Uzbekistan Life & Culture - The Times Of Central Asia

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Census

Uzbekistan Census Reveals Bigger Population, Younger Pressure, and Planning Gaps

Uzbekistan's first full census since the Soviet era has found more than 810,000 people who were missing from the country's running estimates, shifting the baseline for schools, clinics, housing, labor forecasts, regional budgets, and agriculture. The preliminary results put Uzbekistan's population at 39,047,321 as of January 15, 2026. That was 810,617 more than the official estimate used at the start of the year. The gap is only 2.1% in percentage terms, but in practical terms it is the size of a major city. The count also shows a country that is larger, younger, and harder to plan for than regular estimates suggested. It gives the authorities a new map of where people live, how old they are, what homes they occupy, and how much farmland and livestock the economy really has. National Statistics Committee Chairman Behzod Hamrayev presented the first results in Tashkent on June 30. The count was part of a combined population and agricultural census held from January 15 to February 28 under a September 2025 decree. It was the first such count in independent Uzbekistan. The last nationwide census took place in 1989, when the country was still part of the Soviet Union. The Times of Central Asia previously reported that Uzbekistan's permanent population was estimated at 38,236,704 on January 1, 2026. Two weeks later, the census found 39,047,321 people. Men numbered 19,766,166, or 50.6% of the population, and women 19,281,155, or 49.4%. The census also counted 56,900 foreign citizens who had lived in Uzbekistan for more than a year, mostly from India, Russia, and Kazakhstan. The largest corrections appear to be regional. Most of the 810,617-person difference was concentrated in Tashkent Region. Its population rose from an estimate of about 3.2 million to nearly 3.8 million, moving it from seventh to third among Uzbekistan's 14 administrative territories. Five regions, Namangan, Jizzakh, Kashkadarya, Surkhandarya, and Bukhara, came in below earlier estimates. The changes represent more than a statistical adjustment: a region that suddenly has about 600,000 more people on paper needs different calculations for roads, schools, clinics, water networks, public transport, land use, and housing. It also changes the way Tashkent Region is compared with the capital and other fast-growing parts of the country. The first demographic results show the pressure that is coming through the age structure. Children under five were the largest age group, at 4.6 million. There were 3.86 million people aged 5-9 and 3.41 million aged 10-14. The working-age population stood at 21.7 million, while 12.5 million people were below working age. Nearly 169,000 residents were 85 or older. Uzbekistan is not Central Asia's youngest country, but it is the region's largest young society. OSW put Central Asia's median age at 26.6, with Tajikistan the youngest at 22.1 and Kazakhstan the oldest at 29.6. By comparison, Eurostat said the European Union's median age reached 44.9 on January 1, 2025. Uzbekistan's challenge is therefore different from Europe's: it must educate, house, employ, and retain a large rising generation. The housing results also changed planning...

World Cup 2026

World Cup: Uzbek Referee Under Scrutiny After France-Paraguay Game

Uzbek referee Ilgiz Tantashev has come under heavy criticism over a rough FIFA World Cup match between France and Paraguay, in which the South American side went for an especially physical approach. France won Saturday’s knockout game 1-0 on a penalty kick by Kylian Mbappé, but much of the post-match debate centered on whether Tantashev had lost control of a situation on the field that was often combative. While he handed out several yellow cards to France, the Paraguayan players didn’t get any during the game while engaging in physical confrontations that critics said should have been punished. Video showed Mbappé getting pushed and shoved so much at one point that he was laughing it off. He later said, “We knew what kind of match it was going to be. We can also get our hands dirty.” While French media condemned the conduct by the Paraguayan players, Paraguayan media were supportive of their team’s efforts, which included a dogged defense. In a blog post for Brazil’s Globo Esporte, analyst Rodrigo Coutinho focused on the offense, defense and other tactical aspects of the match, while acknowledging Paraguay’s attempts to get under the skin of Les Bleus. At various points, the Paraguayans also sought to provoke the French players. Shoves during set pieces, needless complaints and the French players' growing frustration were all part of the first half,” Coutinho said. Many veteran analysts and online commentators questioned whether Tantashev had done enough to control the match. “Uzbek referee Ilgiz Tantashev with an extraordinary performance,” tweeted football journalist Colin Millar. “No interest in refereeing, no interest in applying the laws of the game, no interest in player welfare or well-being. A FIFA-listed referee for 13 years! France very fortunate to avoid serious injuries.” In an Asian Football Confederation video that was posted before the World Cup, Tantashev said he was “happy” to have been selected as a referee for the global event. He said he had been a referee for 20 years and to receive the selection letter in April was “a big gift for me.”

Venice Biennale

The Works That Waited: Uzbek Artist Vyacheslav Akhunov in Venice

Central Asia has made a striking impression at this year’s Venice Biennale. At the 61st International Art Exhibition, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan have each claimed visible space through national pavilions that speak to different realities: environmental devastation, shifting cultural identity, memory, and the long afterlife of Soviet power. The national pavilions are essential viewing for art lovers. During the Biennale, Venice also fills with officially recognized exhibitions outside the main venues and national pavilions. Known as Collateral Events, these shows are staged across the city in palaces, churches, foundations, and museums. Among the most compelling this season is “Instruments of the Mind” by Uzbek artist Vyacheslav Akhunov. Housed in the Neo-Gothic rooms of Palazzo Franchetti on the Grand Canal, the exhibition surveys decades of his career. Widely regarded as one of Central Asia’s most significant conceptual artists, Akhunov has developed a rigorous and wide-ranging practice since the 1970s. He has worked across drawing, text, installation, collage, and performance. The exhibition spans five decades but avoids a conventional chronological structure. Instead, it centers on the unrealized, foregrounding censorship, bureaucratic delay, and the near-total lack of institutional support in Uzbekistan that prevented many of Akhunov’s projects from being fully realized for decades. That emphasis also points to a wider shift. It shows the distance between the conditions under which Akhunov worked for much of his career and the significant cultural investment Uzbekistan is making today, particularly in contemporary art. As a result, several works conceived as drawings in the 1970s and kept in studio drawers ever since are presented here as full-scale installations for the first time. This fine-tuned curation presents the work of a seminal artist while also reflecting on the evolution of a country’s cultural landscape. The exhibition is curated by Sara Raza, Chief Curator and Artistic Director of the Centre for Contemporary Arts Tashkent, one of the leading authorities on the region’s contemporary art development. “Instruments of the Mind is not about the past,” Akhunov has said. “It is about how thought survives.” The exhibition takes its title from a deconstructed reading of the Sanskrit word mantra, from manas, meaning mind, and tra, meaning tool. Language is positioned here as an instrument of consciousness. The show’s range is wider than that etymology suggests. It moves between introspection and absurdity, spiritual devotion and political satire, the intimate and the monumental. Mantras for Art Palazzo Franchetti, a striking building with a marble staircase, intricate floral decorations, and frescoed ceilings, welcomes visitors with a work that functions as a rite of passage. “Triumphal Arch” (1979/2026) transforms the entrance corridor into a tunnel covered with hundreds of real scissors: household scissors, surgical clamps, nail scissors, ribbon-cutting shears, chrome-plated and painted, tiny and oversized, all fixed to the wall. To enter the show, visitors must walk through this bristling passage. The work originates from a 1979 drawing. Its conceptual target is the grandiose Soviet ribbon-cutting ceremony, a televised ritual performed at the inauguration of projects that often went unfinished or were c trapped in...

Higher Education

Uzbekistan’s Universities Climb Sustainability Rankings as Afghan Training Program Expands

Fifty higher education institutions from Uzbekistan have been included in the Times Higher Education (THE) Sustainability Impact Ratings 2026, marking another year of strong international recognition for the country’s universities. The results were announced on June 24 during the Global Sustainable Development Congress in Jakarta, Indonesia, while separate education initiatives in southern Uzbekistan are also extending training opportunities to hundreds of Afghan citizens. The THE Sustainability Impact Ratings assess how universities contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), evaluating performance across education, research, governance, social responsibility, environmental sustainability, and international cooperation. According to the ranking results, 24 Uzbek universities placed among the world’s top 1,000 institutions, reflecting the country’s growing emphasis on integrating sustainable development principles into higher education. Two universities recorded Uzbekistan’s highest overall positions, both ranking in the 101-200 band: Tashkent State University of Uzbek Language and Literature and Tashkent State University of Economics. They were followed by the National University of Uzbekistan and the National Research University “TIIAME” in the 201-300 group. Uzbekistan's universities also achieved notable results in individual Sustainable Development Goals. Alisher Navoi Tashkent State University of Uzbek Language and Literature ranked eighth in the world for Gender Equality, while Tashkent State Technical University placed fifth globally for Affordable and Clean Energy. Fergana Polytechnic Institute ranked sixth in the same category, and two medical universities from Samarkand and Tashkent secured places among the world’s top institutions for Good Health and Well-being. The country’s presence in the rankings has expanded significantly in recent years. Uzbekistan was represented by 12 universities in 2021, rising to 30 in 2022, 47 in 2023, 53 in 2024, 59 in 2025, and 50 institutions in the 2026 edition. At the same time, Uzbekistan is continuing to position itself as a regional education hub. UzA reported that more than 600 Afghan citizens have completed free technical and vocational training courses at the Educational Center for Afghan Citizens in Termez District, Surkhandarya Region. The training formed part of the $2 million European Union-funded project, implemented in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme, aimed at expanding educational opportunities and supporting the socio-economic integration of Afghan citizens. In addition to vocational training, the project covered tuition fees and scholarships for 136 Afghan students enrolled in higher education institutions. Thirty graduates with the strongest business proposals were awarded $2,000 vouchers to launch small businesses, while 39 participants received grants of up to $4,000 to purchase equipment and expand production or service-based enterprises. The project also upgraded the training center with new computer equipment, servers, a conference hall, a co-working space, and a 29-seat bus.

FIFA World Cup

Uzbekistan World Cup Ends With Reality Check After DR Congo Defeat

For an hour in Atlanta, it looked as though Uzbekistan's World Cup story might yet have an improbable final chapter, but a flurry of goals in the final 25 minutes saw Fabio Cannavaro's side handed another harsh reality check. The White Wolves threw away a first-half lead to lose 3-1 to the Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday, exiting their first World Cup with three defeats from three games and conceding 11 goals – more than any team at the tournament apart from Tunisia and Iraq. Meanwhile, Congo advanced to the knockout stage for the first time in their history, returning to Atlanta to face England on Wednesday. The meeting between two nations making only their second and first World Cup appearances respectively offered a study in contrasting approaches to building a national team. Around 85% of the Congolese squad was born outside the country, mainly in France, Belgium and England, whereas Uzbekistan's entire 26-man squad is homegrown. The Congolese have been one of the surprise packages of this tournament, and were unlucky not to get more than one point from the opening two games. They came here wearing red rather than their usual cobalt blue, knowing that a win would see them through to the next round. Uzbekistan needed an improbably large victory to progress and were playing largely for pride. But it was the Uzbeks who made a lightning start. Eldor Shomurodov had the ball in the net almost straight from the kick-off, only for it to be ruled out for offside. The Başakşehir man, who finished top scorer in the Turkish league last season, had endured a quiet tournament until this game, cutting a very lonely figure against Colombia and Portugal. He was sharp here, though, elegantly chipping over a hopelessly marooned Lionel Mpasi to make it 1-0, the first time Uzbekistan had led a game all tournament. Shomurodov spurned a chance to double the lead early in the second half, once again attempting to chip the goalkeeper when a simpler finish might have sufficed. That second effort was largely against the run of play. After such a bright start, Uzbekistan retreated deeper and deeper into their own half as momentum built for Congo. The White Wolves were fortunate to reach the interval ahead after Nathanaël Mbuku had a superb equaliser ruled out following a VAR review for a foul in the build-up, a soft decision that prompted widespread criticism. Congo missed several good chances in the second half, and with half an hour to go, Uzbekistan might have felt it was their day. Once again however, they demonstrated their capacity for self-destruction at the back. In the 68th minute, an innocuous, hopeful ball was tossed into the Uzbek box. The team's poster boy, Abdukodir Khusanov attempted to clear it but instead caught the outstretched leg of Yoane Wissa, leaving the referee little choice but to point to the spot. Wissa converted without fuss. Once the dam broke, Uzbekistan capitulated. Ten minutes later, substitute Fiston Mayele deftly flicked...

World Cup 2026

World Cup: Ronaldo Makes History as Portugal Rout Uzbekistan 5-0

The Group K match between Uzbekistan and Portugal in Houston turned into a record-breaking night for Cristiano Ronaldo, as the European side coasted to a 5-0 victory. Portugal and Uzbekistan had both made unconvincing starts to the tournament. Uzbekistan, playing at the World Cup finals for the first time, lost 3-1 to Colombia. Portugal, meanwhile, dominated their match against DR Congo but failed to hold on to their lead and drew 1-1. They were in no mood to drop more points against the World Cup debutants. Before the match, Portugal head coach Roberto Martinez made it clear that he did not regard his team’s opening result as a setback. “After the draw with DR Congo, nothing changed for us: there are three matches in the group stage, and the first one is part of the process,” the Portugal coach said. Uzbekistan head coach Fabio Cannavaro, for his part, said his players would try to minimize the mistakes that led to their defeat against Colombia. “Our only way to achieve a positive result is through tactics, discipline, and hard work on the pitch,” Cannavaro said. In practice, however, Cannavaro’s tactics did not work, and it was a case of “Houston, we have a problem” as Portugal pinned their opponents back from the kick-off. It took only six minutes for Ronaldo to score the first goal against Uzbekistan, finishing a cross into the penalty area. With that goal, Ronaldo became the second-oldest goalscorer in World Cup history, behind Cameroon’s Roger Milla, who scored his final World Cup goal at the age of 42. The Portugal captain, 41, became the first player to score at six World Cups and moved past Eusebio as Portugal’s all-time leading World Cup scorer. Ten minutes later, Portugal doubled their lead with a cleverly worked free kick. At first, it looked as though Ronaldo was taking an age to prepare to shoot, but Nuno Mendes instead struck the ball, catching Uzbekistan goalkeeper Abduvohid Nematov by surprise. After that, Uzbekistan became slightly more active in attack. Midway through the first half, Azizjon Ganiev tried his luck from long range, sending the ball into the top corner of Portugal’s goal. But Uzbekistan’s celebrations did not last long: after a VAR review, the referee disallowed the goal for a foul by Abbosbek Fayzullaev on João Cancelo in the build-up. Portugal then quickly took the game beyond Uzbekistan’s reach, and near the end of the first half Bruno Fernandes delivered a precise pass to Ronaldo, who was left unmarked in the penalty area and calmly shot into the bottom corner. Portugal eased the pace slightly in the second half but still managed to score twice more. Portugal’s fourth came on the hour, when a Bruno Fernandes corner was diverted in for an Abduvohid Nematov own goal. Late in the match, substitute Rafael Leao picked up a loose ball near the edge of the penalty area and, without hesitation, struck a powerful and accurate shot into the top corner to make it 5-0....