Population: 15,185,844 (July 2005 est.)
Capital: Astana; note - the government moved from Almaty
to Astana in December 1998
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%
Government: republic; authoritarian presidential rule,
with little power outside the executive branch
Climate: continent_idal, 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
Geography: landlocked; Russia leases approximately 6,000 sq km of territory enclosing the Baykonur Cosmodrome; in January
2004, Kazakhstan and Russia extended the lease to 2050
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)
Economy: Kazakhstan, the largest of the former Soviet republics in
territory, excluding Russia, possesses enormous fossil fuel reserves as well as 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 - and more than 9% 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, and tensions continue. Upward pressure on the local currency continued in 2005 due to massive
oil-related foreign-exchange inflows.
GDP per capita: purchasing power parity - $8,700 (2005 est.)
GDP real growth: 9%
(2005 est.)
Unemployment rate: 7.6% (2005 est.)
Internet country code: .kz
Dial code: +7
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.