Financial Literacy of the Population and Demand for Insurance Services: The Case of Uzbekistan Households (Innovatsion iqtisodiyot)

Summary

• Knowledge of compound interest and diversification is weak, with a 21.7 percentage-point gap between the everyday-calculation and long-term-and-risk knowledge groups.p.6
• Between 2020 and 2025 insurance density rose 5.2-fold in nominal terms.p.6
• Life insurance premiums per capita amounted to only UZS 15.5 thousand in 2025, and nearly half of new contracts were compulsory motor third-party liability policies.p.6
• Insurance premiums per capita grew from 68.4 thousand soum in 2020 to 355.3 thousand soum in 2025.p.10
• The share of adults with a financial institution account rose from 22.5% in 2011 to 59.7% in 2025.p.9
• Uzbekistan's financial literacy is above the CIS average (12.6 and 11.7 points), but only 31 percent of adults reached the minimum knowledge target.p.11

Key insights

1. Correct answers average 63.7% in the everyday-calculation group and 42.1% in the long-term and risk group.p.8
2. Only 11.3% of respondents answered the compound interest question correctly, and 47.0% answered the risk diversification question correctly.p.8
3. 80% say they watch their money closely, 85% pay bills on time and 89% say they save actively.p.8
4. For retirement, 83 percent of respondents plan to rely on the state pension, while only 17 percent plan to rely on a private pension product.p.9
5. The share of adults saving at formal financial institutions was 2.6% in 2021 and 7.4% in 2025.p.9
6. The life insurance share of gross premiums fell from 24.5% in 2022 to 4.4% in 2025.p.10
7. Life insurance density fell from 42.8 thousand soum in 2022 to 7.7 thousand soum in 2024 and recovered to 15.5 thousand soum in 2025.p.10
8. The paper proposes embedding insurance literacy into financial education, simplifying product disclosure and developing safe digital distribution channels.p.6