# Demographics of Uzbekistan
The demographics of [Uzbekistan](https://www.edgepedia.org/uzbekistan) concern the size, composition, distribution and dynamics of the population of Uzbekistan, a doubly landlocked Central Asian country with the largest population in the region. A population and agriculture census held from January 15 to February 28, 2026, the first since 1989, put the population at a preliminary 39,047,321 people as of the reference date of January 15, 2026.[1](https://stat.uz/en/press-center/news-of-committee/68979-a-oli-va-ishlo-kh-zhaligini-r-jkhatga-olish-tadbirining-dastlabki-natizhalariga-ba-ishlangan-konferentsiya-tkazildi-4)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Population (2026 census, preliminary) | 39,047,321 as of January 15, 2026; 810,617 more than the pre-census administrative estimate of 38,236,704[1](https://stat.uz/en/press-center/news-of-committee/68979-a-oli-va-ishlo-kh-zhaligini-r-jkhatga-olish-tadbirining-dastlabki-natizhalariga-ba-ishlangan-konferentsiya-tkazildi-4) |
| Previous census | The last general census before 2026 was conducted in 1989; earlier censuses took place in 1897, 1926, 1939, 1959, 1970 and 1979[2](https://stat.uz/en/press-center/news-of-committee/34300-o-zbekistonda-aholini-ro-yxatga-olish-so-nggi-marta-1989-yilda-o-tkazilgan-3) |
| Sex composition (census) | Men 19,766,166; women 19,281,155[1](https://stat.uz/en/press-center/news-of-committee/68979-a-oli-va-ishlo-kh-zhaligini-r-jkhatga-olish-tadbirining-dastlabki-natizhalariga-ba-ishlangan-konferentsiya-tkazildi-4) |
| Urban share (census) | 54.5% urban (21.3 million), 45.5% rural (17.8 million)[3](https://unece.org/taxonomy/term/724) |
| Largest ethnic groups (census) | Uzbeks 89.4%, Tajiks 3.3%, Karakalpaks 2.2%, Kazakhs 1.8%, Russians 1.6%[1](https://stat.uz/en/press-center/news-of-committee/68979-a-oli-va-ishlo-kh-zhaligini-r-jkhatga-olish-tadbirining-dastlabki-natizhalariga-ba-ishlangan-konferentsiya-tkazildi-4) |
| Total fertility rate | 3.5 births per woman in 2023 (UN-based estimate); national series records 3.445 in 2023, 3.35 in 2024, and 3.20 in 2025[4](https://ourworldindata.org/profile/population-demography/uzbekistan) • [5](https://demographer.org/countries/uzbekistan-demographics/) |
| Population growth | About 2.0% per year in 2022 through 2024 (World Bank series); 734,500 more residents year over year as of April 1, 2025[6](https://databank.worldbank.org/reports.aspx?country=UZB&source=2) • [7](https://stat.uz/img/demografiya-press-reliz-eng-_p77641.pdf) |
| Population density | 85.5 people per km² as of April 1, 2026; Tashkent city 7,352.4, Navoi region 10.2[8](https://stat.uz/en/press-center/news-of-committee/68552-zbekistonning-ajsi-ududida-a-oli-eng-zich-zhojlashgan-4) |
## Census history
Population counting on the territory of present-day Uzbekistan goes back to the 1897 census of the [Russian Empire](https://www.edgepedia.org/russian-empire). Censuses followed in 1926, 1939, 1959, 1970 and 1979, and the most recent one before 2026 was held in 1989 under the Soviet Union.[2](https://stat.uz/en/press-center/news-of-committee/34300-o-zbekistonda-aholini-ro-yxatga-olish-so-nggi-marta-1989-yilda-o-tkazilgan-3) After 1989 the country relied on administrative registers and estimates for more than three decades. A law adopted in the interim required a population census at least once every 10 years and an agricultural census every 5 years; a trial population census took place in 2021 and an agricultural census in 2022, but the full-scale exercise was postponed while international experience was studied with the participation of the World Bank, UNFPA and FAO.[9](https://gov.uz/en/gazna/news/view/85333)
## The 2026 census
The census was carried out from January 15 to February 28, 2026 under Presidential Decree No. PF-173 of September 19, 2025. It was a combined population and agriculture census, the first of its kind in independent Uzbekistan, organized by the National Statistics Committee in cooperation with the UNFPA Country Office.[1](https://stat.uz/en/press-center/news-of-committee/68979-a-oli-va-ishlo-kh-zhaligini-r-jkhatga-olish-tadbirining-dastlabki-natizhalariga-ba-ishlangan-konferentsiya-tkazildi-4) Registration ran in two stages: from January 15 to 31 residents could self-register online through the census.stat.uz portal using the OneID identity system, and from February 4 to 28 members of the "Mahalla Seven", neighborhood-level workers, visited households door to door with tablets.[10](https://www.government.uz/en/pages/2026) About 55,000 members of the Mahalla Seven took part, and 2.1 million new users registered in the OneID system during the census period.[1](https://stat.uz/en/press-center/news-of-committee/68979-a-oli-va-ishlo-kh-zhaligini-r-jkhatga-olish-tadbirining-dastlabki-natizhalariga-ba-ishlangan-konferentsiya-tkazildi-4)
**Design and quality.** The questionnaire contains 71 questions, 54 on population and 17 on agriculture, reduced from 328 as initially planned, a simplification that also saved an estimated 1.3 trillion soums in costs.[10](https://www.government.uz/en/pages/2026) According to preliminary results, 82.3% of the population completed the census online; a post-enumeration survey put coverage at 97.3% of the total population, with 2.7% not enumerated. The estimated cost per enumerated person was USD 0.12, and geolocation data were compiled for more than 8.2 million objects.[1](https://stat.uz/en/press-center/news-of-committee/68979-a-oli-va-ishlo-kh-zhaligini-r-jkhatga-olish-tadbirining-dastlabki-natizhalariga-ba-ishlangan-konferentsiya-tkazildi-4)
**Headline results.** The preliminary count of 39,047,321 exceeds the administrative estimate of 38,236,704 by 810,617 people; the census identified the residence and social status of 810,600 people not previously captured in official statistics.[1](https://stat.uz/en/press-center/news-of-committee/68979-a-oli-va-ishlo-kh-zhaligini-r-jkhatga-olish-tadbirining-dastlabki-natizhalariga-ba-ishlangan-konferentsiya-tkazildi-4) • [11](https://gov.uz/en/digital/news/view/214732) The population has roughly doubled since the 1989 census.[1](https://stat.uz/en/press-center/news-of-committee/68979-a-oli-va-ishlo-kh-zhaligini-r-jkhatga-olish-tadbirining-dastlabki-natizhalariga-ba-ishlangan-konferentsiya-tkazildi-4) Compared with existing data, the population was found to be lower in several regions: 2.7% lower in Jizzakh region, 1.3% lower in Namangan region, 0.9% lower in Surkhandarya region, and 0.7% lower in Kashkadarya region.[11](https://gov.uz/en/digital/news/view/214732) The census also covered 56.9 thousand foreign citizens residing in Uzbekistan for more than one year, most of them citizens of India, Russia and [Kazakhstan](https://www.edgepedia.org/kazakhstan).[1](https://stat.uz/en/press-center/news-of-committee/68979-a-oli-va-ishlo-kh-zhaligini-r-jkhatga-olish-tadbirining-dastlabki-natizhalariga-ba-ishlangan-konferentsiya-tkazildi-4)
## Size, distribution and composition
Before the census, administrative statistics recorded 38,236.7 thousand permanent residents as of January 1, 2026: 18,979.0 thousand women (49.6%) and 19,257.7 thousand men (50.4%), with 19,471.7 thousand urban and 18,765.0 thousand rural residents.[12](https://uza.uz/cn/posts/demographic-indicators-of-the-republic-of-uzbekistan-in-figures_812208) Growth had been running at 2.0% a year: the permanent population rose by 734,500 people, or 2.0%, between April 1, 2024 and April 1, 2025.[7](https://stat.uz/img/demografiya-press-reliz-eng-_p77641.pdf)
**Urbanization.** The census recorded 21.3 million urban residents (54.5%) against 17.8 million rural (45.5%), a higher urban share than the near-even split in the administrative statistics a year earlier.[3](https://unece.org/taxonomy/term/724) • [12](https://uza.uz/cn/posts/demographic-indicators-of-the-republic-of-uzbekistan-in-figures_812208) Density is highly uneven. At an average of 85.5 people per km² nationally, Tashkent city holds 7,352.4 people per km², followed by Andijan region at 821.4 and Fergana region at 627.8, while the thinly populated west has [Karakalpakstan](https://www.edgepedia.org/karakalpakstan) at 12.4 and Navoi region at 10.2 people per km².[8](https://stat.uz/en/press-center/news-of-committee/68552-zbekistonning-ajsi-ududida-a-oli-eng-zich-zhojlashgan-4) Growth is also uneven across regions; an academic analysis of 2010 to 2025 found Surkhandarya (42.0%) and Tashkent city (39.3%) with the highest population growth over the period.[13](https://phoenixpublication.net/index.php/TTVAL/article/view/12155)
**Ethnicity and language.** By the preliminary census results, Uzbeks make up 89.4% of the population, Tajiks 3.3%, Karakalpaks 2.2%, Kazakhs 1.8%, Russians 1.6%, Kyrgyz 0.6%, Turkmens 0.5%, and other groups 0.6%. A total of 35.7 million people, or 91.3%, named Uzbek as their native language, 1.9 percentage points above the share of ethnic Uzbeks.[1](https://stat.uz/en/press-center/news-of-committee/68979-a-oli-va-ishlo-kh-zhaligini-r-jkhatga-olish-tadbirining-dastlabki-natizhalariga-ba-ishlangan-konferentsiya-tkazildi-4)
## Vital dynamics
Growth is driven overwhelmingly by births. National registration records annual births rising from 715,519 in 2017 to a peak of 961,962 in 2023, then declining to 926,422 in 2024 and 879,599 in 2025, with deaths far below births every year and natural increase of 702,495 in 2025.[5](https://demographer.org/countries/uzbekistan-demographics/) In the first half of 2026 the country recorded 373,400 births, 86,900 deaths, a natural increase of 286,500, and a small net external migration loss of 3,773 people.[5](https://demographer.org/countries/uzbekistan-demographics/) The total fertility rate, the average number of children a woman would bear at current age-specific rates, rose from 2.42 in 2017 to 3.445 in 2023 and eased to 3.20 in 2025 in the national series; a UN-based estimate puts the 2023 rate at 3.5.[5](https://demographer.org/countries/uzbekistan-demographics/) • [4](https://ourworldindata.org/profile/population-demography/uzbekistan)
Migration is small relative to natural increase. World Bank estimates put net migration at -6,987 people in 2025, against about 2.0% annual population growth in recent years.[14](https://data.worldbank.org/?locations=UZ-1W-Z7-TM-TJ-KG) [Life expectancy](https://www.edgepedia.org/life-expectancy) at birth was 73 years in 2024, on par with the world average and below the Europe and Central Asia figure of 79.[14](https://data.worldbank.org/?locations=UZ-1W-Z7-TM-TJ-KG)
## Age structure and outlook
The population is young. Around 52% of residents are under 30, the average age is 29 years, and the labor force stands at roughly 19.5 million with more than 600,000 new entrants a year.[15](https://invest.gov.uz/en/reason/demographics) The United Nations Common Country Analysis cites 55% of the population under 30 and projects the number of people over 65 to rise from 1.8 million in 2021 to 3.1 million by 2030.[16](https://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/board-documents/DP.FPA_.CPD_.UZB_.6%20-%20Uzbekistan%20-%20DRAFT%20final%20-%202Jun25.pdf) UN stakeholders have noted that high fertility produces nearly 1 million births a year and projected the population to reach 41 million by 2030 and 50 million by 2050.[17](https://uzbekistan.un.org/en/download/177610/288619) In the UN medium scenario, the population of 35.65 million in 2023 is projected to reach 74.35 million by 2100.[4](https://ourworldindata.org/profile/population-demography/uzbekistan)
**Economic pressure.** The World Bank describes the growing, urbanizing population as creating pressure to generate more and better jobs, with 22% of people vulnerable to falling back into poverty even after the national poverty rate fell from 17.0% to 5.8% between 2021 and 2025.[18](https://www.worldbank.org/ext/en/country/uzbekistan) Remittances and labor migration are part of the picture: net migration has been negative in the World Bank series in recent years, and personal remittances received reached USD 21.1 billion in 2025.[6](https://databank.worldbank.org/reports.aspx?country=UZB&source=2)
## References
1. [A conference was held dedicated to the preliminary results of the population and agricultural census, National Statistics Committee of Uzbekistan (30 June 2026)](https://stat.uz/en/press-center/news-of-committee/68979-a-oli-va-ishlo-kh-zhaligini-r-jkhatga-olish-tadbirining-dastlabki-natizhalariga-ba-ishlangan-konferentsiya-tkazildi-4)
2. [The last population census in Uzbekistan was conducted in 1989, National Statistics Committee (2023)](https://stat.uz/en/press-center/news-of-committee/34300-o-zbekistonda-aholini-ro-yxatga-olish-so-nggi-marta-1989-yilda-o-tkazilgan-3)
3. [Population and Agricultural Census 2026, Republic of Uzbekistan, UNECE](https://unece.org/taxonomy/term/724)
4. [Uzbekistan: Population and Demography, Our World in Data](https://ourworldindata.org/profile/population-demography/uzbekistan)
5. [Uzbekistan Demographics 2026: Population Growth, Fertility and a Changing Age Structure, demographer.org](https://demographer.org/countries/uzbekistan-demographics/)
6. [World Development Indicators: Uzbekistan, World Bank DataBank](https://databank.worldbank.org/reports.aspx?country=UZB&source=2)
7. [Demographic situation in the Republic of Uzbekistan, press release, National Statistics Committee (27 April 2025)](https://stat.uz/img/demografiya-press-reliz-eng-_p77641.pdf)
8. [In which region of Uzbekistan is the population densest?, National Statistics Committee (2 June 2026)](https://stat.uz/en/press-center/news-of-committee/68552-zbekistonning-ajsi-ududida-a-oli-eng-zich-zhojlashgan-4)
9. [Population and agriculture census to be organized, Government of Uzbekistan (11 September 2025)](https://gov.uz/en/gazna/news/view/85333)
10. [Census 2026, Government of Uzbekistan](https://www.government.uz/en/pages/2026)
11. [New data management model to be introduced in the national statistical system, Government of Uzbekistan](https://gov.uz/en/digital/news/view/214732)
12. [Demographic indicators of the Republic of Uzbekistan in figures, UzA (28 January 2026)](https://uza.uz/cn/posts/demographic-indicators-of-the-republic-of-uzbekistan-in-figures_812208)
13. [Nuratdinov A.U. and colleagues (2026). Demographic Dynamics of Uzbekistan: Trends and Regional Disparities](https://phoenixpublication.net/index.php/TTVAL/article/view/12155)
14. [Data for Uzbekistan and neighbors, World Bank](https://data.worldbank.org/?locations=UZ-1W-Z7-TM-TJ-KG)
15. [Demographics and human capital, Invest Uzbekistan](https://invest.gov.uz/en/reason/demographics)
16. [UNFPA Country Programme Document for Uzbekistan (DP/FPA/CPD/UZB/6)](https://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/board-documents/DP.FPA_.CPD_.UZB_.6%20-%20Uzbekistan%20-%20DRAFT%20final%20-%202Jun25.pdf)
17. [UN stakeholders' observations on Uzbekistan, United Nations](https://uzbekistan.un.org/en/download/177610/288619)
18. [Uzbekistan overview, World Bank Group](https://www.worldbank.org/ext/en/country/uzbekistan)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Social life and human behavior › Communities and populations › Demographics and population › Demographics of cities and regions › Demographics of Asia and Oceania*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license