Independence and the peer generation: how are they different?
1991. Uzbekistan declared its independence. That year, 723.4 thousand babies were born in the country, and today they are 35 years old. How does this generation, which is experiencing the period of independence directly in its personal lives and destinies, differ from the previous ones?
The generation of the same age as independence: how are they different?
The life stages of the generation born in 1991, such as childhood, school years, choosing a profession, starting a family and having children, coincided with the period of Uzbekistan's independence. Therefore, through the lives of those born in 1991, it is possible to trace the changes in Uzbekistan over the past 35 years.
**The year when more than 723 thousand births were registered**
According to the National Statistics Committee, 723.4 thousand births were registered in Uzbekistan in 1991. In 2025, 879.6 thousand births were registered in the country.
The difference between these two figures is significant, because at the beginning of 1991 the country's population was approximately 20.6 million, while in 2026 this figure exceeded 39 million.
The population structure has also changed: at the beginning of 1991, the share of the urban population was 40.3 percent, while now this figure has reached 55 percent.
These figures show that as the generation born in 1991 grew up, the country itself "grew up".
**Changes experienced by one generation**
When a child born in 1991 reached school age, the country was experiencing the first years of independence. Their childhood was spent without today's smartphones, social networks and constant internet. Technological changes from cassettes and discs to computers, from regular phones to smartphones occurred precisely during the childhood and youth of this generation. Today, however, the Internet, online services, electronic payments and social networks have become a normal part of everyday life.
In this sense, those born in 1991 can be called a generation that grew up between two worlds: they both know childhood without the Internet, and are raising children in a digital environment. While it is difficult for today's children to imagine what a world without the Internet was like, the generation of 1991 personally experienced this global transformation.
**What is important for this generation?**
Those born in 1991 were a transitional generation between the older generation formed during the Soviet era and the young people born and raised in independent Uzbekistan. Their parents were people of the Soviet era, and for this generation, the era of independence was the environment in which their whole lives passed. During this period, they went to school, chose a profession, received higher education, got their first job and started a family.