10 Interesting Facts about Uzbekistan

Those who love to travel around the world might take one of these following facts about Uzbekistan really important to read. Uzbekistan is one of the most beautiful countries in the world, with all its history and scenery. Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia. It is a unitary, constitutional, presidential republic, comprising 12 provinces, 1 autonomous republic, and 1 independent city. Uzbekistan is bordered by five countries. Between 1924 and 1991, it was part of the Soviet Union. To get to know more about this country, here are some other facts about Uzbekistan you might be interested in.

Facts about Uzbekistan 1: Economy

Uzbekistan’s economy relies mainly on commodity production, including cotton, gold, uranium and natural gas. Despite the declared objective of transition to market economy, its government continues to maintain economic controls which deter foreign investment and imports in favour of domestic ‘import substitution.

Facts about Uzbekistan 2: Population

Most of Uzbekistan’s population today belong to the Uzbek ethnic group and speak the Uzbek language, a language belonging to the family of Turkic languages.

Facts about Uzbekistan 3: Early History

The first people known to inhabit the Central Asian region of modern-day Uzbekistan were Iranian nomads nomads who arrived from the northern grasslands of what is now Kazakhstan sometime in the first millennium BC.

Facts about Uzbekistan 4: Politics

After Uzbekistan declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, election was held, and Islam Karimov was elected as the first President of Uzbekistan. However, the election was not democratic; Karimov’s party was culpable of harassing political opponents and allegedly interfered with votes at the ballot box.

Facts about Uzbekistan 5: First Election

The first elections of the Oliy Majlis were held under a resolution adopted by the 16th Supreme Soviet in 1994. In that year, the Supreme Soviet was replaced by the Oliy Majlis. Since then Uzbekistan has held presidential and parliamentarian elections on regular basis, but no real opposition candidates or parties are able to participate.

Facts about Uzbekistan 6: Human Rights

The Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan asserts that “democracy in the Republic of Uzbekistan shall be based upon common human principles, according to which the highest value shall be the human being, his life, freedom, honor, dignity and other inalienable rights.”

Facts about Uzbekistan 7: Gold Deposits

Uzbekistan has the fourth largest gold deposits in the world. The country mines 80 tons of gold annually, seventh in the world. Uzbekistan’s copper deposits rank tenth in the world and its uranium deposits twelfth. The country’s uranium production ranks seventh globally

Facts about Uzbekistan 8: Religion

Islam is by far the dominant religion in Uzbekistan, as Muslims constitute 90% of the population while 5% of the population follow Russian Orthodox Christianity, and 5% of the population follow other religions according to a 2009 US State Department release.

Facts about Uzbekistan 9: Language

The Uzbek language is the only official state language, and since 1992 is officially written in the Latin alphabet. The Tajik language is widespread in the cities of Bukhara and Samarkand because of their relatively large population of ethnic Tajiks.

Facts about Uzbekistan 10: Cultures

Uzbekistan has a wide mix of ethnic groups and cultures, with the Uzbek being the majority group. In 1995 about 71% of Uzbekistan’s population was Uzbek. The chief minority groups were Russians, Tajiks, Kazaks, Tatars and and Karakalpaks.

Hope you would find those Uzbekistan facts really interesting and useful for your additional reading.