Russia-bound labor migration from Uzbekistan falls by 13.2% in first half of 2026
The number of Uzbek citizens who went to Russia for work fell by 13.2% year-on-year to 1.179 million in the first half of 2026, according to the Central Bank’s labor market review.
Russia-bound labor migration from Uzbekistan dropped 13.2% in the first half of 2026
The report said 1.358 million Uzbek citizens had gone to Russia for work in the same period of 2025, down by 179,000 over the past year.
By comparison, 1.495 million Uzbeks were employed in Russia under labor patents in 2025, the report said.
The Central Bank said labor migration from Uzbekistan was also growing toward other destinations even as the number of workers heading to Russia fell. In 2025, the number of Uzbek migrants in the European Union rose by 13.2%, while the figure for Turkey increased by 10.7%.
As of July 1, 2026, about 70,000 Uzbek citizens were living in Turkey, up 9.3% year on year. South Korea hosted 102,200 Uzbeks, a 3.3% increase from the previous year.
Remittances from Russia keep rising
Even with the drop in labor migration to Russia, remittances sent from there to Uzbekistan continued to grow. According to the Central Bank, transfers from Russia increased by 8.8% year on year in the first half of 2026.
The regulator cautioned that a fall in labor migration to some countries could eventually weigh on remittance inflows, household incomes and consumer demand in Uzbekistan.
The report also said the number of advertised vacancies fell by 9.8% in the second quarter of 2026. At the same time, job-seeker activity stayed high, sharpening competition in the labor market.