Tajikistan’s economy is built on agriculture. But even with considerable fertile lands and extensive water, the nation is the poorest of the former Soviet republics. When part of the USSR, Soviet planners shifted much of its farmland to the intensive cultivation of cotton. This emphasis created an economy heavily dependent on cotton export. Civil war wracked Tajikistan’s economy from the time of freedom until a peace accord was signed in 1997. Turmoil in the south destroyed much of the region’s infrastructure, created thousands of refugees, and sorely disrupted cotton cultivation. A large number of Russian-speaking people, many of them technically skilled workers or professionals, fled the nation to seek safety and more favorable economic conditions. The combination of these factors caused the gross domestic product (GDP), which measures the value of goods and services produced, to drop an average of 16 % a year between 1990 and 1996. GDP was $1.9 billion in 1999.

Tajikistan's economy depends on agriculture, which employs two-fifths of the labour force. The civil war that followed Tajikistan's freedom devastated agriculture and industry in the republic.

Tajikistan has the lowest per capita GDP among the 15 former Soviet republics. Cotton is the most valuable crop. Mineral resources, varied but limited in amount, include silver, gold, uranium, and tungsten. Industry consists only of a large aluminum plant, hydropower facilities, and small obsolete factories mostly in light industry and food processing. The Tajikistani economy has been gravely weakened by six years of civil conflict and by the loss of subsidies from Moscow and of markets for its products. Most of its people live in abject poverty. Tajikistan depends on aid from Russia and Uzbekistan and on international humanitarian assistance for much of its basic subsistence needs. The future of Tajikistan's economy and the potential for attracting foreign investment depend upon stability and continued progress in the peace process.