Sustainable Development and Structural Bottlenecks in Transition Economies: New Uzbekistan
Abstract
ABSTRACT This study assesses the sustainable development of Uzbekistan over 2016–2024. The methodology combines min–max normalization and unweighted aggregation to derive goal‐level composite scores and an overall SDG index, correlation analysis, and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to characterize the goals that shape the country's progress; key socio‐economic indicators are then benchmarked, in size‐adjusted and standardized form, against high‐ranking European and neighboring Central Asian economies. The findings reveal a clear upward trajectory in the overall index, which roughly doubles over the period, with a temporary dip in 2020. Progress is uneven across goals: social and economic goals advance strongly, whereas industry and innovation (SDG 9) and, most persistently, institutions (SDG 16) lag. The principal contribution is diagnostic—the identification of the structural indicators that bottleneck national progress, which for Uzbekistan include informal employment, low manufacturing value added per capita, low foreign direct investment and research‐and‐development (R&D) expenditure, and high carbon intensity. Framing these findings against an integrated institutional, endogenous‐growth, and Solow perspective, the study offers a replicable, diagnostic approach for assessing SDG performance in other transition and developing economies where comprehensive data are available.