Uzbekistan's Population Reaches 39 Million Following Census

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — The permanent population of the Republic of Uzbekistan stood at 39,047,321 people as of January 15, 2026. The preliminary results of the large-scale population and agricultural census were announced on June 30 by Bekhzod Khamraev, Chairman of the National Committee for Statistics.

The newly published figure is 810.6 thousand people (or 2.1%) higher than the data from ongoing operational statistical records, which had previously estimated the country's population at 38.24 million citizens. Compared to the results of the last Soviet census in 1989, the republic's population has exactly doubled.

According to the presented demographic breakdown, the male population stands at 19.77 million people (50.6%), while the female population accounts for 19.28 million people (49.4%).

In terms of ethnic composition, the absolute majority of citizens are Uzbeks, totaling 34.9 million people (89.4%). They are followed by Tajiks at 1.28 million (3.27%), Karakalpaks at 841.4 thousand (2.15%), Kazakhs at 707.33 thousand (1.81%), and Russians at 606.53 thousand people (1.55%). The Kyrgyz population is estimated at 219.1 thousand (0.56%), Turkmen at 194.76 thousand (0.5%), while other nationalities account for 300.02 thousand people (0.77%). Uzbek was declared the native language by 35.7 million residents (91.3%), which exceeds the proportion of ethnic Uzbeks by 1.9 percentage points.

Urban areas are home to 21.3 million citizens (54.5%), while the rural population stands at 17.8 million people (45.5%).

Within the age structure of the population, 12.5 million citizens fall into the category of individuals below working age. The number of working-age residents reached 21.7 million people, exceeding the department's previous calculated estimates by 400 thousand.

The data collection campaign successfully covered 97.3% of the total population of Uzbekistan. The remaining 2.7% of the population did not complete the procedure due to various reasons, which aligns entirely with international standards that permit an omission rate of up to 10% or more. The average cost of counting one person amounted to $0.12.

Concurrently, specialists finalized the results of the census in the agricultural sector, which revealed significant discrepancies with current reporting. The actual areas of annual crops were 23% higher than estimated, orchards and vineyards were higher by 18.8%, aquaculture reservoirs by 15%, and greenhouses by 2.2%.

Conversely, declines were recorded in the livestock sector: the actual headcount of cattle was 14.9% lower than calculated, horses were down by 11.2%, and sheep and goats dropped by 6.2%. The poultry industry demonstrated the only growth in this sector, where the number of poultry exceeded previous estimates by 12.7%. All presented figures retain the status of preliminary results.