Uzbekistan 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.

Public Health

Nearly Two-Thirds of Adults in Uzbekistan Are Overweight or Obese

Nearly two-thirds of adults in Uzbekistan are overweight or obese. According to the latest World Health Organization data, the figure reached 64% in 2024, one of the highest rates among former Soviet republics. The WHO Global Health Observatory data, published by Our World in Data, cover adults aged 18 and older with a body mass index (BMI) of 25 or higher. The figures are age-standardized to allow comparisons between countries. Among former Soviet republics, only Georgia has a higher rate, at 67%. The figure is 63% in Azerbaijan, 61% in Moldova, 59% in Latvia, and 58% in both Turkmenistan and Tajikistan. The rate is around 56% in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Armenia, Ukraine, and Estonia. It stands at 55% in Belarus and 54% in Lithuania. Uzbekistan is also well above the global average. According to WHO, 43% of adults worldwide were overweight in 2022. This figure includes adults with obesity. WHO defines overweight among adults as a BMI of 25 or higher, while obesity begins at a BMI of 30. WHO classifies obesity as a chronic, relapsing disease rather than simply a consequence of lifestyle. Body weight is influenced by diet, physical activity, genetics, and neurobiology. Access to healthy food also plays a role, as do market forces and the surrounding environment. A high BMI increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes and is also linked to several types of cancer. Several years ago, Mavludakhon Hamzayevna Adhamjonova, a member of the Legislative Chamber, cited the results of a national study that found 10.7 million people in the country did not follow a healthy lifestyle. Among those surveyed, 38% had high blood pressure and 8.4% had elevated blood sugar. A further 26% did not get enough physical activity. Rising levels of overweight and obesity also carry an economic cost. In 2023, Uzbekistan’s Center for Economic Research and Reforms, citing estimates by the World Obesity Federation, reported that the annual economic impact of overweight and obesity in Uzbekistan could reach $21.6 billion by 2060. That would amount to about $490 per person and 4.7% of projected GDP.

Historical Archives

Berlin Archive Reveals Rare Records of Uzbekistan’s Past

A centuries-old archive in Berlin holds documents on Central Asia from two pivotal periods: the Russian Empire’s expansion into Turkestan in the second half of the 19th century and the first decades of Soviet rule. The materials include diplomatic correspondence and German accounts of the Turkestan-Siberian Railway. Other papers concern Soviet policies toward nomadic communities and a student from Tashkent who lived in Germany in the early 1930s. The materials are held by the Prussian Secret State Archives (Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz, GStA PK) in Berlin. Muhayyo Isakova, a senior researcher at the National Archive of Uzbekistan, identified documents concerning present-day Uzbekistan and neighboring territories. Despite its name, GStA PK is a public archive. Its origins date to the 13th century, and it has occupied its purpose-built home in Berlin’s Dahlem district since 1924. One of the earliest groups of documents dates to 1865, when the Russian Empire was expanding into Central Asia. Russian forces captured Tashkent in June of that year. In 1867, the city became the capital of the newly established Turkestan Governor-Generalship. The archive preserves official correspondence involving Karl Hermann von Thile, then an undersecretary in the Prussian Foreign Ministry.. The documents describe political developments in Turkestan and related diplomatic affairs, offering a Prussian perspective on Russia’s expansion into Central Asia. Other materials date from the early Soviet period. German publicist and researcher Georg Cleinow traveled through Central Asia in 1928 and 1929. He visited Tashkent and Bukhara before continuing through Semirechye to Alma-Ata. Cleinow paid particular attention to the Turkestan-Siberian Railway, a major infrastructure project of the early Soviet period. His reports addressed the railway’s geopolitical significance and Soviet policies to settle nomadic communities. They also covered land and water reforms and national-territorial delimitation. Cleinow later examined the railway in his book Roter Imperialismus: Eine Studie über die Verkehrsprobleme der Sowjetunion, published in Berlin by Julius Springer in 1931. Two sections deal directly with the railway, including Die Turksib als soziales Experiment (The Turksib as a Social Experiment). The papers of German Orientalist Carl Heinrich Becker, who was Prussia’s minister of culture, contain correspondence about Vali Kayum Khan, a Tashkent native who came to Germany to study in 1922. One letter, dated March 30, 1933, was written by Becker’s son Walter shortly after his father’s death. It says Kayum Khan had previously received Becker’s support but was left in serious financial difficulty after the Nazis came to power. Walter Becker sought funding for Kayum Khan and explored how he might continue his education outside Germany. The letter mentions an appeal to Stephen Duggan, a founder of the Institute of International Education, for help arranging further study in the United States. Kayum Khan’s activities during World War II make the 1933 letter especially notable: he worked with Nazi Germany and led the United States Turkestan Committee. The correspondence offers a little-known view of Central Asia’s connections with German academic circles in the 1920s and 1930s. Alongside the 19th-century diplomatic reports, Cleinow’s papers show how German officials and researchers viewed the region during two different...

Chess

Will Host Uzbekistan Be the “Most Dangerous Team” at the Chess Olympiad?

Some 400 teams have been confirmed for the FIDE Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, next month, an increase of 20 teams over the previous record number that competed at the Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary two years ago. In the open section, the United States is the top seed with Fabiano Caruana leading the five-player team, while India will aim to defend its 2024 title with Arjun Erigaisi at the head of its lineup, according to FIDE, the international governing body of chess. “The host nation might be the most dangerous team in Samarkand,” FIDE said this week. Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov, winner of the prestigious Candidates Tournament in April, leads the team, ahead of Nodirbek Abdusattorov, another of the world’s top players. Nodirbek Yakubboev, Shamsiddin Vokhidov, Madaminov will also play for Uzbekistan, which won the Chess Olympiad in Chennai, India in 2022 and took bronze in Budapest. China is also fielding a strong team in the open section, while Germany is seeded fifth. The gender-neutral category is called open because women have occasionally participated in male-dominated chess events. In the women’s competition in Samarkand, India is the top seed with Humpy Koneru at the head of the team, followed by Georgia, China, Kazakhstan and the U.S., according to FIDE. Kazakhstan’s female chess players have been progressing strongly in recent years, finishing fifth at the Chess Olympiad in Chennai, India in 2022, and second in Budapest in 2024. Bibisara Asaubayeva, who was second at the women’s Candidates tournament this year, leads her squad, followed by Alua Nurman, Meruert Kamalidenova, Elnaz Kaliakhmet and Zarina Nurgaliyeva. Host Uzbekistan is seeded 13th on the women’s side in Samarkand. The Chess Olympiad will feature 11 rounds of classical chess from September 16 to 27.

Uzbekistan Football

Uzbekistan National Team Set for Youth Overhaul After World Cup, Says Cannavaro

Uzbekistan head coach Fabio Cannavaro has outlined plans to reshape the national team following its historic debut at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, saying the next phase will focus on refreshing the squad ahead of the AFC Asian Cup, promoting younger players and restoring the tactical approach he believes best suits the team. Speaking at a press briefing, the Italian coach dismissed reports that he had left the national team immediately after the World Cup, saying he remained with the squad until the last player departed. Cannavaro also rejected speculation about his salary and said he was prepared to take responsibility for the team's results, while defending his players against criticism, insisting they had "given everything" on the pitch. The central announcement of the briefing was confirmation that Uzbekistan is entering a new cycle. Cannavaro said several players had been included in the World Cup squad in recognition of their contribution to securing the country's first-ever qualification for the tournament, but added that the time had come to refresh the team. "I gave some players a kind of bonus for what they had done before. That bonus is over. Now we need to change some players," Cannavaro said. He added that younger footballers would be given greater opportunities during preparations for the Asian Cup. Cannavaro also acknowledged that not every decision made by the coaching staff had been successful. In particular, he admitted he may have made a mistake by changing the first-choice goalkeeper shortly before the World Cup began. At the same time, he stressed that he remained committed to rejuvenating the squad and creating stronger competition for places. Looking beyond the immediate future, Cannavaro argued that Uzbekistan's next step as a football nation depends on more players establishing themselves in Europe's top leagues. He pointed to Japan and Morocco as examples of national teams that have benefited from players gaining experience in elite European competitions before bringing that experience back to the international stage. As part of preparations for the AFC Asian Cup, Cannavaro said he wants Uzbekistan to arrange a series of friendlies against stronger opponents, including South Korea and Iran. He also plans to gradually return the team to a 4-3-3 formation and strengthen cooperation with the country's youth national teams. According to Cannavaro, the objective is not simply to build on Uzbekistan's first World Cup appearance, but to establish the national team as a regular participant at the world's biggest international tournaments.