How Central Asian countries support the birth rate
How Central Asian countries support the birth rate
06.03.2025
Article published on the rus.ozodlik.org website
Comparatively larger benefits in Kazakhstan, the lowest being in Tajikistan.
Uzbekistan: Now everyone is paid suyunchi puli
Since 1 April last year, a lump-sum allowance (popularly known as suyunchi puli) has only been paid for the birth of the first child. For a second child, the benefit can only be claimed by those on the Social Protection Single Registry, i.e. low-income families. There is no suyunchu puli for a third and subsequent children.
The lump-sum benefit amount in Uzbekistan is 70.3% of the minimum wage, i.e. 738,150 soms ($55 at the current exchange rate), to which parents of all newborns employed in the civil service or the private sector, the unemployed and students are entitled. However, Azattyk Asia interviewed a number of people who became parents three or four years ago but have yet to receive the suyunchi puli.
A few years ago, working parents received benefits at their place of work or study, while those of them who were unemployed were paid from the Pension Fund. Now, the payment system has been automated. A new citizen is automatically assigned their own personal identification number, a birth certificate is issued and a lump-sum allowance allocated, which is routinely credited to a plastic bank card of one of the newborn’s parents.
Twenty-seven-year-old Malika gave birth to her first child last December. The young mother admits that the creation of an automated system for paying lump-sum benefits has gone down well with many Uzbek parents.
“When I was in the maternity hospital, I was given a document with a QR code that had all my son’s details. It was then taken to the One-Stop-Shop outlet (Edinoe Okno) where I collected the birth certificate. The suyunchi puli was credited to my bank card an hour after his certificate was issued, which meant that I received my child’s lump-sum allowance before I was discharged from hospital. Digitisation is a very good thing”, said Malika.
Uzbekistan has other types of child benefits, which are mainly paid to low-income families, i.e. allowances for families with children (100,000 to 325,000 soms, or $7-$25 dollars), childcare benefits (based on the number of children in the family), and payments for disabled children up to the age of 16 and HIV-positive children under 18 years of age (698,000 soms, or $55).
An application for these benefits, accompanied by the necessary documentation, is submitted and registered with the citizen’s self-governing body (mahalla) in the place of the applicant’s permanent or temporary residence.
Ulugbek Ashur lives in Canada and is the creator of the YouTube channel Negative, which covers political and social life in Uzbekistan. He told Azattyk Asia that he is often contacted by Uzbek women who have had difficulties when applying for child benefit. These complaints come to him not from the big cities but mostly from remote parts of the republic, he said.
“Women say they are forced to rush around and put together a lot of documents in order to obtain these paltry sums. The mahalla not only asks for information about each person in the household or for a bank statement but also if they have any livestock. The women complain that having collected the requisite paperwork, the mahalla staff find fault with the documentation which is then returned to them. However, there are families who have had their paperwork accepted by giving money to the mahalla chairman”, said the journalist.
Kazakhstan: The higher the salary, the bigger the allowance
Kazakhstan has the largest child allowances among Central Asian countries. There are two types of State benefit and two types of social payments for the birth of a child.
The first benefit parents receive is a lump-sum allowance for the birth of a child, with the amount depending on the number of children in the family.
The country also has a childcare allowance, with non-working women receiving monthly payments until the infant is one and a half years old. Again, the sum depends on the number of children in the family, ranging from 22,649 to 34,995 tenge ($45-$70).
In Kazakhstan, working women for whom their employers have made contributions to the social insurance fund can claim payment for loss of income due to pregnancy and childbirth, or for the adoption or fostering of a newborn child. The size of the payment depends on the woman’s average monthly income over the previous 12 months – the higher the salary, the more money she will receive on her return from maternity leave.
Kyrgyzstan – balaga suyunchu – to stock up on nappies
Since the start of 2018, a lump-sum birth allowance (balaga suyunchu) has been paid for each infant, amounting to 4,000 soms ($45). For three or more children, the payment increases to 50,000 soms ($570) for each child. In order to claim the allowance, an application must be made to the population centres or civil registration authorities within six months of the child’s birth.
Nurziya from Osh said that she received a balaga suyunchu when each of her children (now six, three and one and a half years old) were born. “By today’s standards, 4,000 soms is enough for a two-month supply of nappies at most. So this money doesn’t really help all that much”, said the woman. She has not received any other social benefits as she has never been employed or had work experience.
Everyone interviewed by Azattyk Asia said that applying for and obtaining balaga suyunchu was not all that difficult as it is processed almost immediately on receipt of a birth certificate and can sometimes be done online. The money is paid through the State bank and can be collected at the cash desk or credited to your bank card if you have an account with that bank.
In addition to the balaga suyunchu, low-income families with children under 16 years of age whose average per capita income does not exceed the extreme poverty threshold, are paid a monthly allowance called y bulege kemek, i.e. 1,000 soms ($11) per child.
Maksat Tularbek, head of the State benefits department at Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Labour, Social Security and Migration, told Azattyk Asia that the Government is currently trying to improve the social security system in a way that reduces the financial burden on parents, particularly those in high mountain and remote areas of the country.
“It is very difficult to compare Kyrgyzstan’s economy with that of developed countries. Nevertheless, our Government is attempting to improve the child allowance system”, she said.
Tajikistan – meagre benefits but a high birth rate
Article 14 of Tajikistan’s Law on State Social Insurance refers to family benefits: a lump-sum maternity allowance and monthly childcare payments. In order to claim the lump-sum allowance, a woman must submit her child’s birth certificate to the social protection department at her place of residence.
For the birth of the first child, the State pays an allowance based on three payment indicators (where one is currently equal to 72 somoni), totalling 216 somoni ($20); for the second child – 144 somoni (two indicators used in the payment calculation) or $13; and 72 somoni (one indicator used in the calculation) or seven dollars for a third and subsequent children.
Azattyk Asia interviewed ten women in the Tajik capital who gave birth last year, none of whom had applied for benefits. Some of them didn’t even know this was an option and those who did dismissed it, saying “Do you know how much paperwork there is to collect!?”.
“The State has no interest in supporting the birth rate, which has always been high in Tajikistan even without the allowances. The country is reviving the tradition of having big families. For example, a family with three or four children is no longer considered large”, said journalist Takhmina Mirzoyeva.
Last year, Tajikistan was ranked top among Commonwealth of Independent State countries in terms of population growth.
In 2019, UNICEF, the International Labour Organisation and the Overseas Development Institute organised an international conference for Central Asian countries on universal child benefits, which experts say are a solution to child poverty in the region.
In Central Asia, particularly Uzbekistan, obtaining child payments is associated with massive bureaucracy. The endless and meaningless list of documents required by Government agencies have forced many mothers to give up on child benefits and go to work.
“Bribery and corruption in the social sector are the two main reasons why child allowances do not go to worthy recipients. Uzbekistan cannot find the money for children and their future yet is somehow able to provide funding for glitzy shows and unnecessary festivals”, said journalist Ulugbek Ashur.
