Uzbekistan new indd

hypothesis and research Questions
As the largest labor migrant exporting country in 
Central Asia, Uzbekistan enjoys a significant inflow 
of remittances. Taking into account the informal na-
ture of most of them, it is hard to quantify the exact 
amount of remittances, as well as the exact number 
of migrants. According to various estimates there 
are 3-5 million Uzbek migrants worldwide, mostly 
in Russia. According to the Central Bank of Russia, 
Uzbekistan is ranked first among all CIS and non-
CIS countries in terms of the volume of received re-
mittances from Russia. In 2014 the total amount of 
remittances constituted $5.6 billion (Central Bank 
of Russia, 2015), The volume of remittances has 
been growing since 2009, reaching its peak in 2013 
($6.6 billion), and slightly slowing down in 2014 
due to the Russian rouble crisis. Currently, remit-
tances make up 11.7 percent of Uzbek GDP (World 
Bank, 2014).
Figure 1. Remittances from Russia to Uzbekistan, 2007-2014
 
 
Source: Central Bank of Russia, http://www.cbr.ru/eng/statistics/crossborder/print.asp?file=Rem_countries_14_e.htm

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Labor Migrant Households in Uzbekistan: Remittances as a Challenge or Blessing
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This study aims at focusing on households with 
and without labor migrants in order to define the 
true scope of remittances and their impact on pov-
erty in the country. While Uzbekistan is not repre-
sented in top ten remittance receiving countries in 
the world, the dependence on remittances, especial-
ly in rural areas, is rather high. It is therefore in-
teresting to consider the impact of remittances on 
labor supply and income inequality which might 
translate into further changes within the economy 
and household structures. Last but not least, the re-
mittance pattern may help elicit the consumption 
and investment behavior of households. For in-
stance, remittances spent on consumption may rep-
resent the bulk of all received remittances, leaving 
little room for investment and savings. This, in turn, 
would depict the long-term prospects of poverty 
within the country. Thus, this research is guided by 
the following questions:
How do remittances shape the behavior of pri-
vate households vis-à-vis households without labor 
migrants in Uzbekistan?
Apart from socio-cultural factors, what influ-
ences households’ decision-making and make them 
reluctant to search for “productive” investment op-
portunities for their remittances?
How can “unproductive” remittance spending 
be transformed into “productive” spending to facil-
itate economic growth in Uzbekistan?
The major hypothesis is that there are import-
ant cultural factors that should be identified and ad-
dressed in order to transform the pattern of unpro-
ductive to productive spending.