Services, recreation and tourism

The services sector covers spheres that do not produce material goods: education, health care, everyday and housing-utility services, trade, communication, culture, tourism, finance, consulting and others. Skilled personnel for every sphere of the economy are trained in the education system; rest and treatment of workers also take place in this sector, which raises social labour productivity. When siting institutions, population density is considered first: a big specialized shop in a small village is not efficient. The second factor is how often the service is needed. Daily services (school, kindergarten, grocery, utilities) should be near home or work. Those used several times a month (barber, cinema, dry cleaning) are at medium distance. For services needed once a year or less (buying a car, a specialist doctor, a museum) quality and variety matter, and people will travel farther. Communication is of two kinds: postal (letters, parcels) and electronic (telephone, radio, television, internet, mobile). The Tashkent TV tower is 375 m high. The number of schools, colleges, lyceums and higher education institutions has grown, literacy is very high, and life expectancy has risen thanks to health-care reforms.