Tashkent

Is Tashkent safe?

Yes. Uzbekistan's capital is one of the calmer large cities in Asia for street crime. The Interior Ministry counted 31 murders in Tashkent in 2025, half the 60 of the year before, in a city of about 3 million. In Gallup's 2025 survey, 86% of people in Uzbekistan said they feel safe walking alone at night, more than in Austria or Poland. The US keeps the country at Level 1.

What lowers the score is not crime but the air in winter, the hospitals, and the traffic. We score Tashkent 74 out of 100, ahead of Almaty (69), which has cleaner air but more late-night trouble, and level with Samarkand on the tourist route south. Our Uzbekistan page covers the rest of the country.

Crime: low, with a few habits to keep

Violent crime against visitors is rare. Even the 2024 murder count works out at about 2 per 100,000 people, and the 2025 figure at about 1, similar to many European capitals. Treat the numbers with some care: they come from a government that tightly controls information, and in 2025 Tashkent's authorities overturned 954 unlawful refusals to open criminal cases, a sign that some crime goes unrecorded. Still, the picture from the FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary and from visitors matches the statistics: street violence aimed at foreigners is unusual.

Theft is the realistic risk. Police recorded 10,154 thefts in the city in 2025. The FCDO says pickpocketing and bag-snatching are common in bazaars and on public transport, and that thieves use distraction techniques. Chorsu Bazaar, under its big blue dome in the old town, is the place to be most alert, along with crowded metro trains at rush hour. Burglaries happen too, even in the wealthier districts, so use the hotel safe.

Two legal points catch visitors. You must carry your passport at all times, and police check. And changing money on the street is illegal: use banks, official exchange booths or ATMs.

The air in winter

IQAir measured an average of 31.4 µg/m³ of fine particulate matterPM2.5Tiny airborne particles 2.5 micrometres across or smaller. They reach deep into the lungs and are the air pollutant most linked to early death.More in the glossary (PM2.5) in Tashkent in 2024, more than six times the WHO guideline. That made it the 19th most polluted capital in its ranking, a little worse than Beijing. The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary says air quality is worst from November to February, when heating, traffic and still, cold air combine.

If you have asthma, heart or lung disease, or are travelling with small children, check an air quality app each day in winter and bring an N95 mask. Spring and autumn are both cleaner and more pleasant.

Hospitals: get insurance before you need it

The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary is unusually blunt about medical care. It calls it generally poor and says most hospitals are badly equipped and unhygienic, with limited drugs and no guarantee that equipment has been properly sterilised, especially in rural hospitals. Tashkent has the best care in the country, in private clinics, and the FCDO keeps a list of providers with English-speaking staff. Insurers usually move serious cases abroad, so buy cover that includes evacuation and bring enough of your own medicine. Drink bottled or boiled water.

Traffic and taxis

Tashkent's prosecutor reported 95 road deaths and 1,248 injuries in the city in 2023, including 10 children, about 3 deaths per 100,000 people. That is better than the national rate, but wide avenues, fast drivers and pedestrians who cross wherever they like keep the risk real.

Taxis are the weak point. The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary says unlicensed taxis are still common, many have no rear seat belts, and many run on compressed natural gas with lax safety checks. Book through Yandex Go or MyTaxi, which give a fixed price and a record of the trip, choose a newer car, and ask for one with rear belts. The metro is the easiest way around the centre, and the Afrosiyob high-speed trains to Samarkand and Bukhara are far safer than the road.

Earthquakes and summer heat

On 26 April 1966, an earthquake destroyed much of old Tashkent; the wide avenues and Soviet blocks of today's centre were built afterwards. The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary says Uzbekistan lies in an active seismic zone with regular tremors, though most are small. Summer is the more certain hazard: July afternoons often come close to 40°C, so sightsee early, drink plenty of water and rest in the hottest hours.

How we scored it

Violent crime (89) and night safety (85) are Tashkent's strongest factors. Health and environment (50) is the weakest, because of the winter air and the state of the hospitals, followed by natural hazards (62). Traffic safety (72) uses the city prosecutor's 2023 count; the crime figures are recent but come from the Interior Ministry alone, so confidence is medium.