaijan

A region contested by the Persian, Arab, Seljuk and Russian empires, Azerbaijan was divided in the early 19th century: the north went to Russia, while the south remained Iranian. In the late 19th century Baku became the world’s leading oil centre. In 1918 the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was born, the first secular republic in the Muslim world, which gave women the vote. Soviet from 1920, the country has been independent since 18 October 1991. After losing a war in the early 1990s, it retook Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020 and 2023.

Geography of Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan faces the Caspian Sea. In the north, the Greater Caucasus peaks at Bazardüzü (4,466 m); the Kura plain lies in the centre. The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic is separated from the rest of the country by Armenia. The Baku area has a large number of mud volcanoes.

Map of Azerbaijan

Download the map (SVG)Interactive world map

Flag of Azerbaijan

The flag of Azerbaijan is red, blue and green. Its official proportions are 1:2 (height to width).

• Blue33%
• Green33%
• Red32%
• White2%

Share of the flag’s surface taken by each colour.

What the flag stands for

Blue, red and green, with a white crescent and eight-pointed star. Blue evokes the Turkic heritage, red modernity and progress, green Islam. Adopted in 1918, it was restored in 1991.

Sources: Wikipedia, articles “Azerbaijan” and “Flag of Azerbaijan”.

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Fact file

Economy and society