38°0'N 73°0'E? / ?38.000°N 73.000°E? / 38.000; 73.000 Gorno-Badakhshan officially the Badakhshan Mountainous Autonomous Region is an autonomous region in eastern Tajikistan in the Pamir Mountains. It makes up nearly forty-five percent of the country's land area but only two percent of its population. The official English name of the autonomous region is the Badakhshan Mountainous Autonomous Region. The name "Badakhshan" (Russian: ???????? romanized: Badakhshan; Tajik: ???????? romanized: Badaxson) is derived from the Sasanian title bedaxš or badaxš. "Gorno-Badakhshan" literally means "mountainous Badakhshan" and is derived from the Russian name of the autonomous region Gorno-Badakhshanskaya avtonomnaya oblast. The Russian abbreviation "GBAO" is also commonly used in English-language publications by national and international bodies such as the government of Tajikistan and the United Nations.