Uzbekistan

Full name of country: Republic of Uzbekistan

Region: Central Asia

Official language: Uzbek

Population: 36,520,593 (2024 est.)

Nationality: Uzbekistani (noun), Uzbekistani (adjective)

Land area: 425,400 sq km (164,248 sq miles)

Water area: 22,000 sq km (8,494 sq miles)

Capital: Tashkent (Toshkent)

National anthem: "O'zbekiston Respublikasining Davlat Madhiyasi" (National Anthem of the Republic of Uzbekistan), by Abdulla Aripov/Mutal Burhanov

National holiday: Independence Day, September 1 (1991)

Population growth: 1.43% (2024 est.)

Time zone: UTC +5

Flag: The Uzbekistani flag features three equal, horizontal bands separated by two small, thin red stripes; the top band is light blue (sky and water), the middle is white (peace and purity), and the bottom band is green (nature). A white crescent moon and twelve white stars—arranged in a descending order of three, four, and five—are located in the upper left corner of the flag (upper hoist-side quadrant).

Independence: September 1, 1991 (from the Soviet Union)

Government type: presidential republic; highly authoritarian

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Legal system: civil law system; note—in early 2020, the president signed an amendment to the criminal code, criminal procedure code, and code of administrative responsibility; a constitutional referendum passed in April 2023 included criminal code reforms

Uzbekistan is a landlocked republic bordered by Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. Shortly before the downfall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Uzbekistan declared its independence for the first time in its history.

Though it had the most advanced infrastructure of all the Central Asian republics, political and economic development has been limited. The country's authoritarian government has stifled market reforms and consistently violated basic human rights and political freedoms. Nonetheless, Uzbekistan became an important regional ally of the United States during its 2001 military campaign in Afghanistan.

Note: unless otherwise indicated, statistical data in this article is sourced from the CIA World Factbook, as cited in the bibliography.

People and Culture

Population: The population of Uzbekistan is one of the largest in Central Asia. Life expectancy at birth is 73.6 years for men and 79 years for women (2024 estimate). Uzbekistan's HDI value for 2022 is 0.727— which put the country in the High human development category—positioning it at 106 out of 193 countries and territories.

The Fergana Valley in the northeast is the most densely settled area. In 2023 just over half the population lived in urban areas, and Tashkent, the largest city and capital, had a population of approximately 2.603 million.

Uzbeks comprise the largest ethnic group. Other ethnic groups include Russians, Tajiks, Kazakhs, Karakalpaks, and Tatars. After independence, minorities such as Germans, Jews, and Russians left the country in significant numbers.

Uzbek, a Turkic language belonging to the Altaic family, is the first language of just over 74 percent of the population. It has several dialects, but the Tashkent dialect predominates in Uzbekistan. In the 1990s, written Uzbek was changed from the Cyrillic alphabet to an adapted Latin alphabet. Minorities generally speak their own languages, and Russian is still widely used in official business.

Islam has been the dominant religion in the region since the eighth century. During the Soviet period, religion was officially proscribed, and many mosques throughout Central Asia were closed. Since independence, religious practice has been less restricted, though there have been some tensions between the secular government and Islamic fundamentalists who practice Wahhabism. For the most part, Islam has resurged throughout the region in a moderate Sunni form. The Russian minority is generally Eastern Orthodox Christian, and a very small percentage of the population follows other religions.

Indigenous People: The territory of modern-day Uzbekistan has been settled and conquered by a succession of ethnic groups, Persians being the earliest documented. Uzbeks came to dominate the region in the 1500s. The country came under Russian control in the late 1800s, then under Soviet control in the early twentieth century. It was during this period that the borders of the republic were defined, regardless of ethnic realities.

During World War II (1939–45), many ethnic groups were deported to the region, Volga Germans, Koreans, and Meskhetian Turks (from modern-day Georgia) among them. With independence, many minorities chose to leave Uzbekistan, fearing a curtailment of their rights. In the mid-1990s, ethnic Russians, who were not granted dual citizenship, claimed that they were being discriminated against. The Meskhetians were the focus of violence perpetrated by the Uzbek majority, and all fled the country.

Education: Education begins at the age of seven, with four years of primary school, followed by five years of lower secondary and two years of upper secondary. Public schools are free, and both primary and lower secondary are compulsory. After independence, the government made concerted efforts to reform the educational system, yet it experienced setbacks in terms of funding and attendance enforcement. Despite these problems, the adult literacy rate among both men and women is reported at 100 percent (2019 estimate).

Uzbekistan has numerous technical schools, institutes, and teacher colleges. Its state-run universities include the National University of Uzbekistan, Westminster International University in Tashkent, and the Management Development Institute of Singapore in Tashkent. Tashkent is also home to branches of several Russian public universities, including Lomonosov Moscow State University, Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, and the Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas.

Health Care: Uzbekistan has a national health care system. The quality of the care declined after independence due to a lack of adequate funding, supply shortages, and poorly trained caregivers. The situation was worsened by moderate to extreme environmental degradation.

There has also been a disparity between the urban and rural populations. The latter has not only suffered shortages more acutely, but has had less access to potable water. In 2020 nearly 100 percent of the urban population had access to improved drinking water, compared to 96.1 percent of rural populations.

Food: Uzbek cuisine, based on rice, lamb, yogurt, and fresh fruits and vegetables, shares similarities with other cuisines of the region. Popular dishes include grilled lamb, osh (rice mixed with pieces of lamb, dried fruit and spices), and a variety of meat-based soups, such as shurpa and ugra (with noodles and kidney beans).

Chuchvara and manty, both dumplings filled with meat or vegetables and topped with sour cream, are also common fare. Bread is served with every meal, often an unleavened variety called non. Green tea is drunk throughout the country from bowls called pjala.

Arts & Entertainment: Uzbekistan has venerable artistic traditions, many of them influenced by Islam. This is perhaps most evident in the field of architecture. Ancient Silk Road cities such as Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva each have mosques, minarets, and mausoleums that rank among the foremost expressions of Islamic architecture.

Many folk arts are still practiced in Uzbekistan, though not all to the degree they once were. Carpets, embroidered textiles, and brightly glazed earthenware ceramics are some of the products produced. The country also has a long tradition of folk music, which utilizes instruments and keys commonly found in Arabic music. It is still practiced today, but often in modernized forms and without the same regional differences that once defined it.

One of the country's most popular sports is kurash, a form of wrestling in which participants must remain on their feet while attempting to grapple their opponent to the ground. The horseback game called buzkashi is popular in winter and is usually played at important ceremonies. Riders, using handheld implements, compete to make a goal with a salt-filled goat carcass.

The Uzbek literary tradition is not restricted to the country's modern-day borders, but rather has been influenced by Persian and Arabic traditions. Most of the earliest works, such as Farhad and Shirin, developed orally and were later written in epic verse form called a dastan. Mir Ali Shir Navoi and Abu Abdullah Rudaki were important poets of the medieval period.

Events of the twentieth century proved detrimental to the literary life of the country. Under Joseph Stalin, many Uzbek writers were purged for resisting Russian influence, and those who survived had to toe the official line. Novelists such as Abdullah Qadiri, Abdulahmid Cholpan, and Abdulrauf Fitrat were all murdered in the late 1930s. The persecution of writers continued even into the post-independence period.

Holidays: Secular holidays in Uzbekistan include Women's Day (March 8), Remembrance Day (May 9), Independence Day (September 1), Teacher's Day (October 1), and Constitution Day (December 8).

The other important holidays are Islamic. Eid al-Fitr commemorates the end of the holy month of Ramadan, and Eid al-Adha commemorates Abraham's obedience to God. Uzbeks also celebrate Navruz, an Islamic new year's festival that welcomes spring. The festivities are preceded by elaborate rituals such as spring cleaning, and include feasting and the wearing of new clothes.

Environment and Geography

Topography: Uzbekistan's terrain is varied, but generally flat. Desert and steppe dominate the western autonomous region of Karakalpakstan, which comprises 37 percent of the country's total territory. Geographic features in this region include the Turan Plain, the Ustyurt Plateau, the Karakum Desert and, in the northwest, the Aral Sea.

One of the largest deserts in the world, the Kizilkum, lies east of the Karakalpakstan and occupies the north central lowlands of the country. Further east, and shared with neighboring Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, is the fertile Fergana Valley. Occupying 21,440 square kilometers (8,278 square miles), it is bounded on three sides by the massive Tian Shan, Pamir, and Alay mountain ranges. Adelunga Toghi, measuring 4,301 meters (14,111 feet), is the highest peak.

The western edge of the Fergana Valley is formed by the Syr Darya River, which crosses from Kazakhstan and flows into the Aral Sea. Uzbekistan's largest river, the Amu Darya, runs along the country's southern border before it flows north to Karakalpakstan and into the Aral Sea. Like the Zeravshan, once a tributary of the Amu Darya, many of the smaller water courses have been significantly reduced by irrigation projects. Uzbekistan has few lakes, the largest being Lake Aydarkul in the northeast.

Since the 1930s, the Aral Sea has been diverted to feed irrigation projects. As a result, the volume of water has been reduced by two-thirds, and vast areas of seabed have been exposed. Before this catastrophe, it was the fourth largest inland sea in the world.

Natural Resources: Uzbekistan has abundant natural resources. Large deposits of gold are the most valuable, but tungsten, silver, zinc, uranium, lead, copper, and molybdenum are also mined. The country's energy resources include natural gas and deposits of coal and oil.

Uzbekistan has one of the most serious environmental situations of any former Soviet republic. The depletion of the Aral Sea has caused an array of serious health problems among the populace of Karakalpakstan in particular. This has also led to widespread salinization of the soil throughout the already arid region, as the wind carries the sand of the exposed seabed for hundreds of miles.

Furthermore, the use of pesticides and fertilizers in the agricultural sector has raised the toxicity of soil and water to critical levels. Untreated wastewater, lack of clean drinking water, and air pollution from heavy industry are also pressing concerns. Since independence, the government has accomplished little toward minimizing further environmental degradation.

Plants & Animals: Each of Uzbekistan's natural zones has distinctive animal life. Desert regions are home to gazelles, a large type of monitor lizard, and rodents. Deer, fox, and badger inhabit the steppe. River basins attract deer and jackals. In the eastern mountains, boar, brown bear, and ibex are found. The Siberian crane is listed as critically endangered and the Egyptian vulture is listed as endangered, while the Turan tiger (Caspian tiger) has gone extinct.

Plant life has several distribution patterns as well. Walnut, juniper, larch, and spruce trees grow in mountain regions. Along river courses, poplar and elm trees grow as well as shrubs, but in general the steppe only supports hearty shrubs and grasses.

Climate: Uzbekistan's continental climate dictates hot summers and cold winters. The average temperature in January is –3 degrees Celsius (26.6 degrees Fahrenheit); in July, 26.9 degrees Celsius (80.4 degrees Fahrenheit).

The country does not receive much rain, but spring is the wettest season, with March receiving an average of 32.8 millimeters of precipitation. Precipitation in the Fergana Valley is the least arid region. Though snowfall is common, snow generally melts within a few days.

Earthquakes are a threat throughout the country, particularly in the eastern mountain ranges. A major earthquake in 1966 devastated Tashkent. Sandstorms are another natural hazard and have been exacerbated by environmental degradation. Experts warned that ongoing climate change meant that such natural disasters and extreme weather conditions such as droughts and heatwaves could become more common.

Economy

Industry: Uzbekistan has made little progress toward a market economy. Though the government has reduced post-independence inflation and diversified its trading partners, it has not relinquished control of the dominant industries. In 2023 the estimated gross domestic product (GDP) was US$356.797 billion, or US$10,000 per capita. The labor force was estimated at 13.837 million people in 2023, with an unemployment rate of 4.53 percent in 2023.

Into the 2020s, industry accounted for a significant percentage of Uzbekistan's GDP. This sector is most developed in and around Tashkent. Heavy industry includes the production of machinery, as well as the processing of minerals, metals, natural gas, and oil. Light industry is centered on textile production and food processing.

Agriculture: Agriculture accounts for a smaller portion of GDP than industry. During the Soviet era, Uzbekistan was forced to produce cotton, a crop not well suited to the region. The country remains one of the largest producers of cotton in the world, but some progress toward diversification has been made. Other crops now include fruits, vegetables, and grains. Still, the republic relies heavily on food imports.

Animal husbandry is concentrated on sheep, cattle, goats, and pigs.

Tourism: With its historic Silk Road cities and vibrant modern culture, Uzbekistan has great but largely unrealized tourism potential. An underdeveloped infrastructure combined with bureaucratic hassles for foreign visitors has held the industry back, though some progress has been made. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), tourism contributed 4.5 percent of 2019 GDP, and the World Bank recorded 5.35 million international tourist arrivals in 2018. However, the country's tourism sector suffered in 2020 amid the global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The WTTC reported that tourism contributed 3.4 percent of the GDP in 2022.

The main attractions of Uzbekistan are the ancient cities of Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva, with their unique and well-preserved examples of early Islamic architecture. Tashkent is home to numerous museums, and the eastern mountains attract hikers in the summer and skiers in the winter.

Government

Like other poor Soviet republics, Uzbekistan was unprepared for independence in 1991, and the parties that have ruled the country since have shown little desire to change the strong central government. Opposition parties are frequently banned, and power is maintained through state-backed violence and elections which have been deemed neither free nor fair by the international community. The ruling party has argued that only through harsh measures has it avoided a civil war similar to the one that plagued neighboring Tajikistan for much of the 1990s.

According to the 1992 constitution, which has been amended several times since, Uzbekistan is a secular, democratic republic. Power is vested in a president, who serves as head of state and is directly elected by popular vote to up to two seven-year terms (a 2023 constitutional amendment changed the term tenure from five years to seven). The executive branch also features a prime minister, who serves as head of government. The president is responsible for appointing the Cabinet of Ministers and the prime minister, the latter upon the nomination of the majority party in legislature.

Legislative powers are concentrated in the bicameral Supreme Assembly (Oliy Majlis). The lower house consists of 150 members who serve five-year terms. The upper house is composed of 84 local council members and 16 presidential nominees.

Like the legislature, the judiciary has little independence from the executive branch. The Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court are the highest judicial bodies.

Uzbekistan is divided into twelve provinces, one autonomous republic, and one city government, Tashkent. The Karakalpakstan Autonomous Republic has its own government and courts but is nonetheless under the control of the central government.

The People's Democratic Party of Uzbekistan (PDPU) dominated the political life of the country until 2007, when its longtime leader, President Islam Karimov, was reelected as the candidate of the Liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan (LDPU), extending his rule. Following Karimov's death in 2016, he was succeeded as president by Shavkat Mirziyoyev, also of the LDPU. Opposition parties have frequently been banned, as have religious parties. Only those parties that pose no real threat to the entrenched monopoly on power have been allowed to function.

Interesting Facts

• The Silk Road was a trade route between China and Europe that began during the Roman Empire. It was of great importance to the development of Uzbek culture.
• The Muruntau gold mine, located in the Kizilkum Desert, is thought to be the largest in the world.
• In the 2010s, the government of Uzbekistan reportedly timed internet and cellular "maintenance outages" in order to prevent prospective university students from cheating on the entrance exams that are used to determine admission to state-run postsecondary schools.
• In 2019, Uzbekistan passed its first law on gender equality.

Bibliography

"Economic Impact Reports." World Travel and Tourism Council, 2020, wttc.org/Research/Economic-Impact. Accessed 2 Oct. 2020.

Human Development Report 2022. United Nations Development Programme, 13 Mar. 2025, hdr.undp.org/system/files/documents/global-report-document/hdr2021-22pdf‗1.pdf. Accessed 29 Jan. 2025.

"Uzbekistan." Education Policy Data Center, FHI 360, Oct. 2012, www.epdc.org/country/uzbekistan. Accessed 25 July 2018.

"Uzbekistan." World Bank, 2024, data.worldbank.org/country/uzbekistan. Accessed 29 Jan. 2025.

"Uzbekistan." The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 18 Jan. 2025, www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/uzbekistan/. Accessed 29 Jan. 2025.

"Uzbekistan." World Health Organization, www.who.int/countries/uzb/en/. Accessed 7 Nov. 2023.

Uzbekistan: 2023 Annual Research: Key Highlights. World Travel and Tourism Council, 2023, assets-global.website-files.com/6329bc97af73223b575983ac/645a6b993ac95731eea6e376‗Uzbekistan2023‗.pdf. Accessed 7 Nov. 2023.

"Uzbekistan Country Profile." BBC News, BBC, 30 Oct. 2024, www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-16218112. Accessed 29 Jan. 2025.