About Kazakhstan

Population: more than 18 mln (as of 2017)

Territory: 2,724,900 sq. km (1,052,089 sq. miles)

Geographical location: Central Asia, borders with Russia, China, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan

Climate: sharply continental

Independence: since December 16, 1991

Capital: Astana (since December 10, 1997)

Official languages: Kazakh is the state language, Russian is widely used as the language of intercultural communication

Ethnic diversity: Kazakhs – 63,07%, Russians – 23,7%, Uzbeks – 2,85%, Ukrainians – 2,08%, Uighurs – 1,4%, Tatars – 1,28%, German – 1,11%, other – 4,51%

Currency: Tenge (KZT)

Economic indicators:

GDP: 133.657 billion USD

GNI per capita: 8, 710 USD

Annual GDP growth: 2,4%

The Republic of Kazakhstan is a unitary state with the presidential system of government. Under the Constitution, Kazakhstan is a democratic, secular, legal and social state which recognizes the man, his life, rights and freedoms as the supreme values of the country.

The country is divided into 14 administrative areas and has 2 cities of national significance (Astana and Almaty).

Kazakhstan exports mining products, fuel, energy, the products of metallurgical and chemical industries, along with grain. 

As a leader in Central Asia, the country is making a significant contribution to stability in the region and the world. The strides of the country are proved by the chairmanship of Kazakhstan in the OSCE Summit held in Astana in December 2010. Another significant initiative was the launch of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia, the Asian analogue of the OSCE. Kazakhstan’s activities as the chairman of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the leading organization of the Islamic world got positive feedback from the international community.

The country is a well-established leader in the global anti-nuclear movement. Non-permanent membership of Kazakhstan in the UN Security Council in 2017-2018 is a worldwide recognition of Kazakhstan’s active role in tackling global peace and security issues.

The basis of Kazakhstan’s prosperity is the stable growth in all sectors of its economy, international recognition and political stability. Kazakhstan is a country looking into the future, which retains its culture, traditions and successfully realizes its huge creative potential in the nowadays dynamic world.

Did you know?

Interesting facts about Kazakhstan and its capital Astana

  1. Kazakhstan is located in the heart of Eurasia. It is the 9th largest country in the world, occupying 2% of the surface of the globe. Its territory is larger than all of Western Europe.
  2. Kazakhstan is home to more than 130 nationalities and ethnic groups living peacefully together.
  3. Kazakhstan adheres to the policy of trilingualism, where Kazakh is a state language, Russian is a language of intercultural communication and English is a language of successful integration into the global economy. Since 2013 English is an obligatory subject starting from the first year of primary school.
  4. Kazakhstan has an incredible variety of picturesque natural landscapes. Here you can explore borderless steppes, majestic mountains, numerous lakes and rivers, astonishing nature parks and even hot springs. Charyn Canyon in Almaty region is the second largest canyon in the world after the Grand Canyon in the US.
  5. Kazakhstan is an active member of the world economic and political arena. It is a full member of the UN, WTO, OSCE, SCO, OIC, CICA, CIS and other global and regional international organizations and is a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2017-2018. In the recent past years Kazakhstan hosted such large events as the OSCE Summit-2010, Asian Winter Games-2011, Winter Universiade-2017 and “EXPO-2017: Future Energy” International Specialized Exhibition.
  6. Subsoil of Kazakhstan is very rich for mineral resources. It has almost all elements of the Mendeleev’s table of chemical elements. Kazakhstan is 8th and 12th country in the world by reserves of coal and oil respectively.
  7. Gennady Gennadyevich Golovkin, known as GGG, is a Kazakhstani professional boxer and the undefeated world champion holding the unified WBA, IBF, WBC, IBO titles in middleweight category.
  8. Kazakhstan is the motherland of apples and tulips. Former capital of Kazakhstan, Almaty, whose old name “Alma-Ata” means “father of apples” in Kazakh, has claimed the honour of being birthplace of the apple. As for tulips, in 1877, at the exhibition of flowers in Amsterdam, the South Kazakhstan tulip sort “Greig” for its beauty and size was called the “King of Flowers”.
  9. Astana is the youngest capital in the world since 1998, when the capital was moved from Almaty. A year after, Astana was awarded the title of the City of Peace by UNESCO.
  10. The name of Astana means “capital” in Kazakh language.