Modern Youth of Uzbekistan is a Strategic Force Determining the Future of the Country
According to UNESCO, by 2030, there will be 1.3 billion young people living in the world. This demonstrates the importance of the role that youth will play in ensuring dynamic development, especially in developing countries, where they make up 90% of the world’s population.
It is no secret that young people largely set the direction for the formation and development of society and the state. It has always been so. Philosophers have rightly noted that “although young people do not know what they want, they are determined to achieve it”. Indeed, young people are full of creative ideas, the spirit of innovation and pioneering. Most technological innovations and discoveries in recent decades have been made by young people, often during their student years.
Today we live in a rapidly changing world that brings new trends into the lives of young people: goals and interests change, other social narratives appear. Young people are not afraid to pursue their cherished dreams, which makes them more unpredictable. Due to this and a number of other factors, attention to young people in the world is currently permanently increasing. According to sociologists, young people, as the most receptive group in society, reflect the established social relations in all areas of life – economics, politics, culture.
The study of youth has always been linked to the search for the key to understanding the future. Young people are more sensitive to the “spirit of the times” than any other age group.
At the same time, it is necessary to recognize that today’s youth lives in difficult conditions. As experts note, modern youth are growing up in very difficult conditions, when old values have already been broken, and new ones have not yet been formed or have not become generally accepted. In fact, they have to solve not only personal problems, but also complex socially significant issues that were not on the agenda of the previous generation (climate crises, pressure from the digital space, etc.).
Youth of the New Uzbekistan in the context of ongoing reforms
It is worth noting that the above trends are also characteristic of the youth of Uzbekistan, which makes up almost a third of the country’s population, and in the age group from 0 to 30 years, this figure reaches 60%.
It should be emphasized that the youth agenda is one of the priority tasks in implementing the strategic course for the development of our state. The President of Uzbekistan assigns a special role to young people, emphasizing the need for their involvement and active participation in the development and prosperity of the country. Evidence of this is the fact that 2021 was declared the “Year of Supporting Youth and Strengthening Public Health.”
Three years later, the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev declared 2024 the Year of Support for Youth and Business, thereby demonstrating the country’s desire to strengthen the role of youth in socio-economic development.
Meanwhile, over the past eight years, the approach to youth policy has changed dramatically. A comprehensive systemic youth strategy has been developed, a solid regulatory framework has been created that meets modern requirements and the spirit of the times, and the legal and institutional foundations of state youth policy as a whole have been strengthened.
The country also has a unique vertical system of managing work with youth. It provides an opportunity through youth leaders in mahallas at the lower level to resolve many issues of youth related to their training in various professions, ensuring employment and social support, organizing their meaningful leisure.
Thanks to the introduction of a new system that helps increase the income of young people through the allocation of land plots, in 2024 alone, based on the recommendations of the “mahalla seven”, 60 thousand hectares of land were leased to 156 thousand young men and women for a period of 30 years, which was an important step in this direction.
In the Strategy “Uzbekistan – 2030”, a special place is given to the younger generation receiving a decent quality education and, consequently, increasing the scientific potential of the country’s youth.
This indicates the key role of youth in the process of modernization of society and the state.
In particular, presidential and creative schools, specialized schools in mathematics, chemistry, and biology are being created to help young people master science and high technology. The number of educational institutions with a focus on the IT sphere is growing.
As a result, during this time, the coverage of young people with higher education has increased 4 times – from 9% to 38%, and 151 thousand students have received preferential educational loans in the amount of 1.7 trillion soums.
The reforms being implemented are already bringing tangible results. Over the past three years, the youth of Uzbekistan have won about 5.5 thousand prizes at prestigious international competitions and contests.
Also, within the framework of the Strategy, new educational programs are being introduced aimed at developing entrepreneurial skills in young people that are necessary for the modern economy, and youth small industrial zones are being created, which represent a platform for implementing business projects. This not only serves the development of youth entrepreneurship, but also stimulates the creation of new jobs, and therefore the economic development of the country.
In addition, a Youth Parliament was formed under the Oliy Majlis, the Agency for Youth Affairs, and the Interdepartmental Council on Youth Issues were created. The Institute for the Study of Youth Problems and the Training of Promising Personnel operates under the Agency for Youth Affairs.
According to the results of the survey conducted by the Republican Center for the Study of Public Opinion “Ijtimoiy Fikr”, the majority of young respondents are optimistic about the youth policy being implemented in the country. Thus, 85.7% of the young people surveyed believe that this policy helps young people have even more opportunities due to the conditions created in the country for the development and realization of youth potential.
In general, the results of the sociological study show that the majority of young people positively assess the current socio-economic situation in the country. Young people are confident that Uzbekistan ensures economic and social stability of society, improves the system of public administration, develops the country’s investment potential, strengthens international relations, develops many industries and agriculture, which contributes to the sustainable growth of citizens’ well-being.
At the same time, given that in modern conditions the state youth policy should be based not only on the current international system of human rights, but also on the principles and norms enshrined in a special international document on the rights of youth, Uzbekistan actively advocates at various international venues with relevant initiatives.
Thus, the President of Uzbekistan first proposed to develop and adopt a Convention on the Rights of Youth at the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly in September 2017. This initiative was also announced at the anniversary 75th session of the UN General Assembly. The purpose of the Convention is to increase efforts at the international, regional and national levels to meet the needs, strengthen the potential and guarantee the rights, freedoms and interests of youth in all their diversity throughout the world.
A practical step towards achieving this goal was the holding of the Samarkand Web Forum in August 2020 on the theme “Youth 2020: Global Solidarity, Sustainable Development and Human Rights”. Following the event, a resolution was adopted emphasizing the need to adopt an International Convention on the Rights of Youth.
Currently, in order to effectively use foreign experience and develop international cooperation in this area, relations have been established with 13 foreign youth organizations.
In 2018, Uzbekistan was admitted to the SCO Youth Council, and in 2020 – to the CIS Youth Council as an equal member. Uzbekistan is included by the UN among the ten countries in the world for exemplary implementation of the “Youth Strategy – 2030”.
In conclusion, it is worth noting that thanks to the reforms carried out under the leadership of the President of the country, huge opportunities are opening up before the youth of Uzbekistan for the full realization of their potential, and conditions conducive to their development are being created.
The youth of Uzbekistan have great potential for the country’s development. Their determination and education, creative potential and entrepreneurial spirit are becoming key factors in achieving sustainable development in Uzbekistan.
As President Shavkat Mirziyoyev noted: “We are mobilizing all the forces and capabilities of our state and society so that our youth have independent thinking, high intellectual and spiritual potential, are not inferior to their peers from other countries in any area, are happy and confident in their future”.
In this regard, it is extremely important that the new youth policy reflects and meets the needs of the youth themselves. Young people themselves must be a guide and active participant in the implementation of reforms and the solution of various problems. This is when the youth policy becomes most effective and efficient, since it truly responds to the needs of its target audience.
And in this context, we can safely emphasize that the youth of the New Uzbekistan is not just the country’s demographic reserve, but its real active force and support.
