Uzbekistan’s National Statistics Committee has published a detailed set of preliminary results from the population and agricultural census conducted in January-February 2026. The document covers residents’ birthplaces, main languages of communication, housing types, regional distribution and ethnic composition. According to the census data, Uzbekistan’s population stands at 39.05 million, of whom 38.86 million were born in the country.
Key Takeaways: About 189,600 people, or nearly 0.5% of the population, were born abroad. Among foreign-born residents, the largest groups come from Tajikistan (50,900), Russia (38,000), Kazakhstan (29,400) and Kyrgyzstan (25,300). Tashkent city is home to 51,600 foreign-born people, roughly 27% of all residents born outside Uzbekistan.
The figures allow officials and researchers to compare where people were born with where they currently live. The committee stressed that birthplace does not determine current citizenship: a person born in another country may be an Uzbek citizen and may have lived in the republic for decades. In Tashkent city, 2.63 million of the capital’s 3.22 million residents were born in the city, while 596,200 people, or 18.5%, were born outside it — in other regions of Uzbekistan or abroad.
According to the published tables, 544,600 Tashkent residents were born in other regions of the country, and another 51,600 were born in foreign countries. Among people living in Tashkent, the largest group outside the capital was born in Tashkent region at 118,900, followed by Qashqadaryo region at 81,200, Samarkand region at 59,000, Bukhara region at 43,600 and Surxondaryo region at 38,100. Nationwide, nearly 1.25 million people, or 3.2% of the population, live outside the region where they were born. The 2026 census also recorded 34.9 million ethnic Uzbeks (89.4%), 1.28 million Tajiks (3.3%), 841,400 Karakalpaks (2.2%), 707,300 Kazakhs (1.8%), 606,500 Russians (1.6%), 219,100 Kyrgyz (0.6%), 194,800 Turkmens (0.5%) and 300,000 people of other nationalities (0.8%).
The data are expected to serve as an important basis for refining demographic policy, infrastructure planning, employment programs and regional development strategies. At the same time, the census does not capture every case of internal migration: a person may move between regions several times and later return to their birthplace, while the published data do not indicate when or why such moves occurred. Further releases are expected to provide fuller breakdowns and regional analysis.
Source: www.gazeta.uz