Map of Kazakhstan | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide1989199019911992199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 | More stats

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Background: Native Kazakhs a mix of Turkic and Mongol nomadic tribes who migrated into the region in the 13th century were rarely united as a single nation. The area was conquered by Russia in the 18th century and Kazakhstan became a Soviet Republic in 1936. During the 1950s and 1960s agricultural 'Virgin Lands' program Soviet citizens were encouraged to help cultivate Kazakhstan's northern pastures. This influx of immigrants (mostly Russians but also some other deported nationalities) skewed the ethnic mixture and enabled non-Kazakhs to outnumber natives. Independence in 1991 caused many of these newcomers to emigrate. Current issues include: developing a cohesive national identity; expanding the development of the country's vast energy resources and exporting them to world markets; achieving a sustainable economic growth outside the oil gas and mining sectors; and strengthening relations with neighboring states and other foreign powers.


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Location: Central Asia northwest of China; a small portion west of the Ural River in eastern-most Europe

Geographic coordinates: 48 00 N 68 00 E

Map reference: Asia

Area
Total: 2,717,300 km²
Land: 2,669,800 km²
Water: 47,500 km²
Comparative: slightly less than four times the size of Texas

Land boundaries
Total: 12,012 km
Border countries: (5) China 1,533 km; , Kyrgyzstan 1,051 km; , Russia 6,846 km; , Turkmenistan 379 km; , Uzbekistan 2,203 km

Coastline: 0 km (landlocked); note - Kazakhstan borders the Aral Sea now split into two bodies of water (1070 km) and the Caspian Sea (1894 km)

Maritime claims: none (landlocked)

Climate: continental cold winters and hot summers arid and semiarid

Terrain: extends from the Volga to the Altai Mountains and from the plains in western Siberia to oases and desert in Central Asia

Elevation
Extremes lowest point: Vpadina Kaundy -132 m
Extremes highest point: Khan Tangiri Shyngy (Pik Khan-Tengri) 6,995 m

Natural resources: major deposits of petroleum natural gas coal iron ore manganese chrome ore nickel cobalt copper molybdenum lead zinc bauxite gold uranium

Land use
Arable land: 8.28%
Permanent crops: 0.05%
Other: 91.67% (2005)

Irrigated land: 35,560 km² (2003)

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards: earthquakes in the south mudslides around Almaty

Geography
Note: landlocked; Russia leases approximately 6,000 km² of territory enclosing the Baykonur Cosmodrome; in January 2004 Kazakhstan and Russia extended the lease to 2,050


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Population: 15,233,244 (July 2006 est.)
Growth rate: 0.33% (2006 est.)
Below poverty line: 19% (2004 est.)

Nationality
Noun: Kazakhstani
Adjective: Kazakhstani

Ethnic groups: Kazakh (Qazaq) 53.4% Russian 30% Ukrainian 3.7% Uzbek 2.5% German 2.4% Tatar 1.7% Uygur 1.4% other 4.9% (1999 census)

Languages: Kazakh (Qazaq state language) 64.4% Russian (official used in everyday business designated the 'language of interethnic communication') 95% (2001 est.)

Religions: Muslim 47% Russian Orthodox 44% Protestant 2% other 7%

Demographic profile

Age structure
0-14 years: 23% (male 1,792,685/female 1,717,294)
15-64 years: 68.8% (male 5,122,027/female 5,357,819)
65 years and over: 8.2% (male 438,541/female 804,878) (2006 est.)

Dependency ratios

Median age
Total: 28.8 years
Male: 27.2 years
Female: 30.5 years (2006 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.33% (2006 est.)

Birth rate: 16 births/1000 population (2006 est.)

Death rate: 9.42 deaths/1000 population (2006 est.)

Net migration rate: -3.33 migrant(s)/1000 population (2006 est.)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: radioactive or toxic chemical sites associated with former defense industries and test ranges scattered throughout the country pose health risks for humans and animals; industrial pollution is severe in some cities; because the two main rivers which flowed into the Aral Sea have been diverted for irrigation it is drying up and leaving behind a harmful layer of chemical pesticides and natural salts; these substances are then picked up by the wind and blown into noxious dust storms; pollution in the Caspian Sea; soil pollution from overuse of agricultural chemicals and salination from poor infrastructure and wasteful irrigation practices
International agreements party to: Air Pollution, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution
International agreements signed but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol

Air pollutants

Sex ratio
At birth: 1.06 male/female
Under 15 years: 1.04 male/female
15-64 years: 0.96 male/female
65 years and over: 0.55 male/female
Total population: 0.93 male/female (2006 est.)

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate
Total: 28.3 deaths/1000 live births
Male: 32.88 deaths/1000 live births
Female: 23.45 deaths/1000 live births (2006 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 66.89 years
Male: 61.56 years
Female: 72.52 years (2006 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.89 children born/woman (2006 est.)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids
Adult prevalence rate: 0.2% (2001 est.)
People living with hivaids: 16,500 (2001 est.)
Deaths: less than 200 (2003 est.)

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy
Definition: age 15 and over can read and write
Total population: 98.4%
Male: 99.1%
Female: 97.7% (1999 est.)

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name
Conventional long form: Republic of Kazakhstan
Conventional short form: Kazakhstan
Local long form: Qazaqstan Respublikasy
Local short form: Qazaqstan
Former: Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic

Government type: republic; authoritarian presidential rule with little power outside the executive branch

Capital
Name: Astana
Geographic coordinates: 51 10 N, 71 30 E
Time difference: UTC+6 (11 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
Note: Kazakhstan is divided into three time zones

Administrative divisions
Note: administrative divisions have the same names as their administrative centers (exceptions have the administrative center name following in parentheses); in 1995, the Governments of Kazakhstan and Russia entered into an agreement whereby Russia would lease for a period of 20 years an area of 6,000 km² enclosing the Baykonur space launch facilities and the city of Bayqongyr (Baykonur, formerly Leninsk); in 2004, a new agreement extended the lease to 2,050

Dependent areas

Independence: 16 December 1991 (from the Soviet Union)

National holiday: Independence Day 16 December (1991)

Constitution: first post-independence constitution adopted 28 January 1993; new constitution adopted by national referendum 30 August 1995

Legal system: based on civil law system

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch
Chief of state: President Nursultan A. NAZARBAYEV (chairman of the Supreme Soviet from 22 February 1990, elected president 1 December 1991)
Head of government: Prime Minister Daniyal AKHMETOV (since 13 June 2003); Deputy Prime Minister Karim MASIMOV (since 19 January 2006)
Cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president
Elections: president elected by popular vote for a seven-year term (no term limits); election last held 4 December 2005 (next to be held in 2012); prime minister and first deputy prime minister appointed by the president
Election results: Nursultan A. NAZARBAYEV reelected president; percent of vote - Nursultan A. NAZARBAYEV 91.1%, Zharmakhan A. TUYAKBAI 6.6%, Alikhan M. BAIMENOV 1.6%
Note: President NAZARBAYEV arranged a referendum in 1995 that extended his term of office and expanded his presidential powers: only he can initiate constitutional amendments, appoint and dismiss the government, dissolve Parliament, call referenda at his discretion, and appoint administrative heads of regions and cities

Legislative branch
Elections: Senate - (indirect) last held December 2005; next to be held in 2011; Mazhilis - last held 19 September and 3 October 2004 (next to be held in September 2009)
Election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - NA; candidates nominated by local councils; Mazhilis - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - Otan 42, AIST 11, ASAR (All Together) 4, Aq Zhol (Bright Path) 1, Democratic Party 1 (party refused to take the seat due to criticism of the election and seat remained unoccupied), independent 18; note - most independent candidates are affiliated with parastatal enterprises and other pro-government institutions

Judicial branch: Supreme Court (44 members); Constitutional Council (7 members)

Political parties and leaders: Adilet (Justice) [Maksut NARIKBAYEV co-chair Zeynulla ALSHIMBAYEV co-chair Bakhytbek AKHMETZHAN co-chair Yerkin ONGARBAYEV co-chair Tolegan SYDYKOV co-chair] (formerly Democratic Party of Kazakhstan); Aq Zhol Party (Bright Path) [Alikhan BAIMENOV chairman]; AUL (Village) [Gani KALIYEV chairman]; Communist Party of Kazakhstan or KPK [Serikbolsyn ABDILDIN first secretary]; Communist People's Party of Kazakhstan [Vladislav KOSAREV first secretary]; Otan [Bakhytzhan ZHUMAGULOV acting chairman] (the Agrarian Asar and Civic parties merged with Otan); Patriots' Party [Gani KASYMOV chairman]; Rukhaniyat (Spirituality) [Altynshash ZHAGANOVA chairwoman]

International organization participation: AsDB CIS EAPC EBRD ECO FAO IAEA IBRD ICAO ICRM IDA IDB IFAD IFC IFRCS ILO IMF IMO Interpol IOC IOM IPU ISO ITU MIGA NAM (observer) NSG OAS (observer) OIC OPCW OSCE PFP SCO UN UNCTAD UNESCO UNIDO UPU WCL WCO WFTU WHO WIPO WMO WToO WTO (observer)

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador Kanat B. SAUDABAYEV
In the us chancery: 1401 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20,036
In the us telephone: [1] (202) 232-5,488
In the us fax: [1] (202) 232-5,845
In the us consulates: New York
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador John M. ORDWAY
From the us embassy: Ak Bulak 4, Str. 23-22, Building #3, Astana 10,010
From the us mailing address: use embassy street address
From the us telephone: [7] (3,172) 70-21-00
From the us fax: [7] (3,172) 34-08-90

Flag description: sky blue background representing the endless sky and a gold sun with 32 rays soaring above a golden steppe eagle in the center; on the hoist side is a 'national ornamentation' in gold

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


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Economy overview: Kazakhstan the largest of the former Soviet republics in territory excluding Russia possesses enormous fossil fuel reserves and plentiful supplies of other minerals and metals. It also has a large agricultural sector featuring livestock and grain. Kazakhstan's industrial sector rests on the extraction and processing of these natural resources and also on a growing machine-building sector specializing in construction equipment tractors agricultural machinery and some defense items. The breakup of the USSR in December 1991 and the collapse in demand for Kazakhstan's traditional heavy industry products resulted in a short-term contraction of the economy with the steepest annual decline occurring in 1994. In 1995-97 the pace of the government program of economic reform and privatization quickened resulting in a substantial shifting of assets into the private sector. Kazakhstan enjoyed double-digit growth in 2000-01 - 9% or more per year in 2002-05 - thanks largely to its booming energy sector but also to economic reform good harvests and foreign investment. The opening of the Caspian Consortium pipeline in 2001 from western Kazakhstan's Tengiz oilfield to the Black Sea substantially raised export capacity. Kazakhstan also has begun work on an ambitious cooperative construction effort with China to build an oil pipeline that will extend from the country's Caspian coast eastward to the Chinese border. The country has embarked upon an industrial policy designed to diversify the economy away from overdependence on the oil sector by developing light industry. The policy aims to reduce the influence of foreign investment and foreign personnel. The government has engaged in several disputes with foreign oil companies over the terms of production agreements; tensions continue. Upward pressure on the local currency continued in 2005 due to massive oil-related foreign-exchange inflows.

Real gdp purchasing power parity: $125.3 billion (2005 est.)

Real gdp growth rate: 9.5% (2005 est.)

Real gdp per capita: $8,300 (2005 est.)

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin
Agriculture: 6.7%
Industry: 38.6%
Services: 54.7% (2005 est.)

Agriculture products: grain (mostly spring wheat) cotton; livestock

Industries: oil coal iron ore manganese chromite lead zinc copper titanium bauxite gold silver phosphates sulfur iron and steel; tractors and other agricultural machinery electric motors construction materials

Industrial production growth rate: 4.6% (2005 est.)

Labor force: 7.85 million (2005 est.)
By occupation agriculture: 20%
By occupation industry: 30%
By occupation services: 50% (2002 est.)

Unemployment rate: 8.1% (2005 est.)

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line: 19% (2004 est.)

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share
Lowest 10: 3.3%
Highest 10: 26.5% (2004 est.)

Distribution of family income gini index: 31.5 (2003)

Budget
Revenues: $12.19 billion
Expenditures: $12.44 billion; including capital expenditures of $N/A (2005 est.)

Taxes and other revenues

Public debt: 10.5% of GDP (2005 est.)

Revenue

Fiscal year: calendar year

Inflation rate consumer prices: 7.6% (2005 est.)

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares

Current account balance: $-485.7 million (2005 est.)

Exports: $30.09 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)
Commodities: oil and oil products 58% ferrous metals 24% chemicals 5% machinery 3% grain wool meat coal (2001)
Partners: Bermuda 12.5% Russia 11.1% Germany 10.7% China 10% Italy 7.9% France 7.7% Romania 4.5% US 4% (2005)

Imports: $17.51 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)
Commodities: machinery and equipment 41% metal products 28% foodstuffs 8% (2001)
Partners: Russia 35.9% China 21.4% Germany 7.1% (2005)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $7.07 billion (2005 est.)

Debt external: $41.66 billion (2005 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: tenge per US dollar - 132.88 (2005) 136.04 (2004) 149.58 (2003) 153.28 (2002) 146.74 (2001)


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Electricity
Production: 60.33 billion kWh (2003)
Consumption: 52.55 billion kWh (2003)
Exports: 6 billion kWh (2003)
Imports: 2.45 billion kWh (2003)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas
Production: 18.5 billion m³ (2004 est.)
Consumption: 15.2 billion m³ (2004 est.)
Exports: 4.1 billion m³ (2004 est.)
Imports: NA m³
Proven reserves: 3 trillion m³ (1 January 2004)

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones
Main lines in use: 2.5 million (2004)
Mobile cellular: 4.955 million (2005)

Telephone system
General assessment: service is poor; equipment antiquated
Domestic: intercity by landline and microwave radio relay; mobile cellular systems are available in most of Kazakhstan
International: country code - 7; international traffic with other former Soviet republics and China carried by landline and microwave radio relay and with other countries by satellite and by the Trans-Asia-Europe (TAE) fiber-optic cable; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat

Broadcast media

Internet
Country code: .kz
Hosts: 21,187 (2006)
Users: 400,000 (2005)

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Percent of gdp: 0.9% (Ministry of Defense expenditures) (FY02)

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation: 18 years of age for compulsory military service; conscript service obligation - two years; minimum age for volunteers NA (2004)

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 150 (2006)
With paved runways total: 67
With paved runways over 3047 m: 9
With paved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 27
With paved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 17
With paved runways 914 to 1523 m: 4
With paved runways under 914 m: 10 (2006)
With unpaved runways total: 83
With unpaved runways over 3047 m: 5
With unpaved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 6
With unpaved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 9
With unpaved runways 914 to 1523 m: 10
With unpaved runways under 914 m: 53 (2006)

Heliports: 4 (2006)

Pipelines: condensate 658 km; gas 11,019 km; oil 10,338 km; refined products 1095 km (2006)

Railways
Total: 13,700 km
Broad gauge: 13,700 km 1.520-m gauge (3,700 km electrified) (2005)

Roadways
Total: 258,029 km
Paved: 247,347 km
Unpaved: 10,682 km (2003)

Waterways: 4,000 km (on the Ertis (Irtysh) (80%) and Syr Darya (Syrdariya) rivers) (2005)

Merchant marine
Total: 6 ships (1000 GRT or over) 27,173 GRT/43,475 DWT
By type: cargo 2, petroleum tanker 3, refrigerated cargo 1
Foreign owned: 2 (Oman 2) (2006)

Ports and terminals: Aqtau (Shevchenko) Atyrau (Gur'yev) Oskemen (Ust-Kamenogorsk) Pavlodar Semey (Semipalatinsk)


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Disputes international: in 2005 Kazakhstan agreed with Russia Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to commence demarcating their boundaries; delimitation with Kyrgyzstan is complete; creation of a seabed boundary with Turkmenistan in the Caspian Sea remains unresolved; equidistant seabed treaties have been ratified with Azerbaijan and Russia in the Caspian Sea but no resolution has been made on dividing the water column among any of the littoral states

Refugees and internally displaced persons
Refugees country of origin: 13,684 (Russia) (2005)

Illicit drugs: significant illicit cultivation of cannabis for CIS markets as well as limited cultivation of opium poppy and ephedra (for the drug ephedrine); limited government eradication of illicit crops; transit point for Southwest Asian narcotics bound for Russia and the rest of Europe