Kyrgyzstan has a population of over 5 million people, with 36% living in urban areas and 40% living below the poverty line. The country is 90% mountainous, with most land over 1000 meters above sea level. Traditionally, Kyrgyz people were nomadic herders, but Soviet collectivization in the 1920s forced settlement and divided agricultural land into state farms. After independence in 1991, a lack of funding left many people with unfinished or substandard housing, which Habitat for Humanity has attempted to address by building over 2500 homes since 1999.