Life stages in Tajikistan

More than 40% of Tajikistan's population was under 18 and 62.8% was under 30 on 1 January 2024. About 71% lived in rural areas. The population grew naturally by 207,300 people in 2023, or 20.4 per 1,000 inhabitants. Khatlon and Sughd have particularly large youth populations, while remote mountain areas, poverty, disability and gender-related barriers can make services harder to reach. Early childhood begins with birth registration through ZAGS, the civil-status registration office known locally as мақомоти сабти асноди ҳолати шаҳрвандӣ. An application should normally be made within three months of birth, but late registration alone is not a reason for refusal. When a child is found without known care, the finder should contact the police or the guardianship authority within 48 hours; the responsible authority should then notify ZAGS within seven days. Early-childhood education for children aged three to six reached about 30% in 2025, compared with 15.9% in 2023, but rural and remote access remains uneven. Children normally enter school at seven. Nine years of general basic education are compulsory. Since 1 March 2024, further general secondary education or primary or secondary vocational education is also compulsory. Children with disabilities face substantial barriers: only about 30% of registered children with disabilities attend school, and approximately one third live in institutions. Poverty, distance and limited inclusive services contribute to this gap. Tajikistan's child-protection system includes national and local commissions on child rights, guardianship authorities, the Commissioner for Children's Rights and local executive bodies. The Law on the Protection of the Rights of the Child of 2015 and the 2024 Law on Responsibility for Child Education and Upbringing prohibit physical punishment in every setting. The system remains fragmented, with no nationwide standard referral and case-management structure, and specialist services are limited outside major cities. Foster care exists in law but is not fully operational in practice. Children whose parents work abroad can face increased risks connected with separation, neglect and exploitation. Child labour affects 15.3% of children aged five to 17, and 26.1% of working children perform hazardous work. Employment below age 15 is prohibited. At age 14, a child may perform light work during free time with parental or representative consent. Workers under 18 receive special protection concerning working hours, night work, overtime and dangerous work. Youth transitions commonly lead from school to vocational education, employment or active participation. The functional youth group is often defined as ages 10 to 24. A 2016 benchmark estimated that 30% of young people were not in education, employment or training, with the rate for girls about nine times the rate for boys. Available routes include general secondary school, Centres of Additional Education, Adolescent Innovation Labs, UPSHIFT and vocational education and training. Digital-skills and remote-work centres were operating in 2025, including in Bokhtar. The Ministry of Education and Science, the Committee for Primary and Secondary Vocational Education, the Ministry of Labour, Migration and Employment, UNICEF and IOM support different formal and non-formal programmes. Fees and eligibility depend on the programme; no single national tariff applies. At 18, a person generally acquires full civil-law capacity. Adult transitions include vocational or higher education into work, marriage and parenthood, internal migration, labour migration abroad and return migration. In 2024, employment was recorded at 2,633,400 people, registered unemployment at 49,200 people and average monthly pay at 2,013.11 TJS. About 514,478 Tajik citizens were abroad, and about 547,205 had returned by September 2024. The Ministry of Labour, Migration and Employment, the Migration Service, the Agency for Employment Abroad and the embassy in the Russian Federation provide different forms of advice, registration and support. Marriage registration is a transition relevant to adulthood but belongs primarily to family law. The Family Code sets the normal marriage age at 18. A court may lower it by no more than one year in an exceptional case after an application from a person aged 17. In 2023, 12.8% of women aged 15 to 19 were married and 7.3% had ever been pregnant; 96.3% of current partnerships were registered. Life expectancy was 76.6 years on 1 January 2025. Tajikistan had 306 people aged over 100 and 845,214 pensioners at the beginning of April 2025. The standard old-age pension age is 63 for men with at least 25 years of insurance or work history and 58 for women with at least 20 years. The Agency for Social Insurance and Pensions, abbreviated ASIP, and Amonatbank are involved in pension payment. A person over 80 from a low-income family receiving a social pension can receive a Targeted Social Assistance supplement calculated as two calculation indicators, paid quarterly at 25% of the established amount. Care services cover home care, day care, temporary or permanent residential care, medical-social assessment and rehabilitation. In 2026, the system included seven boarding institutions, three rehabilitation centres, 45 home-care centres or departments, six regional social centres and 57 day centres. Access depends on identity documents, proof of residence, evidence of a difficult life situation, a medical certificate and, where relevant, proof of disability or pension status. Eligible groups include older men over 63, older women over 58 who need continuous care, people with category I or II disabilities who cannot live independently, people with mental illness and children under 18 with disabilities. Residents are entitled to accommodation, food, care, primary medical, sanitary and dental assistance, rehabilitation, social adjustment and assessment. The legal basis includes the Law on Social Services of 2008, the Law on Social Protection of Persons with Disabilities of 2010 and government resolutions 724/2012 and 489/2019. Free-service rules are established, but local individual tariffs are not published uniformly. Returning people from institutions to family care is a stated policy aim. The Targeted Social Assistance system, usually called TSA, has operated under the Law on Targeted Social Assistance since 1 January 2018. It supports low-income households through ASIST and the national electronic registry. In 2025, the base amount was 11 calculation indicators, or 825 TJS, for 12 months, with two additional indicators for each child under 16 and two additional indicators for a household with at least two disabled members. Families with at least two able-bodied members may receive assistance conditionally for six months. Families with at least two disabled members, children under 16 or recipients of a social pension aged over 80 also fall within the stated priority groups. Applications are assessed locally by commissions and regional coordination centres; no uniform national payment deadline is published. Earthquakes, floods, mudflows, landslides, avalanches, drought, water stress and heat affect transitions and access to support. About 88.3% of children face high or very high seismic hazard, around 30% live in flood-prone areas and approximately 25% face high or extreme drought risk. Children make up roughly 50% to 60% of people affected annually. Poverty, migration-related separation, violence, exploitation, early unions, disability and school leaving can intensify harm. Disaster-risk-reduction and climate strategies include safer schools and risk education for children, parents and teachers, with responsibilities shared by the Ministry of Education and Science, the Committee of Emergency Situations and local authorities. Crisis assistance, confidential child-friendly reporting and specialised psychosocial or legal services remain uneven across the country.