Uzbekistan
The Country of the Week
Quick Facts
- Capital
- Tashkent (Toshkent)
- Population
- 37,015,151 (2025 est.)
- Area
- 447,400 sq km
- Government
- presidential republic; highly authoritarian
- Religions
- Muslim 88% (mostly Sunni), Eastern Orthodox 9%, other 3%
- Ethnic Groups
- Uzbek 83.8%, Tajik 4.8%, Kazakh 2.5%, Russian 2.3%, Karakalpak 2.2%, Tatar 1.5%, other 2.9% (2017 est.)
- Currency
- Uzbekistani soum (UZS)
- Life Expectancy
- 76.2 years (2024 est.)
- Internet Domain
- .uz
- Climate
- mostly mid-latitude desert, long, hot summers, mild winters; semiarid grassland in east
- Terrain
- mostly flat-to-rolling sandy desert with dunes; broad, flat intensely irrigated river valleys along course of Amu Darya, Syr Darya (Sirdaryo), and Zaravshan; Fergana Valley in east surrounded by mountainous Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan; shrinking Aral Sea in west
- Natural Resources
- natural gas, petroleum, coal, gold, uranium, silver, copper, lead and zinc, tungsten, molybdenum
- Major Exports
- gold, cotton yarn, garments, fertilizers, fabric (2023)
Source: CIA World Factbook (public domain)
Overview
Uzbekistan is the geographic and population center of Central Asia, with a diverse economy and a relatively young population. Russia conquered and united the disparate territories of present-day Uzbekistan in the late 19th century.