National economy and industry

The national economy is the whole of interconnected branches of the country’s economy. It splits into material production (industry, agriculture, construction, freight transport, trade) and non-productive spheres (education, health, culture, housing and everyday services, communication services). After independence Uzbekistan moved step by step to a market economy: the shares of industry, services and private business grew while the share of agriculture fell, and the earlier dominance of cotton growing was reduced. Gross domestic product (GDP) is the value of all goods and services made in the country in one year. On the extensive path production grows by drawing in more land, water, energy and labour; on the intensive path it grows through science and technology, saving resources and wasteless use. The extensive path was one of the factors behind excessive water use and the shrinking of the Aral Sea. So the intensive path is better for raising productivity and quality.