OVERVIEW

 

Uzbekistan's labor force is growing by roughly 1.2 million people each year. Two-thirds of the country's population is under 35. Secondary school gross enrollment sits at 97 percent with gender parity, one of the strongest figures in Central Asia. These statistics describe an extraordinary demographic dividend in waiting. They also describe an obligation. Without commensurate investment in education quality, health systems, and skills relevant to a rapidly digitising economy, the dividend becomes a liability.

 

The Asian Development Bank's Pillar 3 strategy under the 2024 to 2028 Country Partnership Strategy treats human capital as the structural complement to every other investment the bank makes in Uzbekistan, and the projects approved in 2024 and 2025 reflect that priority.

 

STEM IN 200 SCHOOLS

 

On 22 October 2025, ADB approved a US$ 100 million concessional loan for the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics in Secondary Education Project. The total project cost is US$ 115 million, with the Government of Uzbekistan providing US$ 15 million in counterpart financing. The design is ambitious and architecturally clear. Two hundred secondary schools across the country will be upgraded into STEM resource centres, each serving as a hub for neighboring schools in its district. Each will receive modern science laboratories, upgraded information and communications technology infrastructure, solar energy systems, and inclusive facilities for students with disabilities.

 

The curricular reform is equally important. The project supports pilot testing of interdisciplinary STEM classes for grades 5 to 11, strengthens the curriculum across six STEM subjects (physics, chemistry, biology, geography, informatics, and mathematics) through EdTech, and upgrades Maktab.uz for pre-service and in-service teacher training.

 

National assessment standards will be updated to align with competency-based learning. A targeted recruitment and placement scheme will deploy additional STEM teachers, and a dedicated incentive programme will increase girls' enrollment in STEM subjects, addressing one of the country's most persistent gender gaps. The project also establishes a STEM Center that engages the private sector, the academic community, and civil society organizations, building the institutional architecture for long-term partnerships beyond the loan period itself.

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The case for this work begins with the PISA 2022 results. While Uzbekistan's school enrollment is strong, the country ranked 73rd of 81 economies in the assessment, with particular weakness in critical thinking and problem-solving. Performance gaps between urban and rural schools, and between individual schools in the same district, compound the issue. The STEM project addresses these gaps where they originate: in classroom equipment, in teacher capability, and in the alignment between what is taught and what the labor market increasingly demands.

 

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"AI WILL TRANSFORM JOBS RATHER THAN SIMPLY ELIMINATE THEM. MANAGING THAT TRANSITION THROUGH RESKILLING, SOCIAL PROTECTION, AND EFFECTIVE LABOR MARKET POLICIES IS NOT OPTIONAL."

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MASATO KANDA

ADB PRESIDENT

 

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MATERNAL HEALTH AND THE PERINATAL SYSTEM

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ADB's health portfolio in Uzbekistan focuses on the most measurable indicator of system quality: maternal and neonatal outcomes. The Integrated Perinatal Care Project, approved in July 2024 with a US$ 100 million concessional loan, supports the upgrade of around 230 perinatal centres nationwide. The investment covers modern energy-efficient medical equipment, updated clinical standards and protocols, expanded training for health staff, and quality assurance mechanisms.

 

The project also introduces electronic patient records to identify health risks earlier in pregnancy and strengthens emergency response teams across the referral system. The numbers behind the intervention explain its urgency. Maternal mortality in Uzbekistan stood at 30 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2020, down from 38 in 2010 but still well above the regional average for Europe and Central Asia.

 

Neonatal mortality has shown signs of rising as birth rates have increased. Without the system-wide modernisation that the project supports, the country's strong demographic position would translate into avoidable losses at the most vulnerable point in life.

 

SKILLS FOR THE DIGITAL AND GREEN ECONOMIES

 

The third dimension of the human capital agenda is knowledge-sharing across the region. At Samarkand, ADB announced the Center for AI Innovation and Development, backed by a US$ 20 million contribution from the Republic of Korea and hosted in Seoul. The center will serve as a regional hub for trusted AI adoption, with a commitment to train three million people across Asia and the Pacific in digital and AI skills by 2035, with a particular focus on youth and women. Uzbekistan's young workforce is a direct beneficiary.

 

The convergence is what makes the next five years matter. By 2030, the test will be whether 200 STEM resource centres are operating nationwide, whether 230 perinatal centres have brought maternal mortality below the Central Asian average, whether girls' enrollment in STEM subjects has closed the gender gap, and whether Uzbekistan's young workforce has the skills to compete in the digital and green economies that ADB's wider investments are helping to build. The capital is in place. The institutions are responding. The question is delivery.