Uzbekistan’s population has been growing over many decades but there has been a decline since 1992. The country’s crude death rate is low (5.9 in 1998), reflecting the young age structure (45% of the population was under age 18 in 1995). Also in 1995, infant mortality was among the highest in the CIS, at 22.3 per 1,000 live births. The tuberculosis incidence rate increased by nearly 50% between 1993-97; in some areas tuberculosis rates are estimated as high as 200 per 100,000 population. Whilst death rates from cerebrovascular disease have been declining in the EU, in Uzbekistan they have increased by 32.8% since 1989. Similar trends are in evidence in diseases of the digestive system and liver.¹¹

In Uzbekistan, the WHO World Health Report (2006) indicates a life expectancy at birth of 63 years for males; 69 years for females (Table 4). Healthy life expectancy is 57.9 years for males; 60.9 years for females.¹²

Table 4: Population and life expectancy at birth; Commonwealth of Independent States (plus Mongolia) (2004)

Source: WHO World Health Report 2006

The adult mortality¹³ rate in 2004 is reported as 223/1000 population for males and 141/1000 for females.¹⁴

In 2006, UNAIDS reports:

‘The epidemics in Eastern Europe and Central Asia continue to grow and are affecting ever-larger parts of societies in this region. The number of people living with HIV in this region reached an estimated 1.6 million in 2005 - an increase of almost twenty-fold in less than ten years. AIDS claimed almost twice as many lives in 2005, compared with 2003, and killed an estimated 62,000 adults and children. Some 270,000 people were newly infected with HIV in the past year. The overwhelming majority of people living with HIV in this region are young; 75% of the reported infections between 2000 and 2004 were in people younger than 30 years (in Western Europe, the corresponding figure was 33%)'.¹⁵

UNAIDS also specifically highlight the potential increase in HIV infections in Uzbekistan:

‘From 1987 through 2004, Uzbek authorities reported 5,612 HIV cases; they also reported that 52 of the infected individuals developed AIDS, all but 2 of whom died. About 70% of the HIV cases are associated with a transmission mode; among them, approximately 82% were infected through injecting drug use. In 2004, the authorities reported 2,016 new HIV cases, 12 new AIDS cases and 2 AIDS deaths. The first HIV case was registered in 1987, and until 1998 the cumulative number did not exceed 51. Most of these early cases (about 60%) were attributable to heterosexual contacts. Since 2000, there has been a sharp increase in newly registered HIV/AIDS cases. Currently, the dominant mode of transmission is injecting drug use (59.3% of the cases), followed by heterosexual contact (11.3%) and less then 1% for sex between men. The mode of transmission is unknown in about 29% of the cases, which may reflect the great stigma of being MSM in Uzbekistan. The main age group of PLWHA are young adults under 30, mostly males. The epidemic is concentrated in the capital, Tashkent, and Tashkent oblast. About 76% of all cases are registered there. However, at least a few cases have been reported in each of the 13 Uzbek regions’.¹⁶