Uzbekistan’s economic potential; review of Chapter IV

Economic potential is a country’s production capacity: resources, population, capital and technology. Uzbekistan’s area is about 449 thousand km², a large part of it agricultural land (mostly pasture, with much less irrigated cropland); its population is over 37 million, more than half of them of working age, so labour resources are ample (the 33 million in the book is outdated). Gold, copper, uranium, natural gas, oil, coal and other minerals have been found underground; natural gas has long been the main energy source, but domestic use has grown fast, so saving it and developing other sources have become important. In industry, ginning, engineering, car making, oil and gas processing, non-ferrous metallurgy, energy and textiles are important; in agriculture cotton, grain, fruit and vegetables, grapes and livestock stand out, but its share in GDP is falling while the shares of industry and services are rising. The country is far from the sea: reaching the ocean means crossing at least two state borders (only two countries in the world are like this), so transport costs are high. By GDP per capita Uzbekistan is among developing countries with a middle income; the exact figures in the book (2018) are outdated, so for new data see the official national statistics body.