Uzbekistan Quality Job Creation as a Cornerstone for Sustainable Economic Growth

Uzbekistan, 1990–2060
0–14 (LHS)
15–64 (LHS)
65+ (LHS)
Dependency ratio (RHS)
0
10
20
30
40
50
0
50
40
30
20
10
60
70
80
90
1990
2000
2010
2020
2030
2040
2050
2060
Million
Percent

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86
Uzbekistan Quality Job Creation as a Cornerstone for Sustainable Economic Growth
Likewise, income inequality, as measured by the Gini coefficient, narrowed 
from 0.39 in 2001 to 0.29 in 2013 (World Bank 2016c).
2
Historically, natural resource exports have been the country’s major source 
of foreign exchange. However, since 2012, the share of Uzbekistan’s natural 
resource exports has been declining and hence so have rents from those 
activities as a share of GDP (Figure 3.3). This might suggest the government’s 
policies to diversify the economy have been effective, although declines in 
commodity prices also contributed in recent years. 
The high economic growth reported in the first decade of the 21st century was 
mostly due to high commodity prices. While growth indicators were strong in 
2016–2017, GDP growth decreased from 7.8% in 1960 to 5.3% in 2017, and 
to 5.2% year-on-year in the first three quarters of 2018. These figures are 
comparable to estimates by the Asian Development Bank and International 
Monetary Fund (Holzhacker 2018) and have been accompanied by growth in 
services, particularly tourism, as well as industrial production and construction. 
The reported annual economic growth was approximately 8% on average 
in the last 10–15 years, but this growth did not lead to an equivalent rise in 
2
However, Sabyrova (2017) argues that Gini indicators should be assessed with “a grain of salt” in Central Asia. 
One of the arguments is that Gini coefficients are computed based on household surveys and many better-
off households refuse to participate in such surveys and/or the data on their real incomes is not publicly 
available. 
GDP = gross domestic product, LHS = left-hand scale, RHS = right-hand scale
Source: World Bank. World Development Indicators. http://datatopics.worldbank.org/world-
development-indicators/ (accessed 7 August 2019).