Urban Growth in Uzbekistan during the 1990s

Abstract

An American geographer specializing in population change and urbanization in countries of the former USSR analyzes spatial patterns of urban population change in Uzbekistan from 1989 to 1999, utilizing data from the 1989 USSR census and the latest official population estimates. The country's general urban population dynamics are examined first at national and oblast levels, with an emphasis on discerning effects of natural population growth vis-a-vis migration. The focus then shifts to individual urban centers and on identifying groups of rapidly growing, declining, disappearing, and new towns. The paper then explores linkages between towns of each type and their major economic functions.