Uzbekistan overview
Uzbekistan lies in Central Asia, part of Asia. Treaties and official documents call it Republic of Uzbekistan. Government sits in Tashkent.
It is home to roughly 36.4 million people, placing it 43rd of 249 by population — between Poland above it and Malaysia below. Among the 5 entries in Central Asia it ranks 3rd by area and 1st by population.
The land area is 447,400 km², which ranks it 58th of the 249 countries and territories in this dataset — just behind Sweden and just ahead of Morocco. For scale, it is almost exactly the same size as Morocco.
Uzbekistan is doubly landlocked
Uzbekistan is doubly landlocked: not one of its 5 neighbours touches the open sea either. Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan are landlocked in turn, so cargo has to cross at least two international borders — reaching China, Pakistan, Russia and Iran — before it can be loaded onto a ship. Only two countries in the world are doubly landlocked, and Uzbekistan is one of them; the other is Liechtenstein.
That geography has practical consequences. Landlocked countries carry higher freight costs than coastal ones because goods change hands, transport mode and jurisdiction more often, and because a neighbour's road, rail or customs problem becomes Uzbekistan's problem too. It is also why transit agreements with bordering states, and access to their ports, tend to matter more in Uzbekistan's foreign policy than the distance on a map would suggest.
Coastal countries two borders away:
Uzbekistan and its neighbours, side by side
Uzbekistan has 5 land neighbours, holding 88,547,356 people across 4,208,281 km² between them. Here is how each one measures up.
| Neighbour | Population | Area (km²) | vs Uzbekistan by area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kazakhstanlandlocked | 20,592,571 | 2,724,900 | 6.1× larger |
| Afghanistanlandlocked | 42,647,492 | 652,230 | 1.5× larger |
| Turkmenistanlandlocked | 7,494,498 | 488,100 | 1.1× larger |
| Kyrgyzstanlandlocked | 7,221,868 | 199,951 | 2.2× smaller |
| Tajikistanlandlocked | 10,590,927 | 143,100 | 3.1× smaller |
By area the largest neighbour is Kazakhstan and the smallest is Tajikistan; by population Afghanistan is the heaviest presence on the border. Taken together the neighbours hold more people than Uzbekistan does, which is the usual situation for a country with several borders and rarely a comfortable one.
Uzbekistan at a glance
- Capital
- Tashkent
- Population
- 36,361,859
- Area
- 447,400 km²
- Region
- Central Asia, Asia
- Languages
- Russian, Uzbek
- Currency
- Uzbekistani soʻm (UZS)
- Calling code
- +998
- Internet TLD
- .uz
- People per km²
- 81
The lie of the land
Its reference point sits at 41.0° north and 64.0° east, which puts it in the northern hemisphere, roughly 4,564 km from the equator, in what geographers would call temperate latitudes.
Countries on the same parallel, far away in longitude, include Spain, Italy and Greece.
It borders 5 neighbours: Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. The largest of them by area is Kazakhstan, while the most populous is Afghanistan. Together those neighbours hold about 88.5 million people.
Uzbekistan is landlocked. That is true of 45 of the 249 entries here, which reliably raises the cost of trade, because port access depends on a transit agreement with a neighbour. 5 of its neighbours, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, are landlocked too. You can see the full picture on the landlocked countries page.
Where Uzbekistan is on the map
The map below is centred on Uzbekistan at roughly 41.00°, 64.00°. Pan and zoom to see how it sits against its surroundings — the shape of a country's borders explains a surprising amount about its history.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
The people of Uzbekistan
Population divided by land area gives roughly 81 people per square kilometre, which makes it less crowded than the typical entry on this list. The median across all 249 entries here is about 91 per square kilometre.
Officially it is multilingual, listing Russian and Uzbek. Uzbek is listed for no other entry in this dataset, which makes it effectively unique to Uzbekistan. Russian, the first listed, is shared with 7 other entries worldwide.
Someone from Uzbekistan is an Uzbekistani.
Against Asia as a whole it is the 17th most populous of 50 entries, and it accounts for 44% of everyone living in Central Asia.
Uzbekistan within Central Asia
Within Central Asia, Uzbekistan is the most populous of the 5 entries this site lists, and 3rd by area. Kazakhstan is next in line by population.
Every entry in Central Asia has its own guide here, so if you want to work through the whole neighbourhood rather than one country at a time, Kazakhstan is the place to carry on.
Money, codes and practical details
The currency is the Uzbekistani soʻm (so'm, UZS). That currency appears nowhere else on this list.
Its internet country code is .uz. Calls from overseas start with +998. Standard country codes: uz and UZB.
Tashkent is the city to remember for this country.
It holds a seat at the United Nations, one of 192 entries here that do. The other 57 entries are territories, dependencies or observers, which is why totals on this site run to 249 rather than the familiar 195.
Money and language in Uzbekistan
The Uzbekistani soʻm (UZS) is used only in Uzbekistan among the 249 entries on this site. Its own currency is one of the clearest markers of an economy that sets its own monetary policy rather than importing somebody else's.
Language reaches wider still. Russian is listed for 8 entries here, Uzbekistan among them, so a visitor who speaks it can be understood across a large part of the map. Shared language tends to outlive the empires, trade routes and migrations that spread it, which is why the linguistic map and the political one rarely line up.
Also lists Russian among its languages:
Fun facts about Uzbekistan
- It is 43rd of 249 by population, with about 36.4 million residents.
- People from Uzbekistan are known as Uzbekistanis.
- It shares land borders with 5 countries: Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
- Websites based there use the .uz domain.
- Uzbek is listed as an official language for no other entry in this dataset.
- Spain and Italy sit at almost the same latitude, on the far side of the globe.
- Its capital city is Tashkent.
- Its full official name is Republic of Uzbekistan.
Uzbekistan — frequently asked questions
- What is the capital of Uzbekistan?
- The capital of Uzbekistan is Tashkent.
- Where is Uzbekistan located?
- Uzbekistan is in Central Asia, part of Asia. Its reference coordinates are 41.0° north and 64.0° east, roughly 4,564 km from the equator in temperate latitudes.
- Is Uzbekistan landlocked?
- Yes. Uzbekistan has no sea coast, which makes it one of 45 landlocked entries in this dataset. Everything it imports or exports by sea has to cross a neighbour's territory first, and that transit dependency is a well-documented drag on trade costs.
- Is Uzbekistan a country?
- Yes. Uzbekistan is a sovereign state and one of the 192 UN members listed on this site.
- What is the population of Uzbekistan?
- Uzbekistan has a population of about 36.4 million, which makes it the 43rd most populous of the 249 countries and territories listed on this site. Poland sits just above it and Malaysia just below.
- How big is Uzbekistan?
- Uzbekistan covers 447,400 km², ranking 58th of 249 by land area. That makes it almost exactly the same size as Morocco.
- Which countries border Uzbekistan?
- Uzbekistan borders 5 countries: Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Kazakhstan is the largest of them by area.
- What language is spoken in Uzbekistan?
- Uzbekistan lists 2 official languages: Russian and Uzbek. Uzbek does not appear as an official language anywhere else in this dataset.
- What currency does Uzbekistan use?
- Uzbekistan uses the Uzbekistani soʻm, written so'm (currency code UZS). No other entry in this dataset uses it.
