Editing Demographics of Uzbekistan (section)

==Migration==
As of 2011, Uzbekistan has a net migration rate of -2.74 migrant(s)/ 1,000 population.<ref name=cia1/>

The process of migration changed after the fall of the Soviet Union. During the Soviet Union, passports facilitated movement throughout the fifteen republics and movement throughout the republics was relatively less expensive than it is today.<ref name=Radnitz>Scott Radnitz, "Weighing the Political and Economic Motivations for Migration in Post-Soviet Space: The Case of Uzbekistan," Europe-Asia Studies (July 2006): 653-677.</ref> An application for a labor abroad permit from a special department of the Uzbek Agency of External Labor Migration in Uzbekistan is required since 2003. The permit was originally not affordable to many Uzbeks and the process was criticized for the bureaucratic [[red tape]] it required. The same departments and agencies involved in creating this permit are consequently working to substantially reduce the costs as well as simplifying the procedure. On July 4, 2007, the Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Ivanov signed three agreements that would address labor activity and protection of the rights of the working migrants (this includes Russian citizens in Uzbekistan and Uzbek citizens in Russia) as well as cooperation in fighting undocumented immigration and the deportation of undocumented workers.<ref name=Ahmadov>Erkin Ahmadov, Fighting Illegal Labor Migration in Uzbekistan, Central Asia Caucasus-Institute Analyst, http://www.cacianalyst.org/newsite/?q=node/4681(Aug {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314172921/http://www.cacianalyst.org/newsite/?q=node%2F4681%28Aug |date=2012-03-14 }}. 21, 2007)</ref>

===Uzbek migration===
Economic difficulties have increased labor migration to Russia, Kazakhstan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Turkey, South Korea, and Europe over the past decade.<ref>International Organization for Migration, Uzbekistan, http://www.iom.int/jahia/Jahia/pid/510(Feb {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310183931/http://www.iom.int/jahia/Jahia/pid/510(Feb |date=2012-03-10 }}. 17, 2011).</ref>  At least 10% of Uzbekistan's labor force works abroad.<ref>International Crisis Group, Uzbekistan: Stagnation and Uncertainty, Asia Briefing, 22 August 2007.</ref> Approximately 58% of the labor force that migrates, migrates to Russia.<ref name=Ahmadov/> High unemployment rates and low wages are responsible for labor migration.

Migrants typically are people from the village, farmers, blue-collar workers, and students who are seeking work abroad. However, many migrants are not aware of the legal procedures required to leave the country, causing many to end up unregistered in Uzbekistan or the host country. Without proper registration, undocumented migrants are susceptible to underpayment, no social guarantees and bad treatment by employers. According to data from the Russian Federal Immigration Service, there were 102,658 officially registered labor migrants versus 1.5 million unregistered immigrants from Uzbekistan in Russia in 2006. The total remittances for both groups combined was approximately US$1.3 billion that same year, eight percent of Uzbekistan's GDP.<ref name=Ahmadov/>

===Minorities===
[[File:Jewish Children with their Teacher in Samarkand.jpg|thumbnail|right|[[Jews|Jewish]] children with their [[teacher]] in [[Samarkand]]. Early color photograph from Russia, created by [[Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky|Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii]] as part of his work to document the [[Russian Empire]] from 1909 to 1915.]]
A significant number of ethnic and national minorities left Uzbekistan after the country became independent, but actual numbers are unknown. The primary reasons for migration by minorities include: few economic opportunities, a low standard of living, and a poor prospect for educational opportunities for future generations. Although Uzbekistan's language law has been cited as a source of discrimination toward those who do not speak Uzbek, this law has intertwined with social, economic, and political factors that have led to migration as a solution to a lack of opportunities in Uzbekistan.

Russians, who constituted a primarily urban population made up half of the population of Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, until the 1980s. Since then, the population has been gradually diminishing as many Russians have migrated to Russia. Nevertheless, Russian registration permits (propiska) constrain migration.<ref>Radnitz 2006, p. 659</ref> The decision to migrate is complicated by the fact that many Russians or other minority groups who have a "homeland" may view Uzbekistan as the "motherland". It is also complicated by the fact that these groups might not speak the national language of their "homeland" or may be registered under another nationality on their passports. Nonetheless, "native" embassies facilitate this migration. Approximately 200 visas are given out to Jews from the Israel embassy weekly.<ref name=Fane>Daria Fane, "Ethnicity and Regionalism in Uzbekistan: Maintaining Stability Through Authoritarian Control," in Leokadia Drobizheva, Rose Gottemoeller, Catherine McArdle Kelleher, and Lee Walker, ed., in Ethnic Conflict in the Post-Soviet World: Case Studies and Analysis (New York: M.E. Sharp, Inc., 1998), 271-302.</ref>