Uzbekistan spent a total of 56.4 billion soums on its nationwide census. This was disclosed by Bekhzod Khamraev, Chairman of the Statistics Agency, in an interview with journalists following a press conference held in Tashkent.
He highlighted that the actual cost of conducting the census turned out to be significantly lower than initially projected.
"Initially, we estimated that the census would cost 140 billion soums. However, the public actively utilized the internet to participate. We had expected only 20% of the population to respond online, assuming we would have to go door-to-door to collect data for the remaining 80%. Instead, online participation skyrocketed to 82%, which allowed us to drastically reduce expenses. As a result, the cost per person came down to just $0.12 USD (1,444 soums). In total, this amounted to $4.7 million USD, or 56.4 billion soums," the Agency Chairman stated.
According to Bekhzod Khamraev, international standards show that some countries spend up to $3 USD per capita to conduct a census. Developed nations spend even more, with costs reaching up to $5 USD per person.
"Over the past ten years, monumental work has been done in our country regarding digitalization. I can confidently say that the reduction in our expenses is a direct result of these efforts," the chief of the Statistics Agency stated.
According to the preliminary calculations, Uzbekistan's permanent population reached 39,047,321 people. Current ongoing statistical models had placed this number at 38.2 million. The census results revealed that the actual population is 810.6 thousand people larger than previously estimated. The data also indicates that by 2026, the country's population has exactly doubled compared to the results of the 1989 census.
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