Survey shows the desired number of children in Uzbek families

Residents of Uzbekistan believe that the family should have three or four children, Center for the study of public opinion “Ijtimoiy fikr” showed the results of a survey. 

The majority of participants (73.9%) of the survey agree with the statement that the core meaning and value of the family is the presence of children.

The survey revealed preferences of citizens about the desired number of children in the family. Thus, the majority of Uzbeks are oriented towards a family, in which there are three (35%) or four (30.8%) children. 13.2% of respondents want to have five children and more, mostly citizens of Surkhandarya (34.8%), Khorezm (19%) and Kashkadarya (18.8%) regions.

The study showed that in most Uzbek families, the decision on the birth of the next child is made by the spouses together and one of the main factors when deciding is determination of the number of children in the family (31.5%). Significant conditions for the birth of a next child, according to the respondents, are the health of a mother (22.5%), as well as the material condition of the family (21.7%).

The study also revealed that the population is not sufficiently aware of such concepts as “reproductive health” and “reproductive right” – 37.2% of respondents affirmatively answered the question of whether they know the term “reproductive health” and 23% what “reproductive law” is.

According to the survey, young people showed lack of awareness in these issues: among respondents aged 18–19, 19.1% of respondents are familiar with the concept of “reproductive health”, 10.6% of respondents are familiar with the concept of “reproductive right”. In this regard, it is necessary to intensify the work in the field of legal and medical education of young people, organization and conduct of extensive propaganda and awareness-raising work among the population, especially young people.

During the study period, an increase in the number of respondents who were convinced of the importance of family planning was noted: in 2019, 72.5% of survey participants stated this (in 2018 – 63.8%).