Kazakhstan (Kazakh: Қазақстан Qazaqstan [qɑzɑqˈstɑn], Russian:
Казахстан, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kazakh: Қазақстан
Республикасы Qazaqstan Respublikasy, Russian: Республика Казахстан
Respublika Kazakhstan) is a country in Central Asia and Eastern
Europe. The border with Russia is the country's only northern border
and is over 7,600 kilometers long. In the south, Kazakhstan borders
Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan and in the southeast, over a
length of almost 1,800 kilometers, the People's Republic of China.
The entire border of Kazakhstan is 13,200 km. With a land area of
more than 2.7 million km², Kazakhstan is the largest landlocked
country and the ninth largest country in the world. The country's
landscape is mainly characterized by the Kazakh steppe and it has
large oil resources.
Kazakhstan has around 20 million
inhabitants, the majority of whom are Muslim Kazakhs. The capital is
Astana with 1.1 million inhabitants and an area of 722 square
kilometers; the most populous city is Almaty with 1.9 million
inhabitants and an area of 682 square kilometers. Other important
cities in the country are the city of Shymkent, which has a
population of one million, and Qaraghandy.
Various empires
existed in the area of present-day Kazakhstan even in ancient
times. The western part of the First Turkic Kaganate was formed
between the 6th and 8th centuries. In the 13th century, the Mongols
under Genghis Khan invaded. After the conquest by the Uzbek Timur in
the 15th century, the Kazakhs were able to separate from the Uzbek
Khanate and establish the Kazakh Khanate under a local Genghis
Khanid dynasty - in this way the Kazakhs resisted the introduction
of Islam and were able to remain connected to the traditional
traditions. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Dzungarian Khanate
expanded until the Kazakhs submitted to the Russian Tsar. In 1925,
the Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was founded, which
from 1936 formed a union republic within the Soviet Union as the
Kazakh SSR.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the
country declared itself independent on December 16, 1991 as the
Republic of Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is a full member of the
Commonwealth of Independent States. The presidential republic was
ruled by Nursultan Nazarbayev from 1991 to 2019. Kazakh, which is a
Turkic language, and Russian, which is a Slavic language, were
declared official languages upon independence, and the previous
capital, Alma-Ata, was renamed Almaty. In 1997, the seat of
government and parliament was moved to Akmola. The city was
proclaimed the official capital and renamed Astana ("capital") a
year later; this name was changed to Nur-Sultan in 2019 and back to
Astana on September 17, 2022.
Kazakhstan is governed by an
authoritarian regime and corruption is widespread. The human rights
situation is considered critical; for example, freedom of expression
is severely restricted. In 2022, major protests against the
government took place for the first time, and were violently
suppressed. Since then, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has begun a
cautious reform program that aims to lead to more pluralism and
bring the country closer to Western countries.
Administratively, the country is divided into 14 regions,
but from a tourist point of view, the division of Kazakhstan is more
interesting, taking into account natural and geographical features:
Great Steppe
The Great Steppe is the central region of Kazakhstan,
where there are few people, there are also not very many roads, and they
usually connect the cities of other regions with each other, but there
is a lot of steppe, partially plowed, and deserts. Almost all
civilization here is in large cities along the northern border of the
region: Aktobe, Karaganda and Semey. Almost the only detail of the
landscape in the monotonous plain to the horizon is the Karkaraly
National Park, the highest part of the Kazakh Upland.
Kyzylkum
and Aral Karakum
Kyzylkum and the Aral Karakum - the south of
Kazakhstan, almost entirely occupied by the desert, in the same clay,
although in some places even with real sand dunes. The Aral Sea has
almost dried up as a result of the irrigation programs of Kazakhstan's
neighbors, but now the Kazakh part of the sea is fenced off by a dam,
and further reduction does not threaten it. The cultural monuments of
the region are mainly related to the history of neighboring Uzbekistan,
such as the mausoleums in the city of Turkestan, but few reminders of
colonial history remain, mainly in the cities of Kazalinsk and
Kyzylorda.
Caspian lowland
The Caspian lowland is the
westernmost region of Kazakhstan. In the north, the Ural River flows
here with the historical cities of Uralsk and Atyrau. In the south, the
region faces the coast of the Caspian Sea. In addition, there is the
Mangyshlak peninsula, remarkable for its rocks, canyons, as well as
mausoleums and cave mosques, while all this is in the desert, and the
roads are mainly designed for four-wheel drive vehicles.
Rudny
Altai
Rudny Altai is the Kazakh part of the Altai Mountains, with
waterfalls, forests and reservoirs. The main city here is
Ust-Kamenogorsk, and the entire region is strung on the Irtysh and
Bukhtarma rivers.
Northern Kazakhstan
Northern Kazakhstan is a
rather large and rather diverse region. There is a large proportion of
the Russian-speaking population here than in the whole country, and in
the very north, in Petropavlovsk, the Russian language is more common
than Kazakh. In the north of the region there is a forest-steppe, and
right there is a rather famous resort of Borovoye, and to the south it
turns into a steppe, in the middle of which stands the capital of the
country, Astana. The capital was moved here by historical standards
recently, but Astana is actively developing and is very interesting in
architectural and cultural terms.
Semirechye
Semirechye is a
region of Kazakhstan that is distinguished by the greatest diversity. In
the north there is a steppe and a huge closed lake Balkhash. In the east
of the region there are deserts with picturesque canyons, the most
famous of which is the Charyn Canyon. In the south, the region is
limited by two ranges of the Northern Tien Shan - Zailiysky Alatau and
Kungei-Alatau, with glaciers, lakes, rivers and forests of Tien Shan
spruce. In the east, along the border with China, there is a lower ridge
of the Dzungarian Alatau. To all this is added Alma-Ata (Almaty), the
largest city of Kazakhstan, for a long time its capital, and still
retaining the role of a cultural capital.
Astana is the
capital of Kazakhstan, striking in scope and pathos of modern
architecture;
Alma-Ata (Almaty) - the southern, and in the past the
main capital of Kazakhstan, located in the foothills of the Zailiysky
Alatau;
Aktobe is the center of the West Kazakhstan region, which
includes four regions. One of the largest cities in Kazakhstan;
Shymkent is the second (after Alma-Ata) largest city in the republic;
Karaganda is the capital of the coal-mining region;
Kostanay is the
granary of Kazakhstan. In the Kostanay region, high yields of grain are
traditionally collected;
Shchuchinsk - a unique mountain resort in
the middle of the endless steppe and the adjacent national park
"Burabay" ("Borovoye");
Semey - known as the place of exile of
Dostoevsky and the place of death of ataman Annenkov;
Turkestan is a
city in the Syrdarya valley, famous for its ancient mausoleums; Since
2018, it has been the capital of the Turkestan region;
Uralsk is a
city with a long history, including a visit by Pushkin, the Pugachev
uprising and the death of Chapaev;
Ust-Kamenogorsk is an industrial
city in the southern part of Altai;
Kyzylorda is the first capital of
the KazASSR. In the vicinity of the city there is a developed
agriculture - rice and melon fields.
Lake
Balkhash (Balkhash)
Ski resort Chimbulak (Shymbulak)
Alpine
skating rink Medeo (Medeu)
Naurzumsky and Korgalzhynsky nature
reserves (Nauyrzym zhane Korgalzhyn қoryқtary)
Ile-Alatau National
Park, Northern Tien Shan
State National Park "Altyn-Emel" ("Altyn
Emel")
Charyn Canyon (Shary)
Western Tien Shan, including
Aksu-Zhabagly Nature Reserve (Aksu Zhabagyly), Karatau Nature Reserve
and Sairam-Ugam National Park
By plane
The capital of the Republic of Kazakhstan has a new,
modern airport that receives flights from Russia, Europe, Southeast
Asia, China, and Turkey. Almaty Airport belongs to the first class
airports and is also able to receive flights with virtually no
restrictions. Kostanay Airport accepts flights from Moscow,
Yekaterinburg, Kyiv, Minsk, Munich, Hannover.
By train
From
Russia: Border guards and customs officers pass the train - they look at
migration cards, declarations (if any) and luggage. They put an entry
stamp on the card (which must be kept until leaving the country, when it
is confiscated at the border) or in the passport. Trains are usually
clean, which is not always true for domestic routes. They give out linen
packed in bags. Linen is included in the ticket. The conductors are not
always responsible, they may not inform you that you need to get off at
this stop. According to the rules of railway transportation of
Kazakhstan, conductors provide boiling water for drinks, dishes.
Recharging is officially free, unless otherwise noted. In fact, a
symbolic payment is welcomed by the conductor as a tip.
If you
travel by train in Kazakhstan, having several stops in different cities,
subject to a clear schedule, you should not buy all tickets in advance
in Russia. It is better to do it in Kazakhstan - it will be much
cheaper.
By car
Kazakhstan has a long land border with Russia
(RF), China (PRC), Kyrgyzstan (Kyrgyzstan), Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan
(Turkmenistan). Kazakhstan is connected to these states by highways
built during the Soviet era. The quality of the road surface is not
always satisfactory. There is no developed infrastructure for auto
travelers. Outside of large cities and regional centers, low-quality
gasoline and diesel fuel come across.
When entering the country,
one should not forget about temporary insurance, which is issued
immediately after the border checkpoint (usually these are small
inconspicuous wagons). If you are stopped by traffic officers in the
country, you should always have transport documents, completed migration
cards and an insurance policy ready. The cost of the policy has now
changed. The minimum insurance period is 3 months, it costs
approximately 1500-1800 Russian rubles for a car. If you forgot to issue
a document when entering the country, you should notify the inspector.
On the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan there are embassies of
border countries. You can always count on their help.
By plane
Domestic air traffic is well developed. From Nur-Sultan
and Alma-Ata, you can fly to all regional centers, to larger ones
several times a day. Airplanes fly between Nur-Sultan and Alma-Ata every
2-3 hours. Moreover, there are strange chord routes like
Kyzylorda-Karaganda, and, digging into the schedules, you can find quite
interesting options. Tickets for domestic flights are relatively
inexpensive, everywhere you can take a one-way ticket without an
additional surcharge. If you buy in advance, you are unlikely to pay
more than 20-25 thousand tenge (one way). Trains, however, are still
cheaper: with rare exceptions, a ticket in a compartment is cheaper than
an airplane.
There are four airlines in Kazakhstan - Air Astana,
SCAT, Bek Air and Qazaq Air. The last three were blacklisted by the
European Union for a long time (due to security problems), but in 2016
they seemed to be excluded from there. SCAT and Bek Air operate in
low-cost mode, i.e. they sell the cheapest tickets without luggage, and
the surcharge depends on the weight. Air Astana tickets are slightly
more expensive, but they always include meals and luggage. However,
there is one eastern trick in the Air Astana tariff policy: on the site
you need to select the country of Kazakhstan, but do not put a tick in
front of resident of Kazakhstan (unless, of course, you have a Kazakh
passport). If you choose any other country, a ticket for the simplest
domestic flight will cost from $150.
The tricks don't end there.
International booking systems see only a fraction of domestic flights
and at prices that have nothing to do with reality. Use the websites of
airlines, they all sell tickets via the Internet and accept credit cards
for payment.
The state language of the country is Kazakh, which is spoken by more than 80% of the population. The language of interethnic communication and the official language is Russian, in which it is allowed to keep official documentation. More than 80% of the population also speaks Russian in the country, while many Kazakhs use it more often than Kazakh in everyday life, and in the north they may not speak the state language at all. The authorities are trying to correct this situation with varying success, however, the matter has not come to prohibitive measures against the Russian and is unlikely to come. The Uzbek language is widely spoken in the south of the country, Uighur is popular in the east, and in some villages of Semirechye one can meet speakers of the Kyrgyz and Dungan languages. In the Aral Sea region, the Karakalpak language has some distribution. In recent years, the popularity of learning English has been growing among young people, and it is also most often spoken by workers in the tourism sector. In large cities, one can find those who know Turkish, Arabic and German, the latter is also popular in areas of mass exile of Germans: Karaganda, Taraz, Alma-Ata.
The national currency is Kazakhstan tenge (KZT). 1 USD
= 463 KZT 1 EUR = 501 KZT; 1 GBP = 572 KZT; 1 RUB = 6.6 KZT (as of
January 19, 2023)
The exchange rate of the ruble against the
tenge is constantly changing. Reverse exchange (tenge-rubles) is
possible. Money should be changed in banks or special exchange offices
where they issue a check for the exchange. It is recommended to keep
these checks in order to present them at the border if necessary.
What's the cost? (2019)
1. Food, inexpensive
restaurant: 2000 tenge
2. Meals for two, average restaurant, 3
courses: 10,000 tenge
3. Homemade beer (0.5 l draft): 400 tenge
4. Cola / Pepsi (bottle 0.33 l): 190 tenge
5. Water (bottle
0.33 l): 120 tenge
6. Loaf of bread (500 g): 90 tenge
7.
Beef (1 kg): 2000 tenge
8. Apples (1 kg): 450 tenge
9. One
way ticket (local transport): 80 tenge
10. Taxi start, per km:
425, 100 tenge
11. Gasoline (1 l): 170 tenge
12. Apartment
(1 bed) in the city center / month: 111,000 tenge
13. Average
monthly net salary (after taxes): 139,000 tenge
Prices for all
goods and services vary significantly and depend on the place of
purchase and the time of year. The cost of products in markets and food
fairs is lower than in stores. The highest - in supermarkets, shopping
malls and malls. There are wholesale stores with discount prices. Prices
for clothes of imported brands are higher than in producing countries.
Fakes available to low-income segments of the population are very
popular. Prices for entertainment, as well as for travel in public
transport, depend on the remoteness of the city and the degree of its
development. In Almaty, a bus ticket for an adult costs 80 tenge, in
Nur-Sultan - 90 (attention, the data may be outdated). The bus depot is
quite new.
UNESCO World Heritage Sites
Mausoleum of Khoja
Ahmed Yasawi (Turkestan) - Khoja Ahmed Yasawi kesenesi
Petroglyphs of
the archaeological landscape of Tamgaly
Saryarka - steppes and lakes
of Northern Kazakhstan
Other
Turkic sanctuary Merke
Megalithic
mausoleum of Begazy-Dandybai culture
Mounds and stone structures of
the Tasmola culture
Petroglyphs of Eshkiolmes (Eshkiolmes)
Petroglyphs of Arpa-Uzen (Arpa ozen)
Paleolithic objects and
geomorphology of the Karatau ridge
Archaeological objects of the
Oasis Otrar
Cultural landscape of Ulytau
Complex of medieval
mausoleums of the city of Taraz
Mausoleum of Jochi Khan (Joshy)
Mazvolei of Alash Khan (Alash)
abandoned cities
In Kazakhstan, for
various reasons, a large number of single-industry towns were built.
After the collapse of the USSR, many of them partially or completely
stopped production, and part of the Russian and German population left
the country. Therefore, in many, even large, cities of Kazakhstan, there
are entire areas of abandoned high-rise buildings. No valuable items
have been left there for a long time, but as monuments of the era they
are of interest. Among other things, Karaganda, Arkalyk and Zhanatas are
famous for such areas, and the latter is also located in the desert.
Mountain tourism - Medeu, Chimbulak (Shymbulak), Zailiysky Alatau National Park. Water tourism - rivers Koksu, Katun. Beach tourism - Caspian. Hiking in the forest - Kostanay, Zerenda, Schuchinsk, Borovoye (Burabay), Almaty region (Almaty oblysy). Beach holidays - lake Balkhash (Balkash), lake Borovoe, lake Shchuchye, lake Alakol (Alakol).
Besbarmak is a national dish (boiled
noodles with meat, but not soup). Meat is different (horse meat, lamb
...).
Kazy is a national dish, which is a specially prepared
horsemeat sausage.
Kymyz is a fermented milk drink made from mare's
milk.
Shubat - fermented camel milk. This drink is common throughout
Central Asia.
Bauyrsak is a traditional dish of nomadic pastoralists
of Central Asia (small buns fried in oil).
Night life
The center
of nightlife in Kazakhstan and all of Central Asia is Almaty. The city
has a huge number of nightclubs, entertainment centers, bars, cafes and
restaurants.
There are hotels in every city. From 1 to 5 stars. You can rent accommodation from local residents.
Kazakhstan and Russia are similar in terms of street life. You should be careful at night, especially in residential areas, avoid conflicts with temperamental representatives of the local population, carefully count the change in small shops and minimarkets, and also ask in advance the cost of goods. In addition, local taxi drivers, having noticed visitors, can raise prices, but you can bargain with them, just like in the market. When hitchhiking: there are areas where it is impossible to stop the car on the highway (the gender and money of the failed passenger are not important).
The international telephone code of Kazakhstan, like in Russia, is +7
(calls from Russia to Kazakhstan and vice versa are charged as
international), a transition to the code +997 is being prepared. The
country's Internet domains are .kz and .қАЗ.
Mobile Internet in
Kazakhstan works strangely. Excellent coverage is declared in cities
(most regional centers already have 5G), but it can spontaneously
disappear: there is a connection, but there is no access to sites, this
is especially possible during strikes and mass riots. Operators may
persistently ask to install a state security certificate, about which
there is little information. Far from cities and large villages, you
should not count on a connection by default, especially since most
operators do not have coverage maps in the public domain. There are no
permanent blocks of popular resources in Kazakhstan.
The
following mobile operators operate in the country: Beeline, Kcell/Activ,
Tele2 and the virtual operator IZI. SIM cards are sold everywhere in
Kazakhstan (and the hardest thing is to buy them in communication
stores), the usual price is 1000 tenge (sometimes cheaper, while at the
airport or at the border they may ask for 1500), of which 500 will be on
the account. Next, you need to register the SIM card (you will need
passport details and, possibly, a selfie) and the IMEI of the phone
(this is not such a complicated procedure as in Turkey): usually the
seller can help with this, but you can do it yourself according to the
instructions on the operator's website (you will need the Internet). All
operators have monthly tariffs and traffic packages, but for a short
visit it is easier not to pay for them, but to use the daily tariff,
which all operators have. You can top up your account from international
cards and from Russian bank applications, SIM card sellers will also
offer to put money, but you can safely refuse this so as not to check
their reliability.
In antiquity, various empires arose in the area of what would later become Kazakhstan. The most famous are the empires of the Turkic Kangly, Sha-t’o, Kirghiz, Kimek and Naimans, who ruled mainly northern, southern and eastern Kazakhstan. The south was formed primarily by the Iranian empire of the Khorezm Shah, to whom the territories of the Turkic Karakhanids and the Türgesh were also formally subject. What would later become western Kazakhstan was subject to the empires of the Kypchaks and the Oghuz.
In the 13th century, Kazakhstan was overrun by Genghis Khan's Mongols
and incorporated into his empire: large parts of what is now Kazakhstan
belonged to the Orda Horde. In the west of the country was the territory
of the Golden Horde, while the south was de jure controlled by the
Chagatai Khanate. In southwestern Kazakhstan, in the areas between the
Caspian Sea and the Aral Sea, the Khans of the Nogai Horde ruled de
facto since the 15th century.
Affected by Timur's conquests in
the 14th/15th century, the Uzbek and Kazakh Khanates emerged. In the
following period, three successor khanates were formed on the basis of
the latter ("Older/Greater Shuz" in the Seven Rivers Region (kas. ұлы
жүз), "Middle Shuz" in central Kazakhstan (kas. Орта жүз) and
"Younger/Small Shuz" (kas. Кіші жүз)). They later became part of the
Russian Empire. These state-like entities also play a role today.
From 1640 onwards, the Mongolian Oirats formed the Dzungarian
Khanate in Kazakhstan's eastern neighbourhood and from the early 18th
century onwards they repeatedly invaded Kazakhstan. In 1718, the
Dzungars defeated the Kazakhs on the Ajagus River (on Lake Balkhash),
thus beginning the period of "great misfortune" for the Kazakhs. This
was followed by repeated attacks by the Dzungars on Kazakh territory
until the Chinese defeated the Dzungarian Khanate in 1755.
In order to avoid being incorporated by China, what would become
Kazakhstan gradually submitted to the Russian Empire in the middle of
the 18th century. The three Kazakh-Kirghiz hordes were now formed there.
In the 19th century, Kazakh resistance to Russian rule began: In 1812,
the Kazakh Bokey Horde was founded on the territory of the former Nogai
Horde, with the aim of restoring the Khanate under its leadership. Its
prince Bokey was a Genghis Khan and was a candidate for the title of
Khan of the Small Horde at the end of the 18th century. After his
failure, he asked the Russian Tsar for admission. He settled with his
followers in the area between the Volga and the Urals, and Bokey Khan
became a loyal vassal of the Tsar. The Tsar appointed him as the second
Khan of the Middle Horde in 1812. But a short time later, all hordes
were dissolved and what would become Kazakhstan was subjugated by
General Kaufmann (d. 1882) and thus placed under the General Government
of Turkestan.
Most of Kazakhstan's cities were founded by
Russians during this period. These include Astana, Almaty,
Semipalatinsk, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Petropavl and others.
After the February Revolution of 1917 in Petrograd and the overthrow
of the autocratic Tsar Nicholas II, the new ideas of the revolution were
also spread in Kazakhstan. In the same year, the Kazakh national
movement Alash proclaimed the autonomy of Kazakhstan within a federal
Russia. Since the Alash Orda refused to recognize the Bolsheviks'
seizure of power, it came into conflict with the new Russian Soviet
government. During the Russian Civil War, the area of today's
Kazakhstan was fought over between the Bolsheviks, the Alash Orda and
Russian anti-communist groups, with alliances and power relations
changing several times. In 1919, the area was finally subjugated by the
Soviets.
On August 26, 1920, the northern and central parts of
today's Kazakhstan became the Kirghiz Autonomous Soviet Socialist
Republic within the RSFSR. Its first capital was Orenburg, which is now
part of Russia. Women's suffrage was recognized in the first
constitution of the USSR on January 31, 1924. After the dissolution of
the Turkestan ASSR, what is now southern Kazakhstan and what is now
Karakalpakstan were incorporated into the Kirghiz Autonomous Soviet
Socialist Republic in 1924/1925. In April 1925, it was renamed the
Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Republic. Orenburg was separated from the
Kazakh ASSR and immediately became part of the RSFSR. The new capital
was Kyzylorda in 1925 and then Alma-Ata (now Almaty) in 1929.
The
population of Kazakhstan suffered from an unprecedented agrarian crisis
from 1928 to 1933, the result of the violent and forced collectivization
and dekulakization carried out throughout the Soviet Union and, not
least, the associated administrative settlement of the nomads of
Kazakhstan. The social and economic situation was characterized by
massive expropriations, mass deportations, mass flight and widespread
unrest. Famines cost the lives of around 1.3 to 1.5 million people.
Other sources speak of 1.5 to 1.7 million deaths and up to 42% of the
population dying of hunger.
On December 5, 1936, Kazakhstan was
declared the Kazakh SSR, an independent union republic of the Soviet
Union separate from the RSFSR, while Karakalpakstan was annexed to
neighboring Uzbekistan as an autonomous republic.
During the
Soviet era, Kazakhstan experienced a massive development spurt. The
country, which had previously been a rather nomadic country, was opened
up with new railway lines and made usable for large-scale intensive
agriculture. Industrial plants were established in the cities and,
thanks to the wave of immigration of skilled workers from Russia, there
was strong population growth. During World War II, Kazakhstan served as
both an evacuation site for numerous people from the European part of
the Soviet Union and as a deportation destination for peoples who were
directly accused of collaborating with Nazi Germany (Crimean Tatars,
Chechens, Ingush) or who were considered possible collaborators with the
enemy (Russian Germans, Koreans).
Nikita Khrushchev ran an
extensive and costly agricultural program to develop the northern Kazakh
steppes for agriculture. Huge irrigation systems were built, and there
was even talk of a project to divert the Siberian rivers to the south,
the so-called Davydov Plan. Under Khrushchev, the Baikonur spaceport was
also built in Kazakhstan.
In 1990, Kazakhstan declared its sovereignty within the USSR.
Nursultan Nazarbayev became head of state.
On December 16, 1991,
the Republic of Kazakhstan declared its independence. Kazakh became the
official language, the capital Alma-Ata was renamed Almaty, and December
16 became a national holiday. Nursultan Nazarbayev had already been
elected president on December 1, 1991 in the first direct elections.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan made territorial
claims against its neighboring states. For example, it claimed all of
Uzbekistan's territories inhabited by southern Kazakhs, including the
autonomous republic inhabited by the Karakalpaks. At that time, the
majority of this ethnic minority also favored the annexation of their
territories to the linguistically related Kazakhstan.
In 1992,
Kazakhstan founded the Central Asian-Turkish Summit together with
Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Turkey.
On
January 28, 1993, the constitution of independent Kazakhstan recognized
women's active and passive right to vote.
In 1997, the government
and parliament moved from Almaty to Akmola. Akmola was proclaimed the
official capital and renamed Astana (capital) in 1998. The reasons given
for this were Astana's better long-term development opportunities
compared to Almaty, which is located in an earthquake-prone valley.
Astana's more central location compared to Almaty, which is close to the
Kyrgyz border, may also have played a role. It is possible that the aim
was to counteract separatist tendencies in the north of the country,
which is populated by many ethnic minorities (mainly Russians), by
making a city closer to these areas the capital.
After more than
30 years in power as an authoritarian ruler, Nazarbayev resigned in
March 2019 and handed over power to Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, whom he had
chosen as his successor. Under his direction, the capital Astana was
renamed "Nursultan" in honor of Nazarbayev. In January 2022, serious
unrest broke out during anti-government protests in which more than 200
people were killed. The protests were also crushed with the help of
Russian troops. Shortly after the events, the country's capital was
renamed "Astana" in a move away from the prevailing personality cult.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was followed by a cautious
distancing of Kazakhstan from its long-time partner Russia. In addition,
political reforms were introduced, such as limiting the term of office
of the president.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and independence, there has
been a massive change in the ethnic composition of Kazakhstan. At the
time of independence in 1990, Kazakhstan was the most ethnically and
linguistically Russified of the Central Asian republics. In the 1989
census, Kazakhs made up only 39.7% of the population of the then Kazakh
Soviet Republic. 37.7% of the population were ethnic Russians. The
proportion of Turkic-speaking peoples (Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Kirghiz,
Uighurs, Karakalpaks and Tatars) combined was 48% in 1989. This made
Kazakhstan the only Soviet republic in which the nominal national
population did not form a majority. Just ten years later, the 1999
census showed a very different picture. Kazakhs made up a slight
majority of the population at 55.3%, while the proportion of the Russian
population had fallen to 29.9%. The Turkic peoples listed above together
made up 61% of the population. The main reason for this significant
ethnic change was mass emigration, particularly of the Slavic parts of
the population, mostly to Russia, and of the large German minority to
Germany. The main reason for the mass emigration was Kazakhstan's dire
economic situation in the 1990s. In the decade between 1989 and 1999,
Kazakhstan lost almost 9% of its population despite a surplus of births.
The higher birth rate of the Turkic-speaking population (with the
exception of the Tatars) also contributed to the increase in the
Turkic-speaking population. According to calculations from official
statistics, around 3.36 million people born in Kazakhstan emigrated
between 1991 and 1999. Between 1991 and 2010, more than 1.9 million
ethnic Russians emigrated to Russia. Between 1992 and 2010, almost
800,000 Kazakhstani Germans emigrated, mostly to Germany.
The
Kazakh government called on or encouraged Kazakhs living abroad to
return to Kazakhstan. Between 1991 and 1999, 759,000 people immigrated
to Kazakhstan. The immigrants came mainly from the CIS states
(Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Russia and Tajikistan) and to a lesser extent
from other states (mainly Mongolia, China, Iran and Turkey). For
example, it was estimated that in the first three decades of
independence, more than 150,000 ethnic Kazakhs immigrated to Kazakhstan
from China. Between 1991 and 2015, according to the Kazakhstani
Statistics Office, a total of 953,908 ethnic Kazakhs immigrated to
Kazakhstan.
After the turn of the millennium, the dynamics of
migration and the negative migration balance decreased sharply and in
2004 Kazakhstan recorded a positive migration balance for the first time
since 1968 (68,300 immigrants, 65,500 emigrants). Between 2001 and 2010,
immigrants from Uzbekistan and Russia accounted for 85.9% of total
immigration and emigration was mainly towards Russia (72.2%). The
proportion of migrants to Germany decreased sharply (1999–2006: 24.7%,
2006–2010: 4.6%). The 1999 census also showed a significant increase in
knowledge of the Kazakh language. While in 1989 less than 1% of the
"European" population had knowledge of Kazakh, by 1999 this had risen to
15%.
The will of the Kazakh elite to promote the Kazakh language
throughout the state was symbolically expressed in the relocation of the
state capital from southern Almaty to Astana, located in the northern,
Russian-influenced heartland. Attempts were also made to create
predominantly Kazakh administrative units through appropriate
administrative reforms. The Semipalatinsk and Shezkazgan oblasts, with
54 and 49% ethnic Kazakh populations respectively, were merged with the
East Kazakhstan oblasts (67% Slavic population) and Karaganda oblasts
(63% Slavic population). Parts of Kokshetau were annexed to Akmola and
North Kazakhstan. The Kostanai oblast was enlarged by parts of Torgai.
Official Kazakhstan authorities have repeatedly emphasized that
Kazakhstan does not see itself as a national state of the Kazakhs, but
that Kazakhstan is a multi-ethnic state. Any form of ethno-nationalism
was strongly condemned. In the 1990s, then President Nazarbayev
proclaimed the goal of establishing a national identity that was not
based on ethnic affiliation. In fact, unlike other former Soviet
republics (e.g. in the Caucasus), there were no open violent ethnic
conflicts in Kazakhstan after independence. The state made efforts to
promote the cultures of the many different ethnic groups. To this end,
Nazarbayev established the Assembly of the Peoples of Kazakhstan in
1995, which included representatives of the various ethnic groups. In
practice, however, the state's policy towards the various ethnic groups
was quite different, according to Western political analysts. Ethnic
groups without a nation state (e.g. Dungans, Kurds and Uighurs) enjoyed
the greatest freedom, as did those that were numerically small and
considered socially weak or without influence (Chechens, Buryats). The
second group consisted of nationalities who had close contacts with
their country of origin and were often supported materially by it
(Germans, Koreans, and to a lesser extent Ukrainians, Poles and Greeks).
The third group consisted of ethnic Russians, who could hardly be
considered a minority due to their large numbers. Repeated demands by
representatives of the Russian minority for the establishment of
autonomous regions for their ethnic group were rejected or suppressed by
the state authorities. The state tried to promote the use of the Kazakh
language and since the late 1990s state employees had to prove their
knowledge of Kazakh in a test. The administrative language was
increasingly changed to Kazakh and the influence of Russian was reduced.
Kazakhstan is mostly located in Central Asia. If the inner Eurasian
border is defined according to the Strahlenberg border, around 5.4% of
the country's area would be assigned to the farthest reaches of Eastern
Europe.
With an area of 2,724,900 square kilometers, Kazakhstan
is the ninth largest country in the world and also the largest
landlocked country. It is located roughly in the middle of Eurasia and
stretches from the Volga plain in the west to the Altai Mountains in the
east. Geographically speaking, 5% of the area belongs to Europe. The
southern border is formed by the Tian Shan mountain range, the river
plain of the Syr Darya (Jaxartes of antiquity), the Aral Sea and the
Kyzylkum Desert. To the north, Kazakhstan extends without any natural
borders into the Ural region and the West Siberian lowland. Most of the
country consists of plains (steppe and desert), in the northwest lies
the Mugodschar Mountains, in the center the Kazakhstan Sill, while in
the southeast the mountains of the Tian Shan rise up to 7010 meters
high.
Kazakhstan has a 7644-kilometer-long border with Russia in
the north. This is the second longest land border between two states in
the world. In the east, Kazakh territory meets the People's Republic of
China (1765 kilometers), further south the Central Asian states of
Kyrgyzstan (1212 kilometers), Uzbekistan (2330 kilometers including the
230 km border section across the Aral Sea) and Turkmenistan (413
kilometers). The total length of the country's borders including the
coastline on the Caspian Sea (previously pseudo-international waters
status) is 13,364 kilometers.
The Kazakh coastline on the
northern shore of the Aral Sea - which is drying up - is 1,070
kilometers long and on the Caspian Sea 1,894 kilometers long.
The relief of Kazakhstan is varied, although most of the territory
consists of plains, low mountains and hills. The west of the country is
characterized by the Caspian Depression, a mostly swampy area below sea
level, which merges into the Ustyurt Plateau in the east. To the west of
this plateau, on the Mangystau Peninsula, is the lowest point in
Kazakhstan, the Karagiye Depression (132 meters below sea level).
From the east, the Caspian Depression is bordered by the southern
foothills of the Ural Mountains, the Mugodzhar Mountains, which are up
to 656 meters high. Further southeast, around the Aral Sea, lies the
Turanian Depression, which also includes the largest deserts in the
country, the Kyzylkum and the Aralkum. In the center of Kazakhstan is
the Kazakh Sill (Kazakh: Saryarka), an area characterized by steppes and
semi-deserts with many medium-sized (500 to 1547 m) mountains and ranges
such as the Ulutau, the Kokshetau or the Karkaraly. In the northwest,
the Kazakh Sill is bordered by the Turgai Plateau and in the north by
the West Siberian Plain. In these regions, the landscape is
characterized by fertile steppes and forest-steppes with many lakes and
rivers. In the east of the republic are the forest-covered mountain
ranges of the Altai with the highest mountain in the region, Belucha
(4506 meters), which separate Siberia from the Central Asian deserts.
South of the Kazakh Sill lies the Hunger Steppe (Kazakh:
Betpak-Dala). Even further south of this steppe and Lake Balkhash lies a
belt of deserts, Mujunkum, and the Seven Rivers Land, which was fertile
in the past. In the very south of Kazakhstan, on the borders with China
and Kyrgyzstan, there are high mountains such as the Dzungarian Alatau,
the Qaratau and especially the Tian Shan (Chinese for "heavenly
mountains"); the latter is one of the highest mountain ranges in the
world. The mountains, partly covered by forests and especially by
glaciers, reach a height of 7439 m in neighboring Kyrgyzstan. The
highest mountain in Kazakhstan is the Khan Tengri (7010 meters), located
in the extreme southeast.
Due to its size and its spread over many natural zones, Kazakhstan
has an extremely diverse flora and fauna. The diverse natural treasures
are protected in 16 Kazakh national parks and nature reserves.
In
the north, where the steppes and forest-steppes predominate, which
together make up 28.5% of Kazakhstan's area, many cereal plants and
grasses grow, with feather grasses being particularly common in the
steppes. There are also many medicinally useful plants, such as Adonis,
St. John's wort (Hypericum) and valerian (Valeriana). Wormwood is very
common. Birch, aspen, willow and currant bushes grow in the forest
"islands"; further west, spruce; and towards the west, oak and linden.
There are many berries in the forests. The typical inhabitants of this
zone are rodents such as ground squirrels, marmots, jerboas and
squirrels. There are also many hares, stoats, badgers, wolves and foxes.
Wild boars, elk and deer live in the forests, and the rare and protected
saiga antelope lives in the steppe. There are particularly many birds,
including waterfowl, as there are over 1500 lakes in this region,
including swans, eagles, bustards (these are the largest birds in
Kazakhstan, they can weigh up to 16 kilograms), vultures, cranes,
herons, ducks, geese, grouse, woodpeckers, larks and many others.
Over 14% of the territory is semi-desert. Here you will find much
less biodiversity than in the steppes. Wormwood, chamomile and feather
grasses are particularly common. Hares, ground squirrels and jerboas can
also still be found here, and you will often come across wolves and
corsac foxes, and somewhat less often saiga and goitered gazelle. There
are many species of lizards and snakes.
The most common natural
environment in Kazakhstan is desert. Only dry, small plants with long
roots grow here. Sedge, desert feather grass and wormwood are the most
common. In summer, most plants burn in the sun. Shrubs are quite common,
especially saxaul. Large animals are rare in the desert. More common are
ungulates such as goiter gazelles or saigas or wild boars that live near
water sources. Wolves and reed cats are even rarer. Asian wild asses can
be found in the Altyn-Emel National Park and the Barsa Kelmes Nature
Reserve, for example. In some river forests within the dry areas, the
endangered Bukhara deer, which was once the main prey of the extinct
Caspian tiger, can be found. Smaller animals such as hedgehogs, turtles
and jerboas can adapt better to the extreme conditions. Reptiles such as
various agamas and some species of snakes are widespread throughout the
desert; In total, there are around 50 to 60 different species of
reptiles in Kazakhstan. Scorpions are also part of the fauna that lives
in Kazakhstan.
In the huge mountains of the Tian Shan, which are
mostly covered by spruce forests, you can still find the snow leopard -
one of Kazakhstan's national symbols. However, stable populations of
this cat can only be found in the Aksu-Jabagly and Almaty nature
reserves. The lynx is also widespread, and there are numerous bears in
the Altai. The Tien Shan brown bear is found further south. Both
mountains are also home to Siberian ibexes and giant wild sheep. Steppe
wild sheep live in the southwestern mountain steppes.
Thanks to a
connection from the Arctic Ocean to the Caspian Sea before the last ice
age, large seal colonies can still be found on the Caspian Sea today.
The Caspian seal is the only inland seal species alongside the Baikal
seal.
Kazakhstan is one of the countries in the world with the most natural
resources.
There are large oil and gas fields around the Caspian
Sea, which cover almost the entire west of the country, especially the
areas of Mangystau, Atyrau and Aktobe. The most important sources are
Makat, Dossor, Usen, Karazhanbas and Karachaganak. There are also
suspected oil deposits around the Aral Sea. There are other, poorer oil
and gas fields in the south of the country, in the areas of Taras,
Shymkent, Shezkazgan and Kyzylorda.
The Qaraghandy Basin is a
globally important coal deposit. The Qaraghandy region was one of the
most important coal suppliers in the Soviet Union. The Ekibastuz and
Astana basins are also far from being exhausted.
There are rich
iron ore deposits in the Qostanai region. The country's most important
copper deposits are located around Shezkazgan and Balqash, and gold is
mined in the Altai Mountains. Rich manganese deposits exist around
Atassu and Shezdy near Shezkazgan. Nickel lies underground in the Aktobe
region.
About 200 kilometers southwest of Qostanai lies the once
beautiful town of Shitiqara (Jetygara). The gold here literally lies
under the houses. Many were demolished to get to the gold.
Kazakhstan ranks first in the world in deposits of the following raw
materials: chromium, vanadium, bismuth, fluorine. Kazakhstan is one of
the leaders in deposits of uranium, iron, copper, coal, cobalt,
tungsten, lead, zinc and molybdenum. Opals were also found during
uranium prospecting.
There are several important rivers in Kazakhstan that are navigable.
They all flow in the outskirts of the country, while in the central part
there are almost exclusively steppe rivers with no outlet, which often
dry up in midsummer.
The longest rivers in Kazakhstan are the
Irtysh (4473 kilometers, of which 1700 kilometers are in Kazakhstan),
the Syr Darya (2212/1400 kilometers), the Shayq (Russian and German
Ural) (2428/1100 kilometers) and the Ili (1001/815 kilometers). Other
important rivers are the Ishim, Tobol, Emba, Sarysu (the longest steppe
river with no outlet), Chui and Nura. The Irtysh and Nura are connected
by the most important canal in the country: the Irtysh-Qaraghandy Canal
(500 kilometers).
Kazakhstan is rich in lakes, especially in the
north of the country. There are around 48,000 large and small lakes
throughout the country, most of which are salt lakes. The largest lake
in Kazakhstan is the Caspian Sea, which is around 371,000 square
kilometers in size, and around a quarter of its area is in Kazakhstan.
The lake has rich natural reserves, for example in the form of fish; the
protected Caspian seal also lives here.
The second largest lake
is the Aral Sea, which is in danger of drying up. This process has been
going on since 1975 and has already caused lasting damage to people and
nature. It is also attributed to the fact that Uzbekistan has been
draining large amounts of water for cotton cultivation for years. The
lake has now split into three parts. As far as is known, the shrinking
of the water surface has slowed down considerably in recent years.
Lake Balkhash is also one of the world's most important lakes. It is
18,428 square kilometers in size and 620 kilometers long. It belongs
entirely to Kazakhstan. One of the special features of Balkhash is that
it is the only lake in the world that is half fresh and half salt water.
The nature-rich Lake Zaysan is located in the Altai mountains. Other
larger lakes in Kazakhstan are Lake Siletiniz in the north, Lake Tengiz
and Lake Karakoyyn in the center and Lake Alakol in the southeast of the
country. The magnificent lakes of Burabai (Borowoje) and Markakol are
important for tourism.
The largest reservoirs are Kapschaghai,
Buchtarma and Shardara.
Kazakhstan's climate is continental, which means that cold winters
with temperatures as low as -40 degrees Celsius are followed immediately
by long, hot summers with temperatures over +40 degrees Celsius.
Deserts cover around 44% of Kazakhstan's area. These are usually sandy
deserts and gravel deserts.
Kazakhstan is a state divided into 17 regions (regions, Kazakh oblys,
plural oblystar) and three cities with special status (city of
republican importance, Kazakh. Республикалық маңызы бар қала
Republikalyq mangysy bar qala). These subnational units are further
divided into districts.
The last change in the territorial
boundaries was made by Presidential Decree No. 887 of May 3, 2022, which
came into force on June 8, 2022. Three new regions were created: Abai
from parts of East Kazakhstan, Ulytau from parts of Karaganda and
Zhetissu from parts of Almaty.
In 2023, 58 percent of Kazakhstan's population lived in cities. The
capital and seat of government is Astana, located in central Kazakhstan,
with 1,131,891 inhabitants. Astana is one of Kazakhstan's major
industrial and service centers and a university city.
The
metropolis, largest city in the country and at the same time the most
important economic and cultural center in the country is Almaty
(formerly Alma-Ata), located in southeast Kazakhstan. The city has
1,909,471 inhabitants.
The city of Shymkent, located in the south
of the country, is the third largest Kazakh city with 1,033,478
inhabitants, followed by Aktobe in the northwest with 559,965
inhabitants. Qaraghandy (485,300 inhabitants) in central Kazakhstan, the
capital of the Qaraghandy region, is the fifth largest city in the
country and an important economic location for Kazakh industry. Other
important cities are Taraz (406,262 inhabitants), Pavlodar (334,105
inhabitants), Öskemen in the northeast and the oil strongholds of Aqtau
and Atyrau in western Kazakhstan.
After an initial population decline in the decade after independence,
Kazakhstan has experienced continuous population growth since 2002.
According to official statistics, Kazakhstan's population exceeded 20
million on November 14, 2023. According to the March 2009 census,
Kazakhstan had 16,009,600 inhabitants. A surplus of births (birth rate:
20.6 per 1,000 inhabitants vs. death rate: 6.8 per 1,000 inhabitants)
contributed to population growth. The statistical number of births per
woman in 2022 was 3.1, compared to 1.7 in the Europe and Central Asia
region. The life expectancy of Kazakhstan's inhabitants from birth was
74.4 years in 2022. The median age of the population in 2021 was 29.5
years. In 2023, 29.6 percent of the population was under 15 years old,
while the proportion of people over 64 was 8.2 percent of the
population.
The average population density in Kazakhstan is 7
people per square kilometer, making it one of the lowest in the world.
The most densely populated are the districts in the far south, around
Almaty, Shymkent and Taraz, as well as steppe regions in the north,
areas of Astana, Petropavl, the north of the Kostanay and Karaganda
regions; the right bank of the Irtysh.
Members of more than 50 ethnic groups live in Kazakhstan, each of
which currently has more than 1,000 members. According to the 2021
census, the largest ethnic group is the Turkic-speaking Kazakhs, making
up 70.4% of the population. The largest minority is the Russians, making
up almost 24% (corresponding to almost 3.0 million). The Turkic-speaking
minorities include around 614,000 Uzbeks, 290,000 Uighurs, 219,000
Tatars, around 86,000 Meskhetians and 146,000 Azerbaijanis, as well as
smaller groups of Bashkirs, Chuvash, Turkmen, Kyrgyz, Karakalpaks,
Crimean Tatars and Balkan Turks. In recent years, however, many Russians
have emigrated to Russia for political and economic reasons. Other
minorities of European origin include Ukrainians (388,000), Germans
(226,000, Kazakhstani Germans) and small communities of Poles, Latvians,
Lithuanians, Belarusians and Greeks (all figures for 2021). In 2017, 20%
of the population was not born in what is now Kazakhstan. At the same
time, 2.5 million people born in Kazakhstan lived in Russia and 1
million in Germany.
The Caucasus peoples who also live here
include several thousand Armenians as well as Georgians, Chechens,
Circassians, Ossetians, Avars and Zachurs. Kazakhstan is also home to a
significant minority of around 100,000 Koreans (or Korjo-Saram), a good
0.6% of the population. Small Iranian-speaking minorities such as Kurds
(38,000), Pashtuns and Persians also live in Kazakhstan. Other
minorities, such as Buryats, Mongolians, Tibetans, Dungans and Chinese,
make up only a small proportion of the population (all figures 2009).
Most members of the non-Russian minorities were forcibly deported to
Kazakhstan during the Stalin era. Many were interned in labor camps.
However, many immigrated to Kazakhstan for economic reasons. Until the
collapse of the USSR, almost all universities required graduates with
appropriate specialized training to go to Kazakhstan. No other Soviet
republic at that time received such a stream of migrants.
Changes
since independence include government efforts to establish Kazakh as the
predominant official language instead of Russian. Despite efforts to
ensure good relations between the various population groups, tendencies
towards the displacement of ethnic minorities are spreading in Central
Asia.
According to the 1989 census, shortly before the founding of the
state, more than 80 percent of the population spoke Russian either as
their mother tongue or as a foreign language. 64 percent of Kazakhs also
stated in the 1989 census that they spoke Russian fluently. A
significant proportion of ethnic Kazakhs, particularly in the cities,
had only an imperfect command of the Kazakh language or even no
knowledge of it at all. Knowledge of Kazakh was not widespread among the
non-Kazakh population. In 1989, less than 1 percent of the Russian
population of Kazakhstan also spoke Kazakh. Therefore, the Russian
language remained the lingua franca, i.e. the medium of communication
between the ethnic groups of Kazakhstan, for a long time after
independence. Efforts to promote the Kazakh language had already been
made in the last years of the Soviet era. In 1987, the Council of
Ministers and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan
passed a "Resolution on Improving the Study of the Kazakh Language." In
1989, after public discussion, the "Language Law" was enacted, and on
July 1, 1991, the "State Program for the Development of the Kazakh
Language and Other National Languages in the KSSR until the Year 2000"
was enacted. The Declaration of Sovereignty published on September 16,
1990 and the Declaration of Independence of December 1991 avoided the
difficult topic of the language of Kazakhstan. The issue was not finally
settled in the constitutions of 1993 and 1995 either. The first
permanent regulation was Law No. 151-I of July 11, 1997, which
established Kazakh as the official state language of Kazakhstan (Chapter
1, Article 4) and obliged every citizen to learn the state language, but
granted Russian equal status in practically all matters (authorities,
army, administration, education and science).
After independence,
the Kazakh government continued to promote the Kazakh language at all
levels. For example, the proportion of schools where instruction was
exclusively in Kazakh increased from 32.4% in 1990 to 56.0% in 2004.
However, in 2003, 20% of all ethnic Kazakh students still attended
purely Russian-speaking schools. This trend towards the appreciation and
expansion of the Kazakh language in society and the state was encouraged
by ongoing emigration and the associated relative and absolute decline
in the Russian-speaking population. The Kazakh government repeatedly
stressed the need for harmony between the different languages and
condemned "linguistic nationalism".
The private language
association Qazaq tili (Kazakh language) now enjoys semi-official
status. Since 1989/90, it has been promoting the increased use of the
country's own language and the development and spread of Kazakh among
the population. The changeover from the Cyrillic alphabet to the Latin
alphabet is aimed, among other things, at strengthening Kazakh over
Russian. The transition period for the changeover was initially set to
last until 2025. The government has approved a budget of 218 billion
tenge (around 550 million euros) for the changeover, 90% of which is to
be used for educational programs. In order to be able to represent the
sounds of Kazakh, Latin letters with diacritical marks are to be used.
Kazakhstan has experienced four fundamental writing reforms in just
under 100 years. Until the October Revolution in 1917, the Arabic script
was used in the predominantly Islamic country. In fact, however, with an
illiteracy rate of around 90%, only a few people knew how to use it.
When the Arabic alphabet was replaced by the Latin alphabet in Turkey in
1928 (Kazakh belongs to the Turkic language family), Kazakhstan also
introduced the Latin alphabet in 1929. In the 1940s, the Cyrillic
alphabet was introduced across the board in the Soviet Union, to which
Kazakhstan belonged at the time (unlike Georgia, Armenia and the Baltic
states, Kazakhstan was not exempt from this rule). Since the country
gained independence in 1991, a return to the Latin alphabet has been on
the domestic political agenda. In this respect, Kazakhstan followed the
example of other Turkic states that had already formally switched over:
Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan in 1991 and Uzbekistan in 2001.
The
switchover formally began in 1998. After an initial transition period of
2025 was set, the transition period for the slow-moving conversion to
the Latin-Kazakh script was temporarily shortened to 2015 in December
2012. On October 27, 2017, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev
instructed his government to replace the Cyrillic alphabet with the
Latin alphabet by 2025. However, this changeover was slow and met with
criticism and rejection, even from native Kazakh speakers. It was
overwhelmingly rejected by Russian-speaking intellectuals in Kazakhstan.
The new alphabet introduced in 2017 was modified four times by 2022. The
final version of the new alphabet was symbolically presented on January
28, 2021, during the celebrations of the 30th anniversary of
Kazakhstan's independence by a commission of the Akhmet Baitursynuly
Institute of Linguistics and was positively received. The new alphabet
consists of 31 letters, some of which are non-Latin, such as ә (ä), ө
(ö), ү (ü), ұ (ū), ғ (ğ), ш (ş). The date of the final conversion has
been postponed from 2025 to 2031.
It is difficult to determine the exact number of members of
individual religious communities, since in corresponding surveys
religious affiliation is often assumed to be analogous to ethnic
affiliation (e.g. Slavs as Orthodox Christians, Kazakhs as Muslims,
etc.). Kazakhstan is generally considered to be part of the Islamic
world, since Muslims make up the majority of the country's population at
over 70%.
Another 26% of the population are Christians. There are
also small Jewish communities in the cities.
The number of
religious associations in Kazakhstan is 4,173, whereas in 1990 there
were only 670. Religious associations have 3,129 places of worship at
their disposal - 2,229 of them are mosques, 258 Orthodox and 93 Catholic
churches, 6 synagogues and more than 500 Protestant churches and prayer
houses. There are 384 missionaries from more than 20 countries working
in the republic, whereas in 1990 there were only 12 in total. The
religious holidays of Eid al-Fitr and Christmas are non-working holidays
in Kazakhstan.
Since 2003, on the initiative of President
Nazarbayev, congresses of the leaders of world and traditional religions
have been held in Kazakhstan. Also on the initiative of President
Nazarbayev, 2010 was declared the International Year of Rapprochement of
Cultures by a resolution of the UN General Assembly.
In 1995, the
General Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan was established as an
advisory body to the head of state.
Despite decades of forced
atheism by the Soviet Union, only 2.8% of the population were declared
atheists, according to an estimate for 2009. In 2019, according to a
statement by parliamentarian Vladimir Boyko, 18.8% of the population
were atheists.
Around 70% of the population are Muslims, most of whom are Sunnis.
The first contact with Islam took place in the eighth century. The
Battle of Talas in 751 curbed Chinese influence by the Umayyads from
Khorasan in Central Asia, allowing Islam to spread quickly in the
region. This development initially came to a halt due to the Mongol
invasion. When some Mongol leaders converted to Islam, the process
picked up speed again. The north of Kazakhstan, which was populated by
nomads, only came into contact with Islam later. Many nomads continued
their shamanistic traditions after converting. Under Catherine II,
Islamic missionary activity among the nomads was promoted as a means of
"civilization" and the Koran was also translated into Russian. From the
middle of the 19th century, however, Russian authorities increasingly
perceived Islam as a threat to their power. Teaching Arabic was banned
and the publication of books critical of Islam was encouraged. At the
same time, Christian settlers also settled in previously nomadic areas.
During the Soviet Union, Islam, like all other religions, was suppressed
and all mosques in the country, with a few exceptions, were closed or
converted.
Most Kazakhs are still secular and only practice their
religion on major holidays such as Ramadan or the Feast of Sacrifice,
sometimes mixed with pre-Islamic customs. This is especially true today
for the Kazakh nomads and for the Kazakhs in the north, who were
Russified during the Soviet era. In 1991, there were again over 170
mosques and 230 Muslim communities throughout Kazakhstan. Since then,
Kazakhstan has received financial aid from Turkey, Egypt and Saudi
Arabia. The number of pilgrims to Mecca from Kazakhstan is also
increasing. While the number of pilgrims in 2001 was 228, by 2007 there
were already 4,300. In 2006, the day of the Muslim festival of sacrifice
was declared an official holiday.
26% of the population are Christians. The largest proportion are
Russian Orthodox Christians. But the Armenian Apostolic Church, Greek
Orthodox Church and Georgian Orthodox Apostolic Church are also
represented. Kazakhstan Germans are mostly Lutherans (Evangelical
Lutheran Church in the Republic of Kazakhstan) or Mennonites. Many
residents of Eastern European descent in Kazakhstan are Catholics, thus
part of the Roman Catholic Church in Kazakhstan or the Kazakh Greek
Catholic Church.
The first Christians immigrated to the Central
Asian region in the third and fourth centuries from what is now Syria
and the Byzantine Empire via Persia. They were Nestorians. This faith
disappeared in the 14th century at the latest.
The Orthodox faith
is the second largest religion after Islam. The Orthodox Church grew in
size as a result of Russian expansion. After various waves of
immigration, by 1871 there were already around 400,000 Orthodox
Christians living in Central Asia; they maintained over 300 churches.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, believers were able to practice
their religion in Kazakhstan again, which revived the churches and
enabled the construction of new churches. Many Russians from Central
Asia emigrated to Russia because the standard of living there was higher
than in other successor states of the USSR, such as Kazakhstan.
The first Protestants to arrive in Kazakhstan were Russian Germans who
were in Russian military service. In the 1880s there was an influx of
Lutherans and Baptists from the west of the Russian Empire. The
deportation of Russian Germans to Central Asia multiplied the number of
Protestants there. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the number of
Protestant institutions in the country increased.
Currently there
are around 300,000 Catholics living in Kazakhstan. The first
missionaries were Franciscan monks who came to Central Asia in the 13th
century to win over the local rulers to their religion. In the second
half of the 19th century, the number of Catholics rose rapidly due to
immigration from the western border regions of the Russian Empire. After
the collapse of the Soviet Union, many Catholics took advantage of the
opportunity to practice their religion freely. The establishment of
diplomatic relations between Kazakhstan and the Vatican enabled Kazakh
Catholics to receive more support. The Vatican has also been supporting
the Catholic University in Qaraghandy since 1998. There are currently
around 80 Roman Catholic and 6 Greek Catholic institutions in
Kazakhstan.
In 1989, 18,492 Jews lived in the Kazakh SSR. In 2010, there were still around 3,700 people of Jewish faith, a proportion of less than 0.5% of the total population in the country. Many of them have emigrated to Germany, the United States or Israel. Almost all Jews living in Kazakhstan are Ashkenazim. The first Jews immigrated to Kazakhstan in the 14th century via Iran. Today, many Jews live in cities such as Astana, Almaty, Aktobe, Kyzylorda, Petropavl, Taraz and Shymkent. The country has a total of 28 Jewish institutions. In 2004, "Beyt Rahel-Habad Lyubovic", the largest synagogue in Central Asia, opened in Astana. In contrast to the Jews in Buxoro in Uzbekistan or the Mountain Jews in Azerbaijan, the Jewish community in Kazakhstan is scattered throughout the country. It is often difficult to reach the remote Jewish villages, especially in the winter months. To overcome this problem, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, with 13 Hesed offices across the country, offers social services and supplies the communities with food, medicine, clothing, etc.
Central Asia probably first encountered Buddhism in the 1st century BC. In the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, Buddhist missionaries from India came to this region. From the sixth century onwards, the Turkic population was under the influence of Buddhism. The Dzungar Mongols, from whom the Kalmyks split off at the beginning of the 17th century, operated monasteries in the Semiretschje (Seven Rivers) region of eastern Kazakhstan and south and east of Lake Balkhash from the 16th to the 18th century. They cultivated the Gelug tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. However, the religion was not able to establish itself permanently in society. Today, Buddhism is mainly practiced by foreign minorities such as Soviet Koreans or Tibetans.
There is a uniform national education system in Kazakhstan. At the
age of five to six, children first attend preschool, which is free for
all children. The aim here is to support the individual needs of each
child. The most important part of the Kazakh education model is the
middle school. It begins with the lower level (grades 1-4), continues
with the main level (grades 5-7) and ends with the upper level (grades
10-11 or 12). Depending on the region, the approximately 3.2 million
students are taught in seven different languages (Kazakh, Russian,
Uzbek, Uighur, Tajik and at one school each in Ukrainian and German). In
2015, over 99% of the adult population could read and write.
Higher education can be obtained in various institutions, including
universities, academy, institutes and equivalent institutions such as
conservatories, colleges and technical colleges. There are three levels
in the university structure. At the end of the course, you will receive
a university degree or a master's degree.
There are currently
around 170 universities in Kazakhstan, 110 of which are non-state, and
60 state universities. The largest universities include the Qaraghandy
State University (KSU), the Pavlodar State University (PSU) and the
Al-Farabi University. There is also a Kazakh-British Technical
University and a German-Kazakh University in Almaty. Technical
universities are located in Almaty, Qaraghandy and Öskemen, including
the Kazakh National Technical University of Almaty (KAZNPU).
In
the 2015 PISA ranking, Kazakh students ranked 42nd out of 72 countries
in mathematics, 43rd in science and 51st in reading comprehension.
The country's health spending in 2021 amounted to 3.9% of gross
domestic product. In 2020, there were 40.3 practicing doctors per 10,000
inhabitants in Kazakhstan. The mortality rate among children under 5 was
9.7 per 1,000 live births in 2022. The life expectancy of Kazakhstan's
inhabitants from birth was 74.4 years in 2022 (women: 78.4, men: 70.3).
Life expectancy increased by 14% from 65.5 years in 2000 to 2022.
The country is a presidential republic according to the Kazakh
constitution of 1995. The term of office of the head of state was five
years until September 2022 and one re-election was possible. However,
this rule did not apply to Nursultan Nazarbayev, the president from the
founding of the state in 1991 to 2019. With the constitutional amendment
in 2022, the term of office was limited to a seven-year period.
The parliament consists of a two-chamber system - the Senate and the
lower house.
Since 2022, the lower house (Maschilis) has had 98
members, who are elected in a mixture of proportional representation (69
MPs) and majority voting in constituencies (29 MPs). To enter the
Maschilis, a party needs a 5% share of the vote.
Immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991,
Kazakhstan's future prospects seemed relatively bleak. In the referendum
in the Soviet Union on March 17, 1991, the population voted in favor of
retaining the Soviet Union under renewed treaty conditions with 94.1% of
the votes and a voter turnout of 88.2%. A few months later, especially
after the August coup in Moscow in 1991, this option was no longer
available, and Kazakhstan was the last of the Soviet republics to
declare its independence from the Soviet Union on December 16, 1991.
However, the viability of the new state seemed questionable, as almost
40 percent of the population were ethnic Russians and the economy was
completely intertwined with that of Russia. After independence, the
country initially plunged into a deep economic crisis and the Kazakh
economy shrank by about 40% in the early 1990s. Large parts of the
Russian minority and the Kazakhstani Germans emigrated, mainly due to
the dire economic situation. On December 1, 1991, Nursultan Nazarbayev
was elected president without opposition. He managed to stabilize the
country with his authoritarian hand. This was also due to the remarkable
economic upturn that began around the turn of the millennium and was
largely driven by the export of raw materials, especially oil. Freedom
of the media and freedom of expression remained severely restricted. The
presidential and parliamentary elections held under Nazarbayev were
judged by Western observers to be neither free nor fair. In the
parliamentary elections in August 2007, the Nur Otan party founded by
Nazarbayev received 88% of the vote. Since none of the six opposition
parties that ran could overcome the seven percent hurdle, Nur Otan won
all 98 seats in parliament, meaning that the Communist Party of
Kazakhstan, whose chairman Nursultan Nazarbayev himself was until 1991,
could not enter parliament. The opposition lost the only seat it had
previously held. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE) stated that the election did not meet international standards,
particularly in the counting of votes and the implementation of new
legislation. The opposition parties did not recognize the result and
spoke of massive manipulation. On January 15, 2012, an early
parliamentary election was held, and Nur Otan received 83 seats. In the
2016 election, Nur Otan won 84 of the 99 seats.
Even after the
end of President Nazarbayev's authoritarian rule in 2019, domestic
policy initially continued to be shaped by him, as he remained Chairman
of the Security Council for life and had his position as "Leader of the
Nation" enshrined in the constitution. Nazarbayev's successor in 2019
was his long-time political confidant Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Tokayev was
initially seen by many as a "placeholder", and there was speculation
that Nazarbayev would continue to pull the strings in the background and
wanted to groom his daughter Darigha Nazarbayeva to be his successor.
Ultimately, however, things developed differently. After the mass
protests in Kazakhstan at the turn of the year 2021/2022, which were
suppressed with the help of CSTO troops, President Tokayev took
advantage of the changing political landscape to politically disempower
the entire Nazarbayev family clan. Symbolically, in September 2022, the
Kazakh capital was renamed from Nur-Sultan back to Astana and the ruling
party was also renamed from Nur Otan to Amanat. With a constitutional
amendment confirmed by a referendum, Tokayev initiated a cautious shift
towards more political pluralism. In the 2021 election, Amanat won 76 of
the 99 parliamentary seats.
The Washington, D.C.-based
non-governmental organization Freedom House classified Kazakhstan as
"not free" in 2022 with a "freedom index" of 23.
In 2014, President Nazarbayev expressed his intention to change the country's name. The background to the initiative was to differentiate himself from other states whose names contain the ending -stan, especially Afghanistan and Pakistan. The president feared that he would be perceived negatively abroad because the name Kazakhstan evoked negative associations. Nazarbayev argued that Mongolia was more interesting to foreigners because the country's name did not contain the syllable -stan. One suggestion for a new name is Kazakh Eli, which translates as "land of the Kazakhs." Another suggestion for the country's name was "Kazakh Republic." However, the project to change the country's name has not yet progressed beyond speculation.
Kazakhstan maintains strategic partnerships with Russia, China and
the USA. Kazakhstan is linked to its neighbour Russia by the Treaty of
Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance from 1992; it also has a
common border, strong trade links and a high proportion of Russians in
the population. The Baikonur Cosmodrome, which is leased from Russia, is
also located in the south of Kazakhstan. The partnership with China has
existed since 2005 and is based on the common interest in expanding the
transport infrastructure between the neighbours. Relations with the USA
are mainly characterised by the involvement of large US companies in the
country, but also by common interests such as the fight against
terrorism and drugs. On the other hand, relations with neighbouring
Uzbekistan are not always free of tension due to water and energy
issues. Relations with Europe have strengthened. They are based on the
Partnership and Cooperation Agreement signed in Brussels on January 23,
1995, which came into force on July 1, 1999.
Kazakhstan is a
member of numerous international organizations such as the UN and all UN
organizations (e.g. UNESCO), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
(SCO), the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the CIS, the
Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the Economic Cooperation
Organization (ECO) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE). In 2010, Kazakhstan held the OSCE chairmanship.
Kazakhstan is also an active member of the Turkic Council and the
TÜRKSOY community. In recent years, the country has massively increased
its activities in the Turkic Council and plans to play a more active
role in the Council in the future. For example, on Kazakhstan's
initiative, the southern Kazakh city of Turkestan became the "spiritual
capital of the Turkic world".
In the geostrategic analysis by
Zbigniew Brzeziński in his fundamental work "The Only World Power",
Kazakhstan is understood from the American perspective as "a shield
(Uzbekistan as the soul) of the national awakening of the various
peoples of the region". Kazakhstan protects the other countries from
direct Russian pressure because it borders Russia alone. Kazakhstan
rivals Uzbekistan for regional dominance. Kazakhstan is "highly
tempting" for Russia "because, due to its ethnic problems, it would
certainly lose out in an open confrontation with Moscow." In addition,
the Kazakhs' fear of China and the government's unrest about China's
treatment of the Uighurs in Xinjiang work in favor of a rapprochement
with Russia. Dependence on Russia would bring Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan
into Moscow's sphere of influence, which could then "put greater
pressure on both Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan".
The European Union
has been formulating its political goals for the country since 2007,
including through its EU Central Asia strategy.
On November 30,
2015, Kazakhstan joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) as the 162nd
member after 20 years of negotiations.
The Kazakh government
hopes to open up the country to tourism through the partnership
agreement with the European Union, which was signed in Astana on
December 21, 2015. In addition, Expo 2017 took place in the capital
Astana.
Kazakhstan spent just under 0.8 percent of its economic output, or 1.3 billion US dollars, on its armed forces in 2017. The country remains an ally of Russia.
From 1949 to 1989, 470 nuclear tests (124 of them above ground) were
carried out at the Semipalatinsk nuclear weapons test site near
Kurchatov in the north-east of the country - without relocating people
from the sparsely populated area. The heavily contaminated area was
closed on August 29, 1991.
During the Soviet era, there were
other small nuclear test sites, including two in northwest Kazakhstan,
on the Caspian peninsula of Mangyshlak and north of the Aral Sea. There
are five missile test sites spread across the country. The Terra-3 laser
test center is also located at the Saryschagan missile test site.
Economic growth in recent years (since 1999) has averaged 9.3%. In
2004, GDP (gross domestic product) increased by 9.4%. This made
Kazakhstan a model for a transformation economy in the Central Asian
region, leaving all other countries in the region far behind.
Kazakhstan's economic situation has continued to improve and the
government is increasingly promoting foreign direct investment. However,
only a small elite benefits from the country's oil and gas resources.
Attempts have been made since 2003 to reduce the economy's dependence on
raw materials. The projects implemented since 2008 to intensify value
creation through the processing of domestic raw materials include rolled
steel and silicon plants in Karaganda, chrome ore processing in Aktobe
and an iron alloy plant in Taras. As raw material prices fell, growth
slowed significantly from 2014 onwards. In 2016, it was just under 1%.
Kazakhstan is the largest economy and the richest country in Central
Asia. In 2020, GDP (adjusted for purchasing power) per capita was 26,565
international US dollars.
The country's financial center is the
former capital, Almaty. All of Kazakhstan's major credit institutions
have their headquarters here, including Kazkommertsbank, Halyk Bank and
Alliance Bank. Many major Western banks provided BTA Bank with
significant credit resources; its former chairman, Mukhtar Ablyazov, is
currently the focus of investigations into the whereabouts of the funds.
The Kazakh Stock Exchange is located in Almaty's new financial district.
The cooperative system plays a certain role. About 5% to 10% of
Kazakhstan's population participate in producer, consumer, tenant
cooperatives, etc.
As a result of the 2009 crisis, customs-free
economic zones were established. However, the Economic Commission for
Europe (UNECE) has identified significant deficits in the development of
small and medium-sized enterprises and in the promotion of start-ups.
Kazakhstan is a founding member of the Eurasian Economic Union
(EAEU), which has existed since January 1, 2015. In December 2015,
Kazakhstan became the 162nd member of the World Trade Organization
(WTO). The accession negotiations lasted almost 20 years and are
described as the most difficult ever. The negotiations on customs
tariffs with the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union
contributed in particular to this. The agreement now aims to reduce the
country's import tariffs to 6.1% within 5 years, and to 7.6% for
agricultural goods. From the perspective of former Kazakh President
Nursultan Nazarbayev, membership will provide further opportunities for
the growth of the Kazakh economy; around 90% of trade already goes to
WTO states.
At the 2016 World Economic Forum in Davos, Kazakh
Prime Minister Karim Mäsimov made a concerted effort to attract
investors. He emphasized the investor-friendly reforms and said that the
low oil price was an ideal prerequisite for implementing such reforms.
In addition, Kazakhstan wanted to be in an improved position at the next
World Economic Forum.
In the Global Competitiveness Index, which
measures a country's competitiveness, Kazakhstan ranked 53rd out of 138
countries (as of 2016-2017). In the Index for Economic Freedom,
Kazakhstan ranked 42nd out of 180 countries in 2017. The state still has
a lot of influence on the Kazakh economy, even though numerous
privatizations have been carried out in recent years.
Oil and natural gas production as well as oil products form the basis
of the Kazakh economy. In the 1990s, the largest oil reserves of the
last 30 years were found in the north of the Caspian Sea and in the
Kazakh steppe. Experts estimate them at around nine billion barrels.
Exploitation is carried out with the help of foreign companies. They
have to hand over between 40% and 50% of the output to the Kazakh state.
In 2002 alone, around 360 million barrels worth 7 billion euros were
produced in Kazakhstan. Thanks to the increasing exploitation of the
huge deposits discovered in the 1990s, production was increased to
around 580 million barrels by 2010. Thanks to the simultaneous sharp
rise in oil prices, oil revenues increased many times over and helped
Kazakhstan achieve very strong economic growth.
The production
volume is expected to continue to increase in the future, as important
fields in the Caspian Sea are still being developed. Gas production in
Kazakhstan has more than tripled in the ten years between 2000 and 2010,
from 10.4 billion m³ to 33.6 billion m³. Kazakhstan is one of the
countries located in the strategic ellipse. In Kazakhstan, large areas
of land are contaminated by radioactive waste from oil and gas
production.
As an energy source, hard coal has been the most
important for the country for many years and will continue to be so in
2021. On the other hand, Kazakhstan is the world's largest exporter of
uranium and has rich reserves of tin, uranium, lead, zinc, bauxite,
iron, gold, silver, phosphorus, manganese, copper and others.
The metallurgical industry (ferrous and non-ferrous metals) and its products are also very well developed. Chemical products (fertilizers, plastics), machinery, equipment, textiles and food are also produced in Kazakhstan. The most important industrial centers are Almaty, Qaraghandy, Shymkent, Pavlodar and Aktobe.
Around 75% of the country's area is suitable for agriculture. Thanks
to the fertile steppe soils and despite low yields due to drought,
Kazakhstan covers its own grain needs and exports the surplus of four to
five million tons. Since 2005, part of the exports have been handled via
the Latvian port cities of Liepāja and Ventspils. The Ventspils Grain
Terminal, built jointly by the two states, is designed to ship 2.5
million tons of grain annually. In the north, there is an area around
the capital Astana that is well developed for agriculture. The Russian
name of the city from 1961 to 1991 (Zelinograd, "new land city")
indicates that it is reclaimed steppe land, which was developed from
1954 onwards at the behest of the Central Committee of the Communist
Party of the Soviet Union under Nikita Khrushchev. While the level of
grain yields fell far short of expectations in the first decades after
reclaiming, it stabilized after the turn of the millennium. Fruit is
grown in the southern regions from Almaty to Shymkent. Livestock farming
is of great importance, especially for the inhabitants of the
semi-desert and desert areas. Sheep are mainly bred, as well as goats,
cows and horses. Pig farming is also common in Russian or formerly
German-dominated regions.
In the south, the Aral Sea is on the
verge of drying up as a result of extensive water extraction - on the
Kazakh side along the Syr Darya, one of the two main tributaries - for
agricultural cultivation in the region, which is one of the greatest
ecological disasters of our time.
The state budget in 2016 included expenditures of the equivalent of
27.25 billion US dollars, compared to revenues of the equivalent of
23.35 billion US dollars. This results in a budget deficit of 3.9% of
GDP.
Public debt in 2016 was 21.1% of GDP.
In 2020, the
share of government spending (in % of GDP) was as follows:
Health:
3.8%
Education: 4.5%
Military: 0.8% (2023)
In 2019, the fire service in Kazakhstan was organized nationwide by 17,500 professional and 43,000 volunteer firefighters, who work in 413 fire stations and firehouses, in which 3,172 fire engines and 340 turntable ladders or telescopic masts are available. In the same year, the Kazakh fire services were called out to 63,727 operations, and 13,850 fires had to be extinguished. 323 dead were recovered by the fire services and 978 injured were rescued. The national fire service organization in the Ministry of Emergency Situations represents the Kazakh fire services.
The railway network in Kazakhstan is operated by the Kazakhstan Temir
Scholy State Railway (KTZ), it comprises 13,700 kilometers of Russian
broad gauge (1,520 millimeter gauge), of which 4,237.5 kilometers are
electrified (2022).
The best-known transport axis is the
Turkestan-Siberian Railway (Turksib) from Semei via Almaty to Arys. From
the station Shu, 300 km west of Almaty, the Turksib is directly
connected to the northern Kazakh railway network via the Karaganda
Railway (Карагандинская железная дорога Karagandinskaja schelesnaja
doroga) to Karaganda. In Arys, the western Kazakh cities of Aktobe,
Atyrau and Aktau will be connected via the line that runs through
Kyzylorda.
The construction of a high-speed line between the
capital Astana and Almaty is to be completed by 2015. On the line,
trains will be able to reach a speed of 350 kilometers per hour and
transport five million passengers annually. Kazakhstan is working
closely with the People's Republic of China to build the line.
Kazakhstan is an important transit country for freight transport because
the shortest rail connection between Europe and China runs through the
country. This was proven with test trains of the Trans-Eurasia Express.
Up to now, the Alashankou/Dostyk border crossing has been used for this
purpose, through which more than 15 million tons of freight are handled
annually. To expand capacity, the new 293-kilometer-long Korgas–Zhetygen
line, which runs further south and is designed to handle a similarly
high volume of freight, was opened on December 22, 2012. Since
Kazakhstan and China use different track gauges, there are gauge
conversion facilities at the two border stations Dostyk and Korgas.
On paper, the highway network is averagely developed and covers
around 141,000 kilometers; only the Astana-Almaty highway meets European
standards. Outside of the metropolitan areas, the highways are not
developed like the expressways or motorways, and even on larger, wider
roads, they are not separated from one another by guard rails. In
northern Kazakhstan, lonely but fully developed highway junctions on the
outskirts of some medium-sized cities are a reminder of how big the
Soviet plans for the road network once were. Apart from these islands,
the road network is only reasonably good and safe to drive on in the
greater Almaty area. In the north and east of the country, the roads
regularly show major damage, which can pose a great danger to vehicles
and their occupants. In isolated cases (e.g. the A7 south of Lake
Alakol), highways can only be driven on at walking pace (summer 2014).
Although there is increased road construction activity in the south of
the country, due to Kazakhstan's enormous size, it will probably take
decades before at least the main roads are safe to use (see Kazakhstan
2050). Through the Nurly Zhol investment program, the Kazakh government
has been investing several hundred million euros annually since 2015 in
the construction and expansion of roads in Kazakhstan.
The most
important international highways in Kazakhstan are the M32, M36 and M38.
Public transport was well developed in Soviet times, with trams and
trolleybuses operating in the larger cities. These were significantly
reduced in independent Kazakhstan. In Almaty, construction of a metro
began during Soviet times, and the first section was opened in 2011. The
Astana light rail project is more recent, and the first section is due
to open in 2014.
There are ports on the Caspian Sea in Atyrau and Aqtau. Important waterways are the Irtysh and Shayq.
The largest airports in Kazakhstan are those in the capital Astana
and in Almaty. They are served by several international airlines.
Lufthansa connects the two cities with Frankfurt am Main. Another
important airport is Qaraghandy Sary-Arka Airport. In addition, almost
every major city in the country has a smaller airport.
Air Astana
is the national airline. Another major airline is SCAT Airlines.
In July 2009, the European Commission issued a regulation banning all
airlines registered in Kazakhstan from operating in the European Union.
The authority responsible for safety oversight of air carriers
registered in Kazakhstan proved, in the Commission's view, unable to
apply and enforce the applicable international safety standards. Air
Astana was allowed to operate flights to the Union again from December
2015. In December 2016, the EU operating ban on the state's other
airlines was also lifted.
The world's largest spaceport (Baikonur Cosmodrome) is located in Baikonur. It has been leased by Russia for 115 million dollars annually until 2050. Since 2012, Russia has been building the Vostochny Cosmodrome on its own territory.
Important Kazakh writers were
Abai Qunanbayuly (Kazakh epic poet,
lyricist and thinker 1845–1904)
Abdishamil Nurpeissow (Kazakh writer,
1924–2022)
Mukhtar Auesow (Kazakh writer, 1897–1961)
An important
painter was
Abilkhan Qasteev (1904–1973)
Traditional Kazakh music
combines elements from different cultures. Since independence, pop music
and rap have also become popular and the Q-pop genre has developed.
Kazakhfilm is the state film company. It was founded in 1934 as a film studio in Alma-Ata and was responsible for virtually all Kazakh films during the Soviet Union. In the 1980s, the "New Kazakh Wave" was a movement of young Kazakh film school graduates who moved away from classic propaganda films and created artistically innovative films that were successful at international film festivals. Its representatives include Rashid Nugmanow and Dareshan Omirbaew. Another well-known film director is Timur Nuruachitowitsch Bekmambetow (* 1961).
Media freedom does not exist. The media are state-owned and censored.
Eight national daily newspapers are published in Kazakhstan. The most
widely read newspapers include the government newspapers Kazakhstanskaja
Prawda and Egemen Qazaqstan and the private Vremja. There are also
several weekly newspapers. The Kazakhstan Monitor and The Almaty Herald
are published in English, and the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung is
published in German.
In 2023, 92.9 percent of Kazakhstan's
population used the Internet. At the beginning of July 2009, Nursultan
Nazarbayev introduced Internet censorship.
In Kazakhstan, sport is held in relatively high esteem, which can be attributed to the very high status and associated promotion of sport in the USSR (see also: Sport in the Soviet Union). The most popular sports among Kazakhs are football and ice hockey, but boxing, wrestling, judo and weightlifting are also very popular in the Central Asian country.
The country is one of the world's top boxers; between 1993 and 2016,
Kazakh boxers won 22 medals (7 × gold, 7 × silver and 8 × bronze) at the
Summer Olympics and 34 medals (10 × gold, 10 × silver 14 × bronze) at
world championships. During this period, six Summer Olympics and twelve
World Championships took place; none of these events was without a
Kazakh medal being won. The results of the 2013 Asian Championships in
Jordan showed just how much Kazakh boxers dominate the Asian region
alone. Seven gold medals and one silver medal were won in ten weight
classes. With one Olympic champion and four world champions, Kazakhstan
was the most successful boxing nation in the world in 2014. In addition,
Kazakh boxers were in the top three of the AIBA world rankings in seven
of the ten weight classes.
Kazakhstan has also hosted
international amateur boxing competitions. For example, the 2002 World
Cup, the 2011 Junior World Championships and the Asian Olympic
qualifications in 2008 and 2012 were held in Astana, while the 2006
University World Championships and the 2013 World Championships took
place in Almaty.
As of October 2015, the most successful
professional boxer in the country is the middleweight record world
champion Gennady Golovkin, who is considered the best boxer in this
weight class in the world.
The Kazakh cycling team Team Astana is one of the leading teams in
the world. The team's squad has already included prominent riders such
as Lance Armstrong, Andreas Klöden, Levi Leipheimer, Haimar Zubeldia,
Alberto Contador and Alexander Vinokourov, who won the gold medal in the
road race at the 2012 Olympic Games.
Jelena Rybakina (* 1999) won
the 2022 tennis Grand Slam tournament in Wimbledon. The title win comes
with prize money of £2,000,000 (€2,324,391.51). The Russian-born woman
has been competing for Kazakhstan since 2018. She defeated Ons Jabeur
(Tunisia) in the final. In 2021, she reached the round of 16 at
Wimbledon and the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first time at
the French Open. In addition to Rybakina, Yulia Putintseva (33), Sarina
Diyas (200), Anna Danilina (345) and Shibek Qulambayeva (493) are among
the 500 best tennis players in the WTA world rankings (as of July 2022).
The highest league in Kazakh football is the Premier League. The most
important football clubs are the record champions Irtysh Pavlodar, the
Kazakh model club during the Soviet era, Kairat Almaty, FK Aktobe, which
has dominated since 2005, Tobol Qostanai, which has always been in the
top ranks, and the resurgent Shakhtar Qaraghandy. Although Kazakhstan's
territory lies almost entirely in Asia, the Kazakh Football Association
is a member of UEFA and takes part in its tournaments (European
Championship, Champions League, Europa League).
The ice hockey
team Barys Astana, which includes the best Kazakh players as well as
well-known legionnaires such as Branislav Mezei, Kevin Dallman, Tomáš
Klouček, Trevor Letowski and Jozef Stümpel, plays at the highest level
in the Russian KHL. Another important ice hockey club is Kaszink-Torpedo
Ust-Kamenogorsk.
The Kazakh men's national rugby team is one of
the leading teams in Asia and even managed to achieve second place in
the 2009 Asian Five Nations, but has now been relegated to the second
division of Asia. The women's national rugby team almost regularly
qualifies for the World Championships as Asian winners (usually ahead of
Japan). This was the case again for 2014.
The Kazakhs have celebrated 16 Olympic champions since their
independence (as of August 12, 2016). A total of 69 Olympic medals have
been won. Kazakhstan sent 132 athletes to the 2008 Summer Games in
Beijing, and a total of 116 athletes in 16 sports were nominated for the
2012 Games in London.
Special Olympics Kazakhstan was founded in
1990 and has taken part in the Special Olympics World Games several
times.
The cities of Astana and Almaty hosted the Winter Asian
Games in Kazakhstan for the first time in 2011. The Asian Weightlifting
Championships took place in Taldyqorghan in the south-east of the
country in 2009.
At the 2009 World Weightlifting Championships,
athletes from Kazakhstan came second in the national rankings behind
China.
Beshbarmaq is typical of Kazakh cuisine. The dish is prepared with
fatty boiled mutton or horse meat and is eaten by hand with
lasagne-like, wafer-thin, cooked flatbreads. Plov, a rice dish with
mutton that is typical for all of Central Asia, and shashlik, which is
also known abroad, are other popular dishes. In summer, kumis is the
preferred drink.
Due to location, language, culture and religion,
Kazakh cuisine is closely linked to neighboring Central Asian and Slavic
countries.