Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Experts from the Institute of Macroeconomic and Regional Research (IMRI) analyzed the state of development of the service sector in the cities of the republic.

Cities provide the majority of the country’s services due to the concentration of population and businesses, as well as developed infrastructure and communication capabilities. For example, in the UK, almost half of the services sector’s exports come from London, the share of which has increased from 38% in 2016 to 46% in 2021.

In Uzbekistan in 2023, the volume of services provided amounted to 470.3 trillion soums with a growth rate of 13.7% compared to the previous year. At the same time, cities of republican and regional subordination (32 cities) provided 62.1% of the total volume of services provided (292.2 trillion soums), of which 66.1% accounted for the city of Tashkent.

The highest indicators of the volume of services per capita were observed in the city of Tashkent (64.4 million soums), the city of Urgench (33.2 million soums) and the city of Navoi (30.6 million soums). The cities of Kuvasay (5.6 million soums), Khiva (6.7 million soums), Shakhrisabz (6.8 million soums) and Kattakurgan (6.9 million soums) have the lowest value of this indicator.

It should be noted that the share of Tashkent in the provision of services has a growing trend. Thus, the city’s share in the volume of services provided in the country increased from 33.9% to 41.1% over the period 2019-2023.

Over the past 5 years, the volume of services provided has increased significantly in cities such as Khiva (2.4 times), Gulistan (2.3 times), Tashkent, Jizzakh and Navoi (2.2 times). At the same time, lower growth rates were observed in the cities: Akhangaran (1.3 times), Yangiyul (1.4 times), Bekabad, Yangier and Kattakurgan (1.5 times).

It should be noted that despite the trend of growth in the volume of services provided in cities, the share of Tashkent in the total volume is increasing, which leads to a reduction in the share of cities in this area. In particular, this decrease affects central cities (Nukus and other administrative centers of the regions) compared to others. Thus, over the past 5 years, the share of central cities in the total volume of services in the country decreased by 3.1 percentage points (from 19.2% to 16.1%), and in other cities - by 0.2 percentage points (from 5. 2% to 5.0%).

The share of Samarkand and Namangan (future “million-plus cities”) in the total volume of services provided in the country has not changed significantly over the past 5 years. However, there was a slight decrease in this indicator in 2023 compared to the previous year.

In modern cities, the service sector is a priority sector of the economy. Thus, the development of the service sector in cities is becoming important in the context of increasing the level of urbanization from 51% to 60%, as outlined in the Uzbekistan 2030 Strategy. This, in turn, requires the development of modern market services, IT services, educational, medical, legal, services in the arts, tourism, hotels, catering and transport.