Uzbekistan poverty rate falls as wage growth and employment rise

The World Bank reported that the national poverty rate in Uzbekistan fell from 17% in 2021 to 5.8% in 2025. The Ministry of Employment and Poverty Reduction in Uzbekistan stated that the rate declined further to 3.6% during the first nine months of 2026.

The World Bank found that 3.7 million people moved above the national poverty line between 2021 and 2025.

When using an international poverty benchmark of $8.30 per person per day, the poverty rate in Uzbekistan dropped from 38.1% to 12.4%. The World Bank noted that Uzbekistan accounted for nearly 40% of the 21 million people who moved above that international threshold across Europe and Central Asia. Najy Benhassine of the World Bank said higher wages and more jobs drove this progress. Real wages for low-paid workers grew by 11 to 12% annually after accounting for inflation.

For men in the poorest 20% of the population, the employment rate rose from 38% in 2022 to 65% in 2025, while the share of salaried employment among them rose from 18% to 46%. The World Bank identified concerns regarding the quality of these jobs, noting that 60% of poor male wage workers work in informal roles and over 40% hold irregular or seasonal positions. Additionally, 22% of the population remains economically vulnerable to financial shocks.

The report highlighted that women make up 92% of economically inactive adults in poor households, often due to care responsibilities. To address these issues, the World Bank recommended expanding affordable childcare and vocational training. The government of Uzbekistan plans to change how it assesses state-backed business programmes. Instead of measuring the amount of credit distributed, the administration will measure the number of permanent jobs and stable household incomes these programmes generate.