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The Demographics of Uzbekistan is about the demographic features of the population of Uzbekistan, including population growth, population density, ethnicity, education level, health, economic status, religious affiliations, and other aspects of the population. The nationality of any person from Uzbekistan is Uzbekistani, while the ethnic Uzbek majority call themselves Uzbeks.
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Uzbekistan is Central Asia's most populous country. Its 27.3 million people (July 2008 estimate)[1] comprise nearly half the region's total population.
The population of Uzbekistan is very young: 34.1% of its people are younger than 14. According to official sources, Uzbeks comprise a majority (80%) of the total population. Other ethnic groups include Russians 5.5%, Tajiks 5%, Kazakhs 3%, Karakalpaks 2.5%, and Tatars 1.5% (1996 estimates).[1] There is some controversy about the percentage of the Tajik population. Official data from Uzbekistan that put the number of Tajiks at 5% of the population do not include ethnic Tajiks who, for a variety of reasons, choose to identify themselves as Uzbeks in population census forms.[2] Some Western scholars, citing anonymous "observers" or "Tajiks around the country", accordingly estimate the number of Tajiks in Uzbekistan at 20%[3] or even as high as 25%-30%.[4]
Uzbekistan has an ethnic Korean population that was forcibly relocated to the region from the Soviet Far East in 1937-1938. There are also small groups of Armenians in Uzbekistan, mostly in Tashkent and Samarkand. The nation is 88% Muslim (mostly Sunni, with a 5% Shi'a minority), 9% Eastern Orthodox and 3% other faiths (which include small communities of Korean Christians, other Christian denominations, Buddhists, Baha'is, and more).[5] The Bukharian Jews have lived in Central Asia, mostly in Uzbekistan, for thousands of years. There were 94,900 Jews in Uzbekistan in 1989[6] (about 0.5% of the population according to the 1989 census), but now, since the collapse of the USSR, most Central Asian Jews left the region for the United States or Israel. Fewer than 5,000 Jews remain in Uzbekistan.[7]
Much of Uzbekistan's population was engaged in cotton farming in large-scale collective farms when the country was part of the Soviet Union. The population continues to be heavily rural and dependent on farming for its livelihood, although the farm structure in Uzbekistan has largely shifted from collective to individual since 1990.
The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook as of September 2009, unless otherwise indicated.
27,606,007 (2009 est.)
0–14 years: 28.1% (male 3,970,386/female
3,787,371)
15–64 years: 67% (male 9,191,439/female 9,309,791)
65 years and over: 4.9% (male 576,191/female 770,829)
(2009 est.)
0.93% (2009 est.)
17.58 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)
5.29 deaths/1,000 population (2009 est.)
at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15–64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.75 male(s)/female
total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2009 est.)
Total: 23.43 deaths/1,000 live births
Male: 27.7 deaths/1,000 live births
Female: 18.9 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)
total population: 71.96 years
male: 68.95 years
female: 75.15 years (2009 est.)
1.95 children born/woman (2009 est.)
In 2002, the estimated TFR was 2.92; Uzbeks 2.99, Russians 1.35, Karakalpak 2.69, Tajik 3.19, Kazakh 2.95, Tatar 2.05, others 2.53; Tashkent City 1.96, Karakalpakstan 2.90, Fergana 2.73; Eastern region 2.71, East Central 2.96, Central 3.43, Western 3.05.[8]
–2.94 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99.3%
male: 99.6%
female: 99% (2003 est.)
Ethnic composition according to the 1989 population census
(latest available):[9][10]
Uzbek 71%, Russian 8%, Tajik 5% (believed to
be much higher[2][3][4]),
Kazakh 4%, Tatar 3%, Karakalpak 2%, other
7%.
Estimates of ethnic composition in 1996 from CIA World
Factbook:[1]
Uzbek 80%, Russian 5.5%, Tajik 5%, Kazakh 3%, Karakalpak 2.5%, Tatar 1.5%, other 2.5% (1996 estimates).
The table shows the ethnic composition of Uzbekistan's population (in percent) according to four population censuses between 1959 and 1989 (no population census was carried out in 1999, and the next census is now being planned for 2010).[11] The increase in the percentage of Tajik from 3.9% of the population in 1979 to 4.7% in 1989 may be attributed, at least in part, to the change in census instructions: in the 1989 census for the first the nationality could be reported not according to the passport, but freely self-declared on the basis of the respondent's ethnic self-identification.[12]
| Nationality | 1959 census | 1970 census | 1979 census | 1989 census |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total population (thou.) | 8,105.5 | 11,799.0 | 15,389.3 | 19,810.1 |
| Uzbeks | 62.2 | 65.4 | 68.7 | 71.4 |
| Russians | 13.5 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 8.3 |
| Tajiks | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.9 | 4.7 |
| Kazakhs | 4.1 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.1 |
| Tatars | 5.5 | 4.9 | 4.2 | 3.3 |
| Karakalpaks | 2.1 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 2.1 |
| Kyrgyz | 1.1 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 0.9 |
| Koreans | 1.7 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 0.9 |
| Ukrainians | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.8 |
| Turkmens | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.6 |
| Meskheti Turks | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.5 |
| Jews | 1.2 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.5 |
| Armenians | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Azerbaijanis | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.2 |
| Uyghurs | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| Belarussians | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Persians | — | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Others | 1.9 | 1.7 | 1.1 | 1.0 |
Muslim 88% (mostly Sunnis), Eastern Orthodox 9%, other 3% (including 0.2% Buddhist - US State Department's International Religious Freedom Report 2004 - amongst the Korean population).
There were 94,900 Jews in Uzbekistan in 1989[6] (about 0.5% of the population according to the 1989 census), but fewer than 5,000 remained in 2007.[7]
Due to high literacy rates and Soviet educational background, religious fundamentalism is not widespread in Uzbekistan; study showed that only 35% of surveyed consider religion as "very important".[13] See also: Islam in Uzbekistan
Uzbek is the official state language; however, Russian is the de facto language for interethnic communication, including much day-to-day government and business use.
According to the CIA factbook, the language distribution is: Uzbek 74.3%, Russian 14.2%, Tajik 4.4%, other 7.1%. Other sources suggest that the Persian-speaking Tajik population of Uzbekistan may be as large as 25%-30% of the total population,[4] but these estimates are based on unverifiable reports of "Tajiks around the country". The Tajik language is particularly widespread in the cities of Bukhara and Samarqand because of their relatively large population of ethnic Tajiks.
The educational system has achieved 99% literacy, and the mean amount of schooling for both men and women is 11 years. However, due to budget constraints and other transitional problems following the collapse of the Soviet Union, texts and other school supplies, teaching methods, curricula, and educational institutions are outdated, inappropriate, and poorly kept. Additionally, the proportion of school-aged persons enrolled has been dropping. Although the government is concerned about this, budgets remain tight.
At least 10 percent of Uzbekistan's labour force works abroad (mostly in Russia and Kazakhstan).[14]
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