Uzbekistani sum facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Uzbekistani sum
200,000 sum banknote (2022)
ISO 4217 Code	UZS
User(s)	Uzbekistan
Inflation	8.8%
Source	[1], November 2023
Subunit
1⁄100	Tiyin
Plural	The language(s) of this currency does not have a morphological plural distinction.
Coins
Freq. used	50, 100, 200, 500, 1,000 sum
Banknotes
Freq. used	1,000, 2,000, 5,000, 10,000, 20,000, 50,000, 100,000, 200,000 sum

The sum (pronounced "som") is the official money of Uzbekistan. It's known by its ISO code UZS. Uzbekistan started using the sum on 16 July 1994. Before that, they used the Russian ruble.

The first sum was a temporary currency. It only had banknotes, no coins. These banknotes came in many values, from 1 sum up to 10,000 sum. Their design was quite simple.

What Does "Sum" Mean?

The word sum means "pure" in several languages. These include Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uyghur, and Uzbek. It's also found in many other Turkic languages.

This word suggests "pure" silver or gold. The official name for the Soviet currency was som in some of these languages. This name was even printed on the back of Soviet banknotes.

The First Sum: A Quick Change

How the First Sum Started

After gaining independence from the Soviet Union, Uzbekistan kept using the Soviet and then Russian ruble. But on 26 July 1993, Russia issued new rubles. The old Soviet rubles were no longer valid in Russia.

Uzbekistan then introduced its own money, the sum, on 15 November 1993. This first sum was a temporary step. It was exchanged at the same value as the ruble.

First Sum Banknotes

The first sum only had banknotes. There were no coins. The banknotes ranged from 1 sum to 10,000 sum. They all had the Coat of arms of Uzbekistan on the front. On the back, they showed the Sher-Dor Madrasah in Registan, Samarkand.

Image		Value	Size
Obverse	Reverse
		1 sum	120×61
		3 sum
		5 sum
		10 sum
		25 sum
		50 sum	144×69
		100 sum
		200 sum
		500 sum
		1,000 sum
		5,000 sum
		10,000 sum

The Second Sum: Modern Money

History of the Second Sum

500 sum note issued in 1999.

On 1 July 1994, Uzbekistan introduced a new, second sum. This time, 1 new sum was worth 1,000 old sums. This new sum was divided into 100 smaller units called tiyin.

Understanding Inflation

For a long time, the largest banknote in Uzbekistan was 1,000 sum. This meant people had to carry many banknotes for everyday shopping. Imagine needing a huge stack of money just to buy groceries!

To make things easier, Uzbekistan started printing larger banknotes. By 2019, they had a 100,000 sum banknote. This helped a lot. Today, the largest banknote is 200,000 sum.

The smallest coin, the 1 tiyin, is worth very little. Coins and banknotes smaller than 50 sum are rarely used now.

Coins of the Second Sum

Uzbekistan has released three different sets of coins for the second sum. You can tell them apart by the writing on them. The first set used Cyrillic writing, while the second and third sets use Latin writing.

First Series Coins (1994–2000)

These coins were made between 1994 and 2000. They included values from 1 tiyin up to 10 sum. All these coins were removed from use by 2020.

First series coins (1994–2000)

Image	Value	Technical parameters			Description			Date of
		Diameter	Mass	Composition	Edge	Obverse	Reverse	minting	issue	withdrawal	lapse
	1 tiyin	16,9 mm	1,75 g	Brass-clad steel	Smooth	Coat of arms with 12 stars State title	Value, year of minting	1994	July 1994	1 March 2020	1 January 2021
	3 tiyin	19,9 mm	2,7 g		Reeded
	5 tiyin	17 mm	1,8 g
	10 tiyin	18,7 mm	2,85 g	Nickel-clad steel
	20 tiyin	22 mm	4 g		Inscription: “ЙИГИРМА ТИЙИН ЙИГИРМА ТИЙИН”
	50 tiyin	23,9 mm	4,8 g		Inscription: “ЭЛЛИК ТИЙИН * ЭЛЛИК ТИЙИН * ЭЛЛИК ТИЙИН”
	1 sum	19,8 mm	2,72 g		Smooth			1997, 1998, 1999	1997
	5 sum	22,2 mm	4 g
	10 sum	24 mm	4,7 g					1997, 1998, 1999, 2000
These images are to scale at 2.5 pixels per millimetre. For table standards, see the coin specification table.

Second Series Coins (2000–2004)

These coins were made between 2000 and 2004. They also included values from 1 sum to 100 sum. These coins were also removed from use by 2020.

Second Series
Image		Value	Technical parameters			Description			Date of minting	Withdrawal
			Diameter	Mass	Composition	Edge	Obverse	Reverse
		1 sum	18.4 mm	2.83 g	Stainless steel	Reeded	Coat of arms without stars Bank title, year of minting	Value, map of Uzbekistan	2000	1 March 2020
		5 sum	21.2 mm	3.35 g	Brass-clad steel	Plain	Coat of arms without stars Bank title, year of minting	Value, map of Uzbekistan	2001	1 March 2020
		10 sum	19.75 mm	2.71 g	Nickel-clad steel	Plain	Coat of arms without stars Bank title, year of minting	Value, map of Uzbekistan	2001	1 March 2020
		50 sum	26.1 mm	8 g		Plain and reeded sections	Coat of arms without stars Bank title, year of minting	Value, map of Uzbekistan	2001	1 July 2019
		50 sum	26.1 mm	7.9 g				Value, statue and ruin of Shahrisabz	2002	1 July 2019
		100 sum	26.9 mm	7.9 g	Nickel-plated steel	Inscription	Coat of arms without stars Bank title, year of minting	Value, map of Uzbekistan, sunrays	2004	1 July 2019
These images are to scale at 2.5 pixels per millimetre. For table standards, see the coin specification table.

Third Series Coins (2018–2022)

New coins were introduced starting in 2018. These include 50, 100, 200, and 500 sum coins. In 2022, a 1,000 sum coin was added. This 1,000 sum coin is special because it's made of two different metals.

Third series (2018)
Image	Value	Technical parameters			Description			Date of
		Diameter	Mass	Composition	Edge	Obverse	Reverse	minting	issue	withdrawal	lapse
	50 sum	18.0 mm	2.0g	Nickel-plated steel	Plain	Denomination	National emblem of Uzbekistan, year of minting	2018	2 July 2018	Current
	100 sum	20.0 mm	2.5 g			Independence and Goodness monument, Tashkent
	200 sum	22.0 mm	3.3 g			Detail of a tiger mosaiс on the Sher-Dor Madrasah at the Registan in Samarkand
	500 sum	24.0 mm	3.9 g			Palace of Conventions (Anjumanlar Saroyi) in Tashkent
These images are to scale at 2.5 pixels per millimetre. For table standards, see the coin specification table.

Banknotes of the Second Sum

The Central Bank of Uzbekistan started issuing the second series of banknotes in 1994. They began with values from 1 to 100 sum. Over the years, new, higher value banknotes were added.

• 200 sum banknote: 1997
• 500 sum banknote: 1999
• 1,000 sum banknote: 2001
• 5,000 sum banknote: 2013
• 10,000 sum banknote: 2017
• 50,000 sum banknote: 2017
• 100,000 sum banknote: 2019

The banknotes from 10,000 sum and higher have writing in Latin-based Uzbek instead of Cyrillic Uzbek.

More new banknotes were released in 2021 and 2022:

• 2,000 and 20,000 sum banknotes: June 2021
• New designs for 5,000 and 10,000 sum banknotes: August 2021
• New designs for 50,000 and 100,000 sum banknotes: December 2021
• An entirely new 200,000 sum banknote: July 2022

1994-2019 Series
Image		Value	Main Colour	Description		Date of printing	Date of first issue	withdrawal
Obverse	Reverse			Obverse	Reverse
		1 sum	Green and pink	National emblem of Uzbekistan	Alisher Navoi Opera and Ballet Theater in Tashkent	1994	1 July 1994	1 March 2020
		3 sum	Red		Chashma-Ayub Mausoleum in Bukhara
		5 sum	Blue and orange	National emblem of Uzbekistan and Islamic pattern	Alisher Navoi Monument in Tashkent
		10 sum	Purple		Gur-e Amir in Samarkand
		25 sum	Blue and pink		Shah-i-Zinda Complex in Samarkand
		50 sum	Brown		The three Madrasahs of the Registan in Samarkand			1 July 2019
		100 sum	Purple		Palace of Friendship of Peoples in Tashkent
		200 sum	Green	National emblem of Uzbekistan	Detail of a tiger mosaiс (Shir o Khorshid) on the Sherdor Madrasah at the Registan in Samarkand	1997	1 March 1997	1 July 2020
		500 sum	Red and some green		Statue of Amir Temur (Tamerlane) in Tashkent	1999	1 June 2000
		1,000 sum	Grey		Amir Timur Museum in Tashkent	2001	1 September 2001	Current
		5,000 sum	Green		National Assembly (Oliy Majlis) in Tashkent	2013	1 July 2013
		10,000 sum	Blue		Senate (Senat) in Tashkent	2017	10 March 2017
		50,000 sum	Violet	National emblem of Uzbekistan; top of the “Ezgulik” ark in Independence Square in Tashkent	Palace of Conventions (Anjumanlar Saroyi) in Tashkent		22 August 2017
		100,000 sum	Orange and light brown	National emblem of Uzbekistan; Mirzo Ulugbek; solar system	Mirzo Ulugbek Observatory in Samarkand; map of Uzbekistan	2019	25 February 2019
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

2021–2022 series

Image		Value	Dimensions	Main colour		Description			Date of		Ref.
Obverse	Reverse					Obverse	Reverse	Watermark	printing	issue
		2,000 sum	142 × 69 mm		Red	Bukhara Arch, caravan routes on map of Uzbekistan, Honatlas textile patterns, National emblem of Uzbekistan	Varahsha ruins of the ancient caravan route Poykend, clay pot and artifact, camel	Camel and "2000"	2021	14 June 2021
		5,000 sum	142 × 69 mm		Green	Sherdor madrasasi in Samarkand, National emblem of Uzbekistan	Archaeological Monuments of Afrosiyob belonging to the 8th-5th centuries BC, Archeological find of a 10th-century pottery jug and an embossed ceramic bowl found in the ruins of Afrosiyob	Camel and "5000"	2021	20 August 2021
		10,000 sum	147 × 69 mm		Blue	Great Silk Road, Architectural monument Kokaldosh madrasasi in Tashkent, National emblem of Uzbekistan	Oldest monument in the territory of Tashkent, which dates back to the 1st century BC - Shoshtepa archaeological monument, Ancient ceramics of Tashkent, pottery of 10th-12th century, and household utensils of the 10th century	Camel and "10000"	2021	20 August 2021
		20,000 sum	147 × 69 mm		Indigo	Jonbox-qal’a archeology monument, caravan routes on map of Uzbekistan, textile patterns, National emblem of Uzbekistan	6th-century pottery from Aral and Caspian Seas, embroidery design	Camel and "20000"	2021	14 June 2021
		50,000 sum	147 × 69 mm		Purple	Al-Hakim At-Termiziy Maqbarasi in Surxondaryo, caravan routes on map of Uzbekistan, National emblem of Uzbekistan	Fayoztepa Arxeologiya Yodgorligi ancient archaeological monument in Surxondaryo, flying dove, 17th-century pottery from Sopollitepa	Camel and "50000"	2021	22 December 2021
		100,000 sum	152 × 69 mm		Orange	Ichan Qal’a museum in Khiva, Khorezm, caravan routes on map of Uzbekistan, National emblem of Uzbekistan	Angkaqal’a Archeologiya Yodgorligi fortress in Khorezm, 1st-century BC silver coin, 10th-century pottery from Khorezm	Camel and "100000"	2021	22 December 2021
		200,000 sum	152 × 69 mm		Cyan	Xudoyorxon O’rdasi (Khan’s Palace) in Kokand, Fergana, caravan routes on map of Uzbekistan, National emblem of Uzbekistan	Axsikent Arxeologiya Yodgorligi (ancient archaeoloical monument) in ancient Fergana, pomegranate, double-headed snake and ceramic bowl	Camel and "200000"	2022	15 July 2022
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

How Sum Exchange Rates Changed

When the sum was first introduced on 1 July 1994, 1 US dollar was worth 25 sum.

Big Changes in 2017

On 2 September 2017, the President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, made a big change. He signed a new rule about how foreign money could be exchanged. This rule started on 5 September 2017.

Before this, the sum's value was fixed to the US dollar. This means its value didn't change much. After the reform, the sum was allowed to "float." This means its value could change freely based on the market.

Because of this change, the sum's value against the US dollar went from 4,210 sum to 8,100 sum for one dollar. This made the sum worth less compared to the dollar. Also, people and companies could now buy and sell foreign money without limits.

See Also

• Economy of Uzbekistan
• Kyrgyz som