DUSHANBE, January 13, 2013, Asia-Plus - Specialists from the Center for Strategic Studies under the President of Tajikistan have conducted a survey to assess state and prospects of development of Tajikistan’s middle class.

“The survey has been conducted among certain target groups and 22.2 percent of those surveyed have counted themselves as middle class,” Ms. Farida Muminova, deputy chairperson of the Center for Strategic Studies, told journalists in Dushanbe on January 13.

“In Tajikistan, representatives of the educational, health and cultural sectors identify themselves as middle class,” a senior expert from Tajik think tank said.

According to her, they have belief in tomorrow.  “They are firmly confident that their opportunities will continue growing in the coming years,” Ms. Muminova said.

The middle class is a class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy.  The middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class.  The common measures of what constitutes middle class vary significantly among cultures.