Uzbekistan is Central Asia's most populous country. Its 26 million people, concentrated in the south and east of the country, are close to half the region's total population. Uzbekistan had been one of the poorest republics of the Soviet Union; much of its population was engaged in cotton farming in small rural communities. The population continues to be heavily rural and dependent on farming for its livelihood. Map of Central Asia showing three sets of possible boundaries for the region Central Asia located as a region of the world Central Asia is a vast landlocked region of Asia. ... Cotton is a soft fibre that grows around the seeds of the cotton plant, a shrub native to the tropical and subtropical regions of both the Old World and the New World. ...

Figures and Age Structure

Population: 26,410,416 (July 2004 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 34.1% (male 4,583,228; female 4,418,003)
15-64 years: 61.1% (male 7,990,233; female 8,157,136)
65 years and over: 4.8% (male 513,434; female 748,382) (2004 est.)

Demographics of Uzbekistan, Data of FAO, year 2005 ; Number of inhabitants in thousands.

Population growth rate: 1.65% (2004 est.) Image File history File links Subject : evolution of demography in Uzbekistan (1992-2003) Source : Data FAOSTAT, year 2005 : http://faostat. ... Image File history File links Subject : evolution of demography in Uzbekistan (1992-2003) Source : Data FAOSTAT, year 2005 : http://faostat. ... Headquartered in Rome, Italy, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations programs seek to raise levels of nutrition and standards of living; to improve the production, processing, marketing, and distribution of food and agricultural products; to promote rural development; and, by these means, to eliminate hunger. ...

Birth rate: 26.12 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Death rate: 7.95 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.69 male(s)/female
total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2004 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 71.3 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 64.09 years
male: 60.67 years
female: 67.69 years (2004 est.) Life expectancy is the most likely number of years remaining for a living being (or the average for a class of living beings) of a given age to live. ...

Life expectancy is long, but after the breakup of the Soviet Union, health care resources have declined, reducing health care quality, accessibility, and efficiency.

Total fertility rate: 2.97 children born/woman (2004 est.)

Net migration rate: -1.72 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Ethnic groups

Officially: Uzbek 80%, Russian 5.5%, Tajik 5%, Kazakh 3%, Karakalpak 2.5%, Tatar 1.5%, other 2.5% (1996 est.) These are actually the "official" percentages given by the Uzbek government. Other sources, such as the Tajiki sources however put the percentage of the Tajiki population of Uzbekistan at c. 30 percent of the population. (See: The Tajiks of Uzbekistan, Central Asian Survey (1996), 15(2), 213-216). It has been suggested that Tajik (China) be merged into this article or section. ... Kazakh may refer to An ethnic group: the Kazakhs The Kazakh language The Culture of Kazakhstan Suhbat. ... Karakalpak (also Kara Kalpak; Qara-Qalpaq; and other variants. ... Tatars or Tartars (Tatar: Tatarlar/Татарлар) is a collective name applied to the Turkic-speaking people of Europe and Asia. ...

As of January 1, 1998, 1,123,200 ethnic Koreans lived in Uzbekistan, amounting to 4.7% of the total country's population.

Religions

Muslim 88% (mostly Sunnis), Eastern Orthodox 9%, other 3% (including a few Buddhists amongst the small Korean population). A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم) is a believer in or follower of Islam. ... Sunni Islam (Arabic سنّة) is the largest denomination of Islam. ... Eastern Orthodoxy (also called Greek Orthodoxy and Russian Orthodoxy) is a Christian tradition which represents the majority of Eastern Christianity. ... Statues of Buddha such as this, the Tian Tan Buddha statue in Hong Kong, remind followers to practice right living. ...

An estimated 93,000 Jews were present in Uzbekistan in the early 1990s (source Library of Congress Country Studies) The Country Studies are works published by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress ( USA), freely available for use by researchers. ...

See also: Islam in Uzbekistan Gur-e Amir in Samarkand was built by the order of Timur, a ferocious Central Asian warlord, who, proclaiming his royal descent from Genghis Khan, in the 14th century conquered much of the Middle East, Turkey, Central Asia, and India. ...

Languages

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 some sources: Uzbek 74.3%, Russian 14.2%, Tajik 4.4%, other 7.1% Tajik or Tadjik (natively Тоҷикӣ, Tojikí, تاجیکی in Arabo-Persian script) is a descendant of the Persian language spoken in Central Asia. ...

And another sources: The percentage of the Persian-speaking (Tajiki) population of Uzbekistan is c. 30 percent of the population. (See: The Tajiks of Uzbekistan, Central Asian Survey (1996), 15(2), 213-216).

Education

'Literacy
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99.3%
male: 99.6%
female: 99% (2003 est.)

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.

See also

• Osmanli