Poverty threshold in Uzbekistan: $52 per person per month
The poverty threshold in Uzbekistan has been fixed at $52 per person per month
05.02.2025
Article published on the Radio Ozodlik website
According to the Uzbek President’s Official Statistics Office, this year’s minimum consumer spending limit has been set at 669,000 soms ($52) per person per month.
The poverty threshold was revised on two occasions last year: from 568,000 to 621,000 soms at the beginning of 2024 and increased to 648,000 soms on 1 May due to a rise in the price of gas and electricity.
The principle of using minimum consumer spending to determine the poverty threshold has been criticised in the past, with the economist, Otabek Bakyrov, stating that “the limit for defining poverty has been seriously underestimated”. In response, the President’s Official Statistics Office explained that the poverty index had been agreed jointly with World Bank experts, based on best international practice.
In 2020, a statement made by Obid Khakimov, Director of the Government’s Centre for Economic Research and Reforms, that a person earing 5,600 soms a day could not be considered poor provoked widespread public outcry. Based on exchange rates at the time, this amounted to around $0.5.
The Federation of Consumer Rights Protection Associations concluded in 2021 that 2,157,070 soms ($167) per month was required to meet the minimum needs of each Uzbek citizen.
