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SUMMARY FINDINGS
This report summarizes the key findings of the Migration Data Mapping Exercise, as explained in the methodology section, and identifies existing and available migration data in Uzbekistan. The reviewed migration data includes a mapping of active and relevant government databases as well as UN Agencies and development actors in Uzbekistan. Specifically, the data review captured thematic areas on immigration, emigration, return migration, undocumented migration, refugees hosted in Uzbekistan, refugees from Uzbekistan, internal displacement, internal migration, big data, and remittances. The report also highlights key national migration policies and stakeholders.
After reviewing existing datasets on immigration to Uzbekistan, it was found that they are comprised of administrative and statistical data on immigrant stocks, regularly processed by international institutions and data on immigrant flows routinely collected by local statistical and line agencies, such as the Statistics Agency under the President of Uzbekistan (UZSTAT) through the systematic compilation of registration coupons. The available data can be disaggregated by immigrant gender and age, location in the host country, and country of origin. However, there is a lack of information on immigrant stocks for specific years, as well as data on immigrants’ place of origin in their home country, employment status, and educational level. Further in-depth research is required to address these gaps and describe the nuances of immigration patterns.
The data review on the emigration of Uzbek citizens to other countries revealed that most of the data on emigration from Uzbekistan consists of administrative and statistics datasets of stocks and flows of emigrants, including labour migrants. The datasets include UN agencies and other international databases, as well as national statistics and line agencies' data compilations and reports, such as by the Ministry of Employment and Poverty Reduction of Uzbekistan (MEPR), and the Agency for External Labour Migration (AELM). Emigrant population stock and flow can be disaggregated by gender, age, country of destination, and place of origin. Despite a large number of data sources, there are still gaps in the data on emigrants’ education level, gender and age for a particular year. Further research should be concentrated on addressing identified data gaps.
The data on return migration includes national government bodies’ datasets, as prepared by the AELM, international migration databases, overviews and reports of international organizations, academic resources, as well as articles in online media. The stock data is focused on the number of returning Uzbek nationals and those who returned with IOM assistance. Gaps exist in the statistics of returnees' gender and age, country of return, place of return in their home country, type of work prior to return and education level. Subsequent research efforts should be concentrated on closing the identified data gaps.
The dataset on undocumented migration and human trafficking is based on national data, mainly processed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), and databases of international organizations, foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and academic researchers. Despite the incomplete data on undocumented migration, it provides a comprehensive overview of the landscape and trends in these types of migration. However, additional research efforts should be focused on routes and methods used for undocumented migration, smuggling and human trafficking, as well as the socio-demographic profile of undocumented/smuggled persons.
Data on refugees hosted in Uzbekistan is primarily compiled from databases of specialized UN agencies such as UNHCR, IDMC, UN DESA, IOM. This data is annually updated and can be disaggregated by country of origin, refugee’s gender and age. The data represents the total number of refugees at the end of a given year.
Data on the number of refugees from Uzbekistan was not found from government agencies. The main sources include UN agencies' databases and statistical databases from third countries. This data is updated annually and can be disaggregated by refugees’ gender, age, and destination country. In future studies of data on refugees hosted in and from Uzbekistan, it is recommended to focus on studying the education level of refugees and analyzing the reasons forcing them to seek asylum in other countries.
The data on internal displacement in Uzbekistan is also based on information from international organizations and projects specializing in forced migration. The available sources enable the disaggregation of the overall number of internal displacement cases and IDPs, allowing for the classification of their nature and time frameworks. The absence of information for specific years may not necessarily be a gap. However, future studies both by national and international stakeholders should consider gender and age criteria, employment status, and education level. This information is crucial in developing strategies to mitigate the negative consequences of internal displacement.
Data on internal mobility in Uzbekistan originates from domestic statistical datasets and compilation reports generated by UZSTAT on a quarterly and annual basis, utilizing information supplied by national line agencies such as the MIA. The available data facilitates an examination of internal migrants, with a particular focus on their gender and the location of resettlement. Several studies contribute to an understanding of the specifics and nuances of internal migration in Uzbekistan. However, there are gaps in stock figures of internal migrants, as well as in their demographic breakdown by gender and age that can be analyzed in detail.
In Uzbekistan, there is a lack of comprehensive research on migration research utilizing big data. Conducting similar studies has great potential and opens new opportunities for analyzing both external migration flows and internal mobility within the country.
Data on remittances is regularly and systematically collected and reported. There are regular updates of annual data on remittance flows by international financial institutions and every three months by the Central Bank of Uzbekistan (CBU). Until 2022, the data on remittance outflows to Uzbekistan was available from datasets of the Russian Federation as well. The discrepancy in data provided by national and international institutions can be mentioned among the main gaps in remittance flow. Different counting methods can be the possible reason for the indicated discrepancy. Despite this, the available data presents an overview of migrants’ remittances’ contribution to the economy of Uzbekistan.