Life & Culture - The Times Of Central Asia

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Birth Trends

Births Decline in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan as Central Asian Trends Diverge

Central Asia is commonly seen as a region with a young and rapidly growing population. The region’s population is still expanding, but birth trends are beginning to diverge. In the first half of 2026, births fell noticeably in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, while Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan recorded modest increases. Excluding Turkmenistan, about 711,300 children were born in the four other Central Asian countries during the six-month period, 5.5% fewer than a year earlier. Uzbek economist Mirkomil Kholboev highlighted the differences between the countries after comparing national statistics. “Births are declining in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, while they are increasing in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan,” Kholboev noted. Uzbekistan recorded the largest decline, with the number of births falling 7.9% to 373,389. Of those, about 192,900 were boys and 180,500 were girls. The decline is not new. In 2025, about 879,600 children were born in Uzbekistan, 5.1% fewer than a year earlier. That has not prevented the country’s population from continuing to grow rapidly, reaching 38.2 million at the beginning of 2026. The Times of Central Asia previously examined why Uzbekistan’s population continues to expand even as the number of births declines. A similar picture is emerging in Kazakhstan. A total of 149,774 births were registered from January through June, down 7.1% from the same period last year. Kazakhstan’s population nevertheless continues to grow and reached 20.59 million by July 1. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are moving in the opposite direction for now. Kyrgyzstan recorded about 66,300 births in the first half of the year, up 2% from a year earlier. In Tajikistan, 121,810 children were born, an increase of 0.9%. The divergence is also notable in the wider post-Soviet context. Births have declined in Armenia and Azerbaijan as well. In Ukraine, 73,292 children were born in the first half of 2026, 16% fewer than during the same period a year earlier. Russia has sharply restricted the publication of demographic statistics since 2025, making current comparisons more difficult, although the last available figures also showed births continuing to decline. For Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the current figures do not mean their populations are shrinking. Births still substantially outnumber deaths, leaving both countries with strong natural population growth despite the decline in births. If these differences persist, their effects will extend well beyond demographic statistics. For a region with rapidly growing cities and large young populations, they could eventually mean different levels of demand for schools and universities. They could also affect labor markets and the number of new workers entering the economies of the four countries.

Informatics Olympiad

Uzbekistan Wins Four Medals as Tashkent Hosts Informatics Olympiad

Uzbekistan won one silver and three bronze medals as Tashkent hosted the International Olympiad in Informatics for the first time. The 38th edition of the annual competition ran from August 9 to 16. Official IOI statistics recorded 375 contestants from 92 member delegations. Students compete individually, tackling algorithmic programming problems over two five-hour days in the contest. Jahonali Khaydaraliev, a ninth-grade student at the Muhammad al-Khwarizmi Specialized School in Tashkent, won Uzbekistan’s silver medal, while Timur Kadirbergenov of the Presidential School in Nukus took bronze. Ulugbek Rakhmatullaev and Jahongirshoh Avazkhonov, both from the Presidential School in Namangan, also won bronze. It was the first time all four members of Uzbekistan’s main team had won medals at the same IOI. Sardor Salimov, who competed for a second Uzbek host team, received an honorable mention. The result improved on Uzbekistan’s previous best showing; at the 2025 Olympiad in Sucre, Bolivia, the country won one silver and one bronze medal. Uzbekistan was selected to host the 2026 competition in 2023, and received the IOI flag at the closing ceremony in Bolivia last year. Digital Technologies Minister Sherzod Shermatov linked the event to the country’s effort to expand technology education. “Hosting the IOI in Uzbekistan for the first time is more than a milestone; it is a homecoming,” Shermatov said. He referred to Uzbekistan’s association with the ninth-century mathematician Muhammad al-Khwarizmi. The word “algorithm” derives from the Latinized form of al-Khwarizmi’s name. Uzbekistan has expanded specialist technology education in recent years through Presidential Schools and dedicated IT schools. Several members of the 2026 team came through that system, while the national squad had trained since November 2025 and attended camps in Romania and Kazakhstan before the competition. The government has also put programming and digital skills into national education programs. For Tashkent, hosting the IOI gave those efforts an unusually visible international stage without changing the basic character of the event: a demanding school competition decided by how well students solve problems under time pressure. Elsewhere in Central Asia, Kazakhstan also had a strong competition, winning one gold and three silver medals. Maksim Tsoi finished fifth in the individual standings, according to Uzbekistan’s national news agency. Uzbekistan first competed at the IOI in 2015. Four medals from its four main team contestants therefore marked a new high for the country on home ground. Germany is due to host the next International Olympiad in Informatics in 2027.

TCA Interviews

Interview: Ayana Nurdinova on Mugalim, Balkhash and San Sebastián

Kazakh director Ayana Nurdinova will screen her debut feature, Mugalim (The Teacher), in the New Directors section of the San Sebastián International Film Festival, which runs September 18–26. The selection comes almost ten years after Nurdinova graduated from the Zhurgenov Academy of Arts. Shot in Balkhash, the film follows a music teacher who dreams of leaving the small city for somewhere bigger, while questioning what he wants from his work and his life. The Times of Central Asia spoke with Nurdinova about her long road to a first feature, her love of small towns and Japanese cinema, the influence of Takeshi Kitano, and her forthcoming trip to San Sebastián. Times of Central Asia: Ayana, congratulations on being selected for San Sebastián. Getting into a festival like this with a debut feature is a major achievement. What was your reaction? Ayana Nurdinova: When the news came, the film’s producer, Aruzhan Dosymkozha, called me. It was already around midnight and I was asleep, so at first I didn’t really understand what was happening. She was in this kind of joyful shock and told me the wonderful news. To be honest, at first I couldn’t believe it had actually happened. When we submitted the film to festivals, of course I hoped it would be appreciated, but I tried not to expect too much so I wouldn’t be disappointed later. So I really didn’t expect that we would actually be selected. TCA: Did you submit the film to other major festivals as well? Ayana: Yes, we submitted it everywhere, from Cannes and Venice to Karlovy Vary. We sent it to Cannes a month before the festival. We knew it was late, but we decided to try anyway. We didn’t get in, and then three months later the news came from San Sebastián. When I found out we had been selected, I started reading about the festival and the city and looking at photographs. At some point, I even noticed an unexpected visual similarity with our film: the city there also sits on the water, only it is surrounded by the Bay of Biscay, and there is even something similar about the landscape. I thought it was funny that a film shot in Balkhash would make its first trip precisely there. TCA: You graduated from the Zhurgenov Academy as a feature film director almost ten years ago, but after graduating, you spent quite a long time working in other film professions. How did that happen? Ayana: Yes, I graduated from the academy when I was 22, and looking back now, I realize that at the time I had very little life or professional experience. So I decided to immerse myself in the profession. While I was still a student, I got my first job on a major film set, working as a clapper loader [a junior camera role] on The Kazakh Khanate. After graduating, I wanted to gain real practical experience and understand how a film set actually works. For a while, I worked in casting,...

Central Asian Football

Dastan Satpayev Joins Burnley on Loan from Chelsea

One of Central Asia’s most promising young footballers will begin his English career outside the Premier League. Eighteen-year-old Kazakhstan international Dastan Satpayev has officially joined Chelsea and has immediately been sent on a season-long loan to Burnley, who play in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The loan runs until the end of the 2026/27 season, while Satpayev remains under contract with Chelsea until 2033. Chelsea agreed to sign the Kairat Almaty academy graduate in February 2025, but the international transfer could not be completed until Satpayev turned 18 under FIFA rules that generally prohibit international transfers of players under 18. He celebrated his 18th birthday on August 12. Before the transfer was formally completed, Kairat allowed him to join Chelsea for preseason preparations this summer. In his first public preseason appearance, against Australia’s Western Sydney Wanderers, Satpayev scored his first goal for the London club as Chelsea won 6-4. Despite an encouraging preseason, Chelsea have opted to send the 18-year-old forward to the Championship for regular playing time, in a competition where clubs play 46 league matches per season. Burnley, based in Lancashire, is one of England’s oldest clubs and a founding member of the Football League. The club has twice been English champion, in 1921 and 1960, but now faces a more immediate task. After spending last season in the Premier League and finishing 19th, Burnley were relegated to the Championship and are seeking an immediate return to the top flight. Satpayev hopes to help the club in that effort. "I’m very pleased to be here. It’s a great opportunity for me in my career and a great club to show what I can do and help the team get back to where they belong," the Kazakhstan international said after the move. Despite his youth, Satpayev already has substantial senior experience. Before moving to England, he made 63 senior appearances in Kazakhstan, scoring 27 goals, appeared in the Champions League, and made his debut for the Kazakhstan national team. Kairat differs from many leading Kazakh clubs in its reliance on its own academy, and Satpayev has become its most prominent graduate in recent years. The Times of Central Asia has previously explored the Kairat’s youth development system in depth. Satpayev’s move is also significant in the broader Central Asian context. Until recently, players representing Central Asian countries were virtually absent from England’s leading clubs. Uzbekistan’s Abdukodir Khusanov became the first Uzbek player in Premier League history after joining Manchester City from French club Lens in January 2025. The defender was subsequently linked in Spanish media with a possible move to Real Madrid.

Burabay Festival

French Film and British Screenplay Win $16,000 at Kazakhstan’s Burabay Festival

A French animated film and a British screenplay have won grants worth a combined $16,000 at the fifth Burabay International Short Film Festival in northern Kazakhstan. The festival was held in Shchuchinsk from August 12 to 14, bringing together filmmakers and cultural figures from more than 20 countries, according to organizers. Founded by London-based Silk Road Media in partnership with the Eurasian Creative Guild, BISFF focuses on short films and screenplays, and this year introduced live pitching to the final stage of its competition. The Best Short Film award went to French filmmaker Erwan Le Gal for Hypatia of Alexandria: The Solitary Bee, a 13-minute animated film about the philosopher Hypatia, who was killed in Alexandria in 415. Le Gal received a $6,000 grant intended to promote the film through international screenings. British screenwriter Judson Vaughan won Best Screenplay for Kebam!, receiving a $10,000 production grant. Under the festival’s rules, the grant is intended to support the development of the screenplay into a film with a production team. The international jury included film and cultural professionals from Kazakhstan, the UK, Austria, Italy, and Russia. Luis Francisco Martínez Montes, Spain’s ambassador to Kazakhstan, served as an honorary jury member. Alongside the competition, the programme included outdoor screenings, an exhibition by the local Art Burabay group, and a workshop led by festival director Taina Kaunis. Burabay has hosted several international events organized by the Eurasian Creative Guild in recent years. In December 2025, The Times of Central Asia reported on a British-Kazakh cultural festival there that also incorporated the Burabay short film competition.

Tennis

Kazakhstani Tennis Player Sonja Zhiyenbayeva Surges in Rankings

Most of the international attention on women tennis players from Kazakhstan goes to Elena Rybakina, the second-ranked, Moscow-born player who has won two Grand Slam singles titles. But Sonja Zhiyenbayeva, a Kazakh talent still far from the elite group at the top of the game, has delivered such strong results this month that the WTA included her in a list of “notable ranking movements.” Zhiyenbayeva, a former junior number 15, moved up 288 spots to 450 in the rankings after winning her first W75 tournament as a qualifier in Ourense, Spain, beating Isabella Shinikova of Bulgaria for the title on August 9. The 20-year-old Kazakhstani followed up that victory by winning the W35 title in Vigo, Spain, on August 16, defeating China’s Yufei Ren, who was ranked 332. The Vigo title should push Zhiyenbayeva’s world ranking closer to 400. “Thus, in the space of two weeks in Spain, Zhiyenbayeva captured back-to-back titles — the W75 in Ourense and the W35 in Vigo, continuing her impressive run of form on the professional tour,” the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation said. The numbers in W75 and W35 refer to the ranking points that the champion acquires. Zhiyenbayeva's accumulation of 110 points in the hard court tournaments this month has enabled her to leapfrog over hundreds of other players in the world rankings. She is an economics student at Pepperdine University in California. On her LinkedIn profile, Zhiyenbayeva says her experience as a professional tennis player has helped her develop “discipline, adaptability, and the ability to perform under pressure.” Zhiyenbayeva was born in Almaty and moved to Germany at a young age with her Kazakh mother and German father. She represented Germany as a tennis player but changed her “sport nationality” to join Kazakhstan´s national team in 2024, state-run media in Kazakhstan reported.