Corruption in Uzbekistan is a serious problem. There are laws in place to prevent corruption, but enforcement in terms of laws regarding corruption is very weak. Low prosecution rates of corrupt officials is another contributing factor to the rampant corruption in Uzbekistan. It is not a criminal offense for a non-public official to influence the discretion of a public official. The judicial system faces severe functional deficits due to limited resources and corruption.[1]
In Uzbekistan, corruption is present at virtually every level of society, business, and government. It is also one of the world's most corrupt countries,[2] and among the contributory factors is its possessing the second largest economy in Central Asia, its large reserves of natural gas, and its geographical position between the rival powers (USA and Russia) of the so-called Second Cold War.[3]
Transparency International's 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index, published in early 2025, scored 180 countries on a scale from 0 ("highly corrupt") to 100 ("very clean"). Uzbekistan received a score of 32. When ranked by score, Uzbekistan ranked 121st among the 180 countries in the Index, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector.[4] For comparison with regional scores, the highest score among Eastern European and Central Asian countries[Note 1] was 53, the average score was 35 and the lowest score was 17.[5] For comparison with worldwide scores, the best score was 90 (ranked 1), the average score was 43, and the worst score was 8 (ranked 180).[6]
Transparency International wrote in 2024 that although Uzbekistan's authoritarian government resists progress in combatting corruption,[7] and although Uzbekistan's score remains below the global and regional averages, steady and significant progress has nonetheless been made: Uzbekistan's score on the Corruption Perceptions Index improved every year between 2013 and 2023, from 17 to 33, before declining one point in 2024.[6] Transparency International wrote, "Key steps include creating an anti-corruption agency, strengthening legislation and liberalising the economy. Importantly, policies and procedures have been established to enforce these laws and criminal charges have been filed against numerous corrupt officials. The government also introduced stronger internal control and audit tools in various ministries and local government offices, such as anti-bribery management systems."[7]
"Graft and bribery among low and mid-level officials are part of everyday life and are sometimes even transparent," stated Freedom House in 2015. Freedom House added that the ubiquity of corruption helped to "limit equality of opportunity."[8]
A 2015 report by Amnesty International quotes a businessman who was arrested and tortured in 2011, as saying that corruption in Uzbekistan is a "cancer that had spread everywhere."[9]
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