Assessment of poverty indicators in the Republic of Uzbekistan by the end of 2023

The CERR jointly with the Statistics Agency, assessed the level of monetary poverty in Uzbekistan. By the end of 2023, poverty in the country decreased by 3.1 percentage points. The experts explained how the poverty profile has changed and in which regions the incomes of the population have shown the greatest growth.

According to the results of the assessment of the Statistics Agency under the President of Uzbekistan, by the end of 2023, the poverty level in Uzbekistan has decreased to 11.0%.

The Center for Economic Research and Reforms conducted an analysis of changes in the level of well-being of the population of Uzbekistan in 2022-2023 based on data from a household budget survey throughout the republic.

It should be noted that the change in the poverty level in Uzbekistan has been revised based on the best international practices. Thus, the international calculation method used is based on the concept of the World Bank.

In particular, household budgets throughout the republic are being studied throughout the year. The method of measuring the level of poverty is based on estimates of the income of the population, which have increased significantly in recent years.

It is estimated that about 10 thousand households participated in the 2021 survey, and in 2022 coverage exceeded 14 thousand, while during 2023 more than 16 thousand families across the country were surveyed.

The level of poverty in Uzbekistan

As a result, if during 2022, poverty in Uzbekistan decreased from 17% to 14%, then next year the poverty level decreased to 11%. According to calculations, another 1 million people were brought out of poverty in 2023.

The study revealed that the greatest decrease in the poverty level was noted by 6 percentage points in the Syrdarya and 5.5 percentage points in the Andijan regions, as well as by 6.3 percentage points in the Republic of Karakalpakstan.

Income per capita

The main elements of the monetary income of the population were wages, social benefits, pensions, benefits, income from agriculture.

Compared with 2022, total income from pensions and social benefits increased by an average of 12%, and agriculture by 6%.

It should be noted that the income of the population from small businesses increased 1.7 times over the year.

In addition, the analysis showed that over the past three years there has been a decrease in the structure of wage income and the growth of small businesses. If in 2021 wage income was 70.2%, and small business income was only 0.7%, then by the end of 2023 it was 62.7% and 2.9%, respectively.

Poverty assessment in Uzbekistan has been conducted on an ongoing basis since 2020 and is an important source of data on the level, conditions and quality of life of the population, as well as the only information source for assessing the level of monetary poverty in the country.

A promising direction in the field of poverty measurement in the Republic of Uzbekistan is the implementation into national statistical practice of calculating the Multidimensional Poverty Index.