Wages in Uzbekistan are rising by 17 percent

Average monthly nominal wages in Uzbekistan rose by 17.4 percent year-over-year in the first quarter to 6.83 million sum. This amounts to approximately $568, according to the National Statistics Committee.

This continues the upward trend that has been ongoing for several years. Average monthly wages rose from 3.42 million sum in 2022 to 4.11 million sum in 2023, 4.91 million sum in 2024, and 5.82 million sum in 2025.

Tashkent remains the leader

However, income growth remains unevenly distributed across regions. Tashkent remains the country’s highest-paying labor market. There, the average monthly wage in the first quarter was 11.68 million soums, or about $971. This is nearly 1.7 times the national average. Annual growth stood at 18.8 percent.

Wages were significantly lower in several regions. Navoi stood out positively with 8.45 million sum, or about 703 U.S. dollars. Andijan reached 5.58 million sum, Bukhara 5.47 million sum, and Sirdarya 5.37 million sum.

At the lower end were, among others, Kashkadarya with 4.67 million sum and the Tashkent region with 4.72 million sum. The latter also recorded one of the lowest growth rates at 12.1 percent.

However, some regions caught up from a lower starting point. In Namangan, wages rose by 19 percent to 5.10 million sum. Jizzakh and Samarkand also reported growth rates of more than 16 percent.

Finance and IT sectors pay the most

Differences also remain significant across industries. The highest wages were paid in the financial sector, including banking, insurance, and leasing. There, the average was 18.6 million sum, or about $1,547. This was followed by the information and communications sector at 16.5 million sum.

The transportation and warehousing sector showed particularly dynamic growth. Wages there rose by 22.5 percent to 10.7 million sum. This was the strongest growth among the major sectors.

Traditional and social sectors, by contrast, remained well below the national average. In education, wages stood at 4.62 million sum, and in health and social services at 4.11 million sum. Although both sectors recorded double-digit growth, they continued to lag behind in absolute terms.

In industry, wages rose by 16.1 percent to 8.03 million sum. In the construction sector, growth was significantly weaker at 7.2 percent; the average wage there was 6.50 million sum.

Since 2022, financial services and information and communication technology in particular have achieved strong absolute wage growth. In lower-paying sectors such as education and health care, the absolute increases were smaller. This widens the income gap between highly productive industries and the rest of the economy.