Uzbekistan - Migration

Emigration to other former USSR republics exceeded immigration by 328,200 during 1979–90. In 1991, an estimated 400,000 Russians departed from Uzbekistan. As of 1996, 250,000 Crimean Tatars had left Central Asia for the Ukraine; most these Tatars were from Uzbekistan. In 1999, there were an estimated 30,000 Tajik refugees and 8,000 Afghan refugees living in Uzbekistan; however, only 1,135 refugees and asylum seekers were registered with UNHCR. Up until 1999, refugees and asylum seekers were assigned no special status and were considered ordinary foreigners. However, in 1999 the government completed a draft of the Migration Law, which passed the Cabinet of Ministers. In 2000 the net migration rate was -0.7 migrants per 1,000 population. In that year there were 1,367,000 migrants living in Uzbekistan, including the remaining refugees. The government views the emigration level as too high, but the immigration level as satisfactory.