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Uzbekistan launched its first-ever business census on 15 October, the Ministry of Justice announced, with enumeration set to continue until 30 November under a government resolution signed on 9 October.
The census covers the full spectrum of economic activity: legal entities, individual entrepreneurs, dehkan farms, self-employed people and businesses operating without formal registration. Its stated purpose is to produce a more accurate picture of the economy, including activity that currently goes uncounted in official statistics.
Scale of the unobserved economy
The rationale for the exercise is underscored by the government’s own estimates. The unobserved, or shadow, economy is assessed at roughly 23 percent of total economic output, equivalent to 246 trillion soums. In agriculture the share is far higher, accounting for 60 percent of sectoral turnover. Of the country’s 15.2 million employed people, the incomes of 6.5 million — about 42 percent — are not fully reflected in official records. Some registered small and medium-sized enterprises are, in practice, inactive or have already ceased operations without formally deregistering.
How the census works
Legal entities are required to submit their information through the portal hisobot.stat.uz, while self-employed individuals can do so via census.stat.uz. For those who do not complete the process online, enumerators will visit businesses at their actual places of operation during office hours. A call centre is available on the short number 1851 for questions and assistance.
All information provided by respondents is treated as confidential and will be used exclusively for statistical purposes, the ministry said.
Within ten days of the census closing, enumerators will carry out follow-up checks covering up to five percent of registered economic units. The final results are expected to be published by 1 September 2027.
Part of a broader statistical overhaul
The business census follows Uzbekistan’s first nationwide population and agricultural census since 1989, conducted earlier this year. That exercise found the country’s actual population to be higher than previously estimated and identified nearly one million hectares of land that had not appeared in official statistics — suggesting a pattern of significant gaps between recorded and real-world data across multiple sectors of the economy.