133,000 labour migrants returned to Uzbekistan from Russia in Q1 of 2022, the External labor migration agency’s survey found. Reportedly, 40% of citizens said they wanted to return to Uzbekistan due to unemployment and exchange rate instability.
At a press conference on the support of Uzbek labor migrants in Russia, information was provided about labour migrants returning from Russia.
According to, deputy head of the Agency Azizbek Yunusov, in Q1 of 2022, 193,000 labor migrants returned to Uzbekistan, of which 133,000 of them came from Russia. Of those, 50,000 returned in March. For comparison, in 2021, 502,000 labor migrants returned to Uzbekistan, of which 280,000 returned from Russia.
It is reported that the Foreign Labor Migration Agency conducted its own survey of 15 thousand citizens to investigate the reasons for the return of citizens returning from Russia.
15% of respondents said they had lost their jobs and 25% said they wanted to return due to exchange rate instability.
24% of respondents said they were not interested in returning, that they were currently working, and could consider returning if they lost their jobs, while 36 percent said they would not return to Uzbekistan because they had a contract and no intention of changing jobs.
