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Development of the Internet and Social Network Penetration in Uzbekistan
As of the end of 2011 Uzbekistan had about 8.8 million Internet users, or about 30 percent of the population. Russian-language networks
are the most popular in Uzbekistan: In Contact, My Circle, My World, Classmates and Live Journal. Uzbekistan also has its own social
networks, such as www.vgorode.uz, http://www.sinfdosh.uz, http://bool.uz, www.vsetut.uz, www.doira.uz, www.sevgi.uz and others.
Most users in Uzbekistan, however, continue to register with the most popular Russian-language networks. According to estimates, the
number of Uzbek users on the most popular Russian networks ranges from a few hundred thousand to 1 million.
Growth of the number of Internet and Facebook users in
Uzbekistan
Facebook users in Uzbekistan by age group
The social network Facebook today is the most numerous in the world, with more than 640 million users. Over the past two years
Facebook has shown a significant rise in the number of users in Uzbekistan, which recently topped 114,000 with an increase of about
32,000 over the past six months. Among the respondents surveyed, only the State Committee for Demonopolization and Development of
Competition has a Facebook page—a total of about 180 users. In addition, the Government portal www.gov.uz, the Ministry of Culture
and Sports and the Academy of Arts have their own Facebook pages.
change in the approaches to the organization of information
flows and to working with information inside the ministries
and agencies themselves.
The main problems impeding the development of information
departments include the following:
1. The inadequately developed regulatory and legal framework
that governs (i) the activities of information departments, including
organizational, financial and personnel matters, and (ii) the
cooperation of state bodies with the news media and fulfillment of
the legitimate rights of citizens to receive and use information.
2. The lack of incentives for the chiefs of ministries and agencies,
and hence for the information departments themselves, to
demonstrate more openness with information and to implement
and use progressive methods of information work.
In view of the reforms under way in the country to modernize and
liberalize the system of state administration, state and administrative
bodies in Uzbekistan must be given new tasks, the most important
of which are the following:
1. To strengthen information departments as institutions by
focusing in particular on the legal principles of their activities, the
management of intra- and interagency flows of information and
mechanisms for funding information work.
2. To create conditions for modernization and diversification of the
forms and methods of managing information work in the system of
state and administrative bodies with an emphasis on expanding the
two-way exchange of information between the state and society.
3. To improve the mechanisms for implementing the right of citizens
Center for Economic Research
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Tashkent 100070, Uzbekistan
Tel: [phone],
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Fax: [phone]
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to receive information and for their participation in the preparation
of decisions adopted by state and administrative bodies.
The ultimate objective must be to build an effective system of
communications that makes it possible not only to “release”
information but also provides bilateral and multilateral channels
for an exchange of information between society and the state in
order to:
• stimulate a dialog and achieve a consensus on current issues in
a certain area, or in a national context.
• create an effective feedback mechanism within the framework
of the monitoring and evaluation of policies and programs.
• shape a positive image for a specific organization, the
government and the state as a whole both within the country
and outside it.
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The Center for Economic Research is jointly supported by the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) and the Government of Uzbekistan
The views and opinions expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the official positions of the
Center for Economic Research or the United Nations Development Programme.
UNDP Country Office in Uzbekistan
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Tashkent 100029, Uzbekistan
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Fax: [phone]
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