Uzbekistan has climbed 43 spots to rank 48th out of 190 countries in the World Bank’s newly released “Women, Business and the Law” (WBL) 2026 report, driven by major legislative overhauls in labor and pension regulations.
The latest data awards Uzbekistan a score of 82.1 out of 100 on its legal frameworks index, placing the country among the top five globally for recent improvements in supporting women’s economic participation. By contrast, the global average for legal frameworks currently stands at 67.
Uzbekistan achieved the maximum score of 100 points across five indicators: Mobility, Family, Pay, Childcare, and Assets. The significant jump in the global ranking was largely propelled by a near-doubling of the “Labor” indicator score which rose from 50 to 91.75 points and an increase in the “Pension” indicator from 50 to 66.75 points.
The report’s authors credited the country’s recent systemic reforms, including the implementation of gender-responsive provisions in public procurement, legislative incentives for female entrepreneurs, and the removal of legacy restrictions in labor and social protection. Notably, the adoption of equal pay mandates and the lifting of outdated bans on women working in specific industrial sectors have successfully aligned the country’s labor code with international standards.
The Implementation Gap
While the report highlights rapid progress in written law, it also underscores a persistent gap between de jure legislation and real-world enforcement.
Under the World Bank’s expanded measurement framework, which tracks the practical application of equality laws, Uzbekistan scored 59.08 out of 100 in “supportive frameworks” (the policy mechanisms and institutions needed to implement laws) and 57.20 in “enforcement perceptions” (expert evaluations of actual outcomes for women).
Globally, the World Bank notes a similar trend, where the average enforcement score drops to 53, highlighting that a lack of institutional backing often hinders the full realization of new legal rights in the workplace.
Economic Impact
The legal reforms coincide with a marked increase in female workforce participation and business ownership in the country. Related assessments by the United Nations Development Programme highlight that roughly 2.1 mln women in Uzbekistan are currently operating as entrepreneurs, a sevenfold increase since 2020. Women entrepreneurs now account for approximately 35% of all employed women in the national economy.
To close the remaining implementation gap, the World Bank recommends that Uzbekistan focus on strengthening social incentive mechanisms, expanding workplace safety regulations, such as explicit, actionable protections against harassment and enhancing the monitoring systems necessary to enforce the new legal baseline.
