According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Uzbekistan ranked fifth in the world in the number of students pursuing education abroad as of 2021.

Since 2017, the number of Uzbek students venturing overseas for their studies has more than tripled. Specifically, in 2017, 35,033 students ventured abroad. This number rose to 42,344 in 2018, 52,820 in 2019, 86,248 in 2020, and reached 109,945 in 2021.

China and India hold the first two positions: in 2021, 1.02 million Chinese students and 508 thousand Indian students attended foreign universities.

The UN International Organization for Migration observed that the total number of students receiving education abroad has steadily increased over the last two decades. Whereas 2.2 million students were recorded to study abroad in 2001, by 2021 this figure had escalated to 6.39 million.