The number of Uzbek citizens who went to Russia for work fell by 13.2% year-on-year in January-June 2026, reaching 1.179mn, according to the Central Bank of Uzbekistan’s Labor Market Review.
The figure compares with 1.358mn in the first half of 2025. For comparison, the report recorded 1.495mn Uzbek citizens working in Russia under a patent in 2025.
Meanwhile, Uzbekistan’s external labor migration is increasingly extending to other destinations. In 2025, the number of Uzbek migrant workers in the European Union rose by 13.2%, while the number in Türkiye increased by 10.7%, the Central Bank reported.
As of July 1, 2026, the number of Uzbek citizens in Türkiye reached 70,000, up 9.3% year-on-year. South Korea registered 102,200 Uzbek citizens, an annual increase of 3.3%.
Despite the decline in the number of Uzbek citizens going to Russia for work, remittance inflows from the country continued to grow. Transfers from Russia to Uzbekistan increased by 8.8% year-on-year in the first half of 2026.
The Central Bank warned that declining labor migration to some destinations could negatively affect future remittance inflows, household incomes and consumer demand.
The report also highlighted a weakening domestic labor market. The number of job vacancies announced in the second quarter of 2026 fell by 9.8%, while job-seeker activity remained high and competition for available positions intensified, as previously reported by Daryo.