Every time Uzbek citizens file taxes, renews their driver’s license, pays utility bills – all of which can be done from their smartphone – they participate in one of Central Asia’s most ambitious state-building projects, many without thinking who governs the growing digital power created by the systems they use.
Central Asia’s most populous country, Uzbekistan, is undertaking an ambitious push toward a digital economy and electronic governance. In 2024, it ranked 63rd out of 193 countries with an E-Government Development Index (EGDI) score of 0.7999, entering the “Very High EGDI” group for the first time. In the latest World Bank GovTech Maturity Index (GTMI) Uzbekistan ranked in group A, meaning Uzbekistan is among the countries with a relatively advanced digital government system in operation. Only 80 out of 197 economies (41 percent) reached this group in 2025. What is striking is that the country has moved up 71 positions since 2020, increasing its score from 0.617 to 0.958 and making it the highest-ranked state in Central Asia.
The government of Uzbekistan views digitalization not only as a separate tech sector, but as part of a state-building project. Digital technologies are framed as the foundation of public administration itself. But as public administration moves online, a different question emerges: can institutions responsible for oversight keep pace with rapidly expanding digital power?
The foundation for Uzbekistan’s digitalization path was laid long before President Shavkat Mirziyoyev took power in 2016. The Law on Telecommunications was adopted in 1992, less than half a year after the country gained independence upon the disintegration of the Soviet Union. A decade later, in 2003, Tashkent adopted the Law on Information, establishing a legal framework for the development and regulation of information and communication technologies (ICTs).
Uzbekistan started taking serious steps to embed digital technology into governance from 2013 onward. That year, Tashkent recruited Kim Nam-seok, a former South Korean vice minister, and appointed him deputy chairperson of the State Committee of Uzbekistan on communication, informatization, and telecommunication technologies. Kim was tasked with spearheading the development of e-government in Uzbekistan, based on South Korea’s successful model. Between 2013-2020, Uzbekistan implemented the National Information and Communication System Development program, which aimed to accelerate the digitalization of public administration by introducing ICT performance monitoring and evaluation mechanisms, standardizing government websites, and promoting the wider adoption of digital technologies across state institutions.
A central e-government service, my.gov.uz, was launched in 2013. The platform enables citizens and businesses to access a wide range of public services online, submit applications, and track administrative requests (such as replacing driver’s licenses, obtaining employment certificates, checking pension accounts, employment records, tax or penalty debts, pay for public services and utilities, etc.) without physically visiting public offices.
This was followed by the 2017-2021 Action Strategy on Five Priority Areas of Development, which, among other goals, aimed to expand e-government services in conjunction with the country’s key reform objectives.
Today, Uzbekistan’s digital transformation is guided primarily by the ‘‘Digital Uzbekistan – 2030’’ strategy aimed at ‘‘ensuring the rapid digital development of economic sectors, the social sphere, and the public administration system, including the further improvement of mechanisms for the provision of electronic government services.’’
However, digitalization does not automatically cement integrity and secure trust. Digital technologies can reduce opportunities for petty corruption by limiting direct contact between citizens and officials, standardizing procedures, and creating electronic records. Yet international anti-corruption experience suggests that technology alone is rarely sufficient to eliminate corruption. It is important to have clear information, easy access to resources, audits, regular checks and reviews, ways for citizens to voice their concerns, and effective accountability systems. Corruption can occur not just due to poor processes, but also because of excessive power in the hands of a few, weak rules, and systems that encourage dishonest behavior. Digital systems are only effective in combatting corruption when embedded within a broader governance and integrity framework.
Uzbekistan’s digital developments are praiseworthy. Indeed, they make many citizens’ lives easier and government services more accessible. But key questions remain to be addressed.
Data, Power, and Accountability
Digitalization is transforming how governments collect, integrate and use information. Each interaction in a digital public services platform, from logging in to paying a utility bill, creates new data streams for the government.
As a result, authorities now have access to more integrated information about citizens and their behavior than any previous stage of the country’s development. While governments have long kept records – taxes paid, children born, property owned – what is different now is that previously discrete data sets have been consolidated into integrated digital systems, providing Tashkent with a more detailed “citizen profile” than ever before. While this creates opportunities for more efficient public services, stronger coordination among public institutions, and more evidence-based decision-making, it also poses new governance questions about how personal data are accessed, shared, protected, and used across interconnected public systems.
Uzbekistan has a legal framework on data protection, including the Law on Personal Data from 2019 and other sector specific laws such as on Bank Secrecy, on Insurance Activities, or on Telecommunications. However, unlike many European jurisdictions, Uzbekistan does not currently have an independent data protection authority. The State Personalization Center is a government operator and processor of personal data. It operates under the Ministry of Internal Affairs and its activities are regulated by Cabinet of Ministers resolutions and presidential decrees.
Compared with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Uzbekistan’s legal framework does not guarantee an explicit “right to be forgotten,” and offers limited data portability, limited obligations to notify individuals after data breaches, and provides low penalties for violations. As in many rapidly digitalizing countries, Uzbekistan’s technological transformation appears to be advancing faster than some elements of its regulatory and institutional framework.
Another question is whether Uzbekistan has the capacity to adequately protect the personal data of its 38 million citizens from outside attacks. In January 2026, cyberattacks targeted three government agencies and reportedly exposed around 60,000 unique data records (not the data of 60,000 citizens, but 60,000 pieces of data). The authorities rejected early reports that the personal data of 15 million citizens had been leaked, but ultimately did not disclose which agencies had been targeted or how many citizens were affected.
Uzbek authorities claim to have thwarted around 7 million cyberattacks in 2024 and 107 million in 2025. They are expecting 200 million attacks in 2026. These figures show the growing pressure placed on government digital infrastructure as the state relies more on online platforms, shared databases, and digital identification.
Cybersecurity is not just a technical challenge. It is a critical issue of governance and integrity in the modern era. Weak cybersecurity poses risks that extend beyond privacy. If someone accesses government databases without authorization, they can misuse the information gathered in many ways, including compromising data integrity and selling it, accessing records without permission, altering or deleting important information, or engaging in blackmail or other forms of abuse of power. Therefore, as public services become increasingly digital, it is crucial that citizens not only have access to these government databases but confidence that the information they contain will remain safe and secure.
Ultimately, cybersecurity is closely linked to public trust. Citizens are more likely to use digital government services when they believe their personal information is secure, their records cannot be manipulated, and state institutions can protect digital systems from both external attacks and internal abuse. In this sense, strengthening cybersecurity is not only a technological necessity but also a prerequisite for building trust in the emerging digital state. As Uzbekistan accelerates its digital transformation, the next challenge is to ensure that cybersecurity, data governance, and institutional safeguards evolve as rapidly as the technologies they are meant to protect.
Digital Divide
Another core problem is the digital divide. This encompasses not just access to the internet and devices like smartphones and laptops, but also the digital literacy necessary to effectively use online services. The divide is particularly pronounced across age groups.
The most vulnerable group remains the elderly. Only 13 percent of 75+ year old seniors use the internet in Uzbekistan. This age group has struggled to adapt to the rapid pace of digitalization. Currently many elderly rely on support from their children to use various government e-services: online registration for the Hajj and Umrah waiting lists; using the myID system for digital identification and authentication; accessing services through the government portal my.gov.uz, including applications for certificates and official documents; making utility payments and managing accounts through mobile apps and online banking; accessing pension-related information and services; and using mobile banking applications and digital payment systems such as card-to-card transfers or QR-code payments.
The list goes on. Much of modern life in Uzbekistan, as elsewhere in the world, has become inextricably entangled with digital systems that older generations often struggle to adapt to.
The elderly are not the only group facing a digital divide. Women, whose access to technology is sometimes limited, are also affected. The latest reports show that only 64 percent of Uzbek women had a mobile phone in 2021 compared to 81 percent of men. Meanwhile, women’s digital skills lag behind those of men by almost 24 percent. While the digital transformation is often characterized as lowering barriers to completing everyday administrative tasks, the reality is that digitalization also introduces new barriers.
What Comes Next?
Uzbekistan’s digital transformation at present focuses more on governance than technology. Building online services and digital identities is important, but equally essential is the need for oversight institutions to keep pace with these new technologies.
One of the central promises of digitalization is the reduction of bureaucratic discretion. Yet that discretionary power rarely disappears; it often moves to a new place. In our digital age, this power can resurface as “digital discretion,” in which decisions are made not by people directly but by computers and algorithms. These algorithms are embedded in various systems, such as databases and automated processes, that can influence public decisions.
This shift in how decisions are made means we now need to focus not just on individual officials but also on the designers and managers of these digital systems. It is important to understand who is responsible for ensuring these systems are fair and accountable, as they increasingly impact the choices made in our communities.
This raises a broader concern about black-box governance. Public decisions are often influenced by complicated systems that are hard for average people – and even some officials – to understand or question. A permit may be rejected, a company may be classified as high-risk, or a citizen may be denied access to a service, not because of a direct bureaucratic decision, but because of criteria embedded within a digital system. As the role of AI and automation expands, questions of transparency, explainability, and accountability become increasingly critical.
Cybersecurity presents a similar governance challenge. It is often treated as a technical issue, but in a digital state, it is also a question of trust, of public confidence that digital systems are secure, fair, and resistant to abuse. Unauthorized access to databases, insider misuse of information, manipulation of records, or illicit disclosure of personal data can undermine public confidence in state institutions as effectively as traditional forms of corruption. Building digital trust may therefore become as strategically important as building digital infrastructure.
Ultimately, the challenge for Uzbekistan may not be in building a digital state, but ensuring that digitalization does not simply replace bureaucratic discretion with digital discretion, or administrative opacity with black-box governance. The real test of digital transition is not simply whether the government becomes faster, but whether public power remains transparent, accountable and open to scrutiny as technology takes on a greater role in public decision-making.
