Kazakhstan People Groups

kzakstan.gif (19551 bytes)

INFORMATION ABOUT KAZAKSTAN

Geography: Location: Central Asia, northwest of China
Area:
total: 2,717,300 sq km
land: 2,669,800 sq km
water: 47,500 sq km
Area—comparative: slightly less than four times the size of Texas
Land boundaries:
border countries: 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 (1,015 km) and the Caspian Sea (1,894 km)
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
oasis and desert in Central Asia
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Vpadina Kaundy -132 m
highest point: Zhengis Shingy (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: 12%
permanent crops: 11%
permanent pastures: 57%
forests and woodland: 4%
other: 16% (1996 est.)
Irrigated land: 22,000 sq km (1996 est.)
Natural hazards: earthquakes in the south, mudslides around Almaty
Environment—current issues: radioactive or toxic chemical sites associated with its former
defense industries and test ranges are found throughout the country and 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 salinization from faulty irrigation practices

People
Population: 16,846,808 (July 1998 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 29% (male 2,486,607; female 2,413,207)
15-64 years: 64% (male 5,243,028; female 5,523,199)
65 years and over: 7% (male 393,950; female 786,817) (July 1998 est.)
Population growth rate: -0.17% (1998 est.)
Birth rate: 17.24 births/1,000 population (1998 est.)
Death rate: 10.15 deaths/1,000 population (1998 est.)
Net migration rate: -8.79 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1998 est.)
Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.95 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.5 male(s)/female (1998 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 58.25 deaths/1,000 live births (1998 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 63.59 years
male: 58.12 years
female: 69.33 years (1998 est.)
Ethnic groups: Kazakh (Qazaq) 46%, Russian 34.7%, Ukrainian 4.9%, German 3.1%, Uzbek
2.3%, Tatar 1.9%, other 7.1% (1996)
Religions: Muslim 47%, Russian Orthodox 44%, Protestant 2%, other 7%
Languages: Kazakh (Qazaq) official language spoken by over 40% of population, Russian
official language spoken by two-thirds of population and used in everyday business

Government
Country conventional name: Republic of Kazakhstan
Government type: republic
National capital: Astana (Akmola)
note: the government has recently moved from Almaty to Astana
Independence: 16 December 1991 (from the Soviet Union)
Legal system: based on civil law system

Economy
Economy—overview: Kazakhstan, the second largest of the former Soviet republics in territory,
possesses enormous untapped fossil fuel reserves as well as plentiful supplies of other minerals and
metals. It also has considerable agricultural potential with its vast steppe lands accommodating
both livestock and grain production. Kazakhstan's industrial sector rests on the extraction and
processing of these natural resources and also on a relatively large machine building sector
specializing in construction equipment, tractors, agricultural machinery, and some defense items.
The breakup of the USSR and the collapse of demand for Kazakhstan's traditional heavy industry
products have resulted in a sharp contraction of the economy since 1991, 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. The
December 1996 signing of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium agreement to build a new pipeline
from western Kazakhstan's Tengiz oil field to the Black Sea increases prospects for substantially
larger oil exports in several years. The emigration of large numbers of skilled Slavic managers and
technicians from the northern industrial areas will hold back future growth.
GDP: purchasing power parity—$50 billion (1997 est.)
GDP—real growth rate: 2.1% (1997 est.)
GDP—per capita: purchasing power parity—$3,000 (1997 est.)
GDP—composition by sector:
agriculture: 12%
industry: 25%
services: 63% (1996 est.)
Inflation rate—consumer price index: 12% (1997 est.)
Labor force:
total: 6.9 million
by occupation: industry 27%, agriculture and forestry 23%, other 50% (1996)
Unemployment rate: 2.6% includes only officially registered unemployed; also large additional
numbers of unemployed and underemployed workers (December 1996 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $3 billion
expenditures: $4.6 billion, including capital expenditures of $40 million (1996 est.)
Industries: oil, coal, iron ore, manganese, chromite, lead, zinc, copper, titanium, bauxite, gold,
silver, phosphates, sulfur, iron and steel, nonferrous metal, tractors and other agricultural
machinery, electric motors, construction materials; much of industrial capacity is shut down and/or
is in need of repair
Agriculture—products: grain, mostly spring wheat, cotton; wool, meat
Exports:
total value: $5.6 billion (1996)
commodities: oil, ferrous and nonferrous metals, chemicals, grain, wool, meat, coal
partners: Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Netherlands, China
Imports:
total value: $6 billion (1996)
commodities: machinery and parts, industrial materials, oil and gas
partners: Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Germany
Currency: 1 Kazakhstani tenge = 100 tiyn
More Information About Kazakstan