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Just 12 per cent of Uzbekistan’s population aged 15 and older holds a higher or postgraduate qualification, according to final results from the national census released by the National Statistics Committee. That translates to 120 people per thousand adults — or 3.3 million individuals in absolute terms.
The figures reveal a population whose educational attainment is concentrated at the secondary level. General secondary education is the most widespread credential, held by 11.6 million people, or 42.8 per cent of those aged 15 and over. Secondary specialised and vocational qualifications account for a further 9.7 million people, or 35.8 per cent — meaning that more than three-quarters of adults have not progressed beyond secondary or vocational schooling.
The census also captured the population currently enrolled in education. Among those aged seven and older, 9.6 million people are studying in educational institutions. Men make up a slight majority of that group at 51.5 per cent, or 4.9 million, while women account for 48.5 per cent, or 4.6 million.
Higher education institutions are enrolling 1.7 million students, and women represent 49 per cent of that cohort — a near-equal split that contrasts with the historically lower share of women among those who have already completed degrees in older age groups.
The data come from the country’s first comprehensive population census in decades and form part of a broader statistical overhaul that has already prompted revisions to other national indicators. The education breakdown offers a baseline against which the government’s stated ambitions to expand university enrolment — including a target to raise the gross enrolment ratio significantly by the end of the decade — can be measured.
Uzbekistan has sharply increased the number of higher education institutions and student places in recent years, but the census figures underscore how far attainment levels remain from those of comparable middle-income economies, where university graduation rates among adults typically range from 25 to 40 per cent.