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Travel to Kazakhstan — Unbiased reviews and great deals
from TripAdvisorKazakhstan
| Republic of Kazakhstan National
name: Qazaqstan Respublikasy President: Nursultan A. Nazarbayev
(1990) Prime Minister: Karim
Masimov (2007)
Current government officials
Land area: 1,049,150 sq mi (2,717,300 sq
km); total area: 1,049,150 sq mi (2,717,300 sq km) Population (2008 est.): 15,340,533 (growth
rate: 0.3%); birth rate: 16.4/1000; infant mortality rate: 26.5/1000;
life expectancy: 67.5; density per sq mi: 5
Capital (2003 est.):
Astana, 288,200 (formerly Aqmola; capital since
1997) Largest cities: Almaty
(former capital), 1,045,900; Karaganda, 404,600; Shymkent, 333,500;
Taraz, 305,700; Pavlodar, 299,500; Ust-Kamenogorsk, 288,000;
Aqtöbe, 234,400 Monetary unit:
Tenge
Languages:
Kazak (Qazaq, state language) 64%; Russian
(official, used in everyday business) 95% (2001 est.)
Ethnicity/race:
Kazak (Qazaq) 53.4%, Russian 30%, Ukrainian
3.7%, Uzbek 2.5%, German 2.4%, Tatar 1.4%, Uygur 1.4%, other 4.9%
(1999)
Religions:
Islam 47%, Russian Orthodox 44%, Protestant 2%,
other 7%
National Holiday:
Independence Day, December 16 Literacy rate: 99% (1999 est.) Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2007): $167.6
billion; per capita $11,100. Real growth rate: 8.5%.
Inflation: 10.8%. Unemployment: 7.3%. Arable
land: 8%. Agriculture: grain (mostly spring wheat), cotton;
livestock. Labor force: 7.85 million; industry 30%, agriculture
20%, services 50% (2002 est.). Industries: oil, coal, iron ore,
manganese, chromite, lead, zinc, copper, titanium, bauxite, gold,
silver, phosphates, sulfur, iron and steel; tractors and other
agricultural machinery, electric motors, construction materials.
Natural resources: major deposits of petroleum, natural gas,
coal, iron ore, manganese, chrome ore, nickel, cobalt, copper,
molybdenum, lead, zinc, bauxite, gold, uranium. Exports: $44.88
billion f.o.b. (2007 est.): oil and oil products 58%, ferrous metals
24%, chemicals 5%, machinery 3%, grain, wool, meat, coal (2001).
Imports: $29.91 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.): machinery and
equipment 41%, metal products 28%, foodstuffs 8% (2001). Major
trading partners: Russia, Bermuda, Germany, China, France, Italy,
Ukraine (2004). Communications:
Telephones: main lines in use: 2.928 million (2006); mobile
cellular: 7.83 million (2006). Radio broadcast stations: AM 60,
FM 17, shortwave 9 (1998). Radios: 6.47 million (1997).
Television broadcast stations: 12 (plus nine repeaters) (1998).
Televisions: 3.88 million (1997). Internet Service Providers
(ISPs): 33,217 (2007). Internet users: 1.247 million
(2006). Transportation: Railways:
total: 13,601 km (2002). Highways: total: 90,018 km; paved: 84
km; unpaved: 4,311 km (2004). Waterways: 3,900 km on the
Syrdariya (Syr Darya) and Ertis (Irtysh). Ports and harbors:
Aqtau (Shevchenko), Atyrau (Gur'yev), Oskemen (Ust-Kamenogorsk),
Pavlodar, Semey (Semipalatinsk). Airports: 97 (2007). International disputes: Kazakhstan and China
have resolved their border dispute and are working to delimit their
large open borders to control population migration, illegal
activities, and trade; delimitation of boundary with Russia is
scheduled for completion in 2003—delimitations with Turkmenistan
and Uzbekistan are complete with demarcations
underway—delimitation with Kyrgyzstan is largely complete;
equidistant seabed treaties have been signed with Azerbaijan and
Russia in the Caspian Sea but no resolution has been made on dividing
the water column among any of the littoral states; no resolution of
Caspian seabed boundary with Turkmenistan.
Major sources and definitions
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Geography
Kazakhstan lies in the north of the central
Asian republics and is bounded by Russia in the north, China in the east,
Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan in the south, and the Caspian Sea and part of
Turkmenistan in the west. It has almost 1,177 mi (1,894 km) of coastline
on the Caspian Sea. Kazakhstan is about four times the size of Texas. The
territory is mostly steppe land with hilly plains and plateaus.
Government
Republic.
History
The indigenous Kazakhs were a nomadic Turkic
people who belonged to several divisions of Kazakh hordes. They grouped
together in settlements and lived in dome-shaped tents made of felt called
yurts. Their tribes migrated seasonally to find pastures for their
herds of sheep, horses, and goats. Although they had chiefs, the Kazakhs
were rarely united as a single nation under one great leader. Their tribes
fell under Mongol rule in the 13th century and they were dominated by
Tartar khanates until the area was conquered by Russia in the 18th
century.
The area became part of the Kirgiz Autonomous
Republic formed by the Soviet authorities in 1920, and in 1925 this
entity's name was changed to the Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist
Republic (Kazakh ASSR). After 1927, the Soviet government began forcing
the nomadic Kazakhs to settle on collective and state farms, and the
Soviets continued the czarist policy of encouraging large numbers of
Russians and other Slavs to settle in the region.
Owing to the region's intensive agricultural
development and its use as a testing ground for nuclear weapons by the
Soviet government, serious environmental problems developed by the late
20th century. Along with the other central Asian republics, Kazakhstan
obtained its independence from the collapsing Soviet Union in 1991.
Kazakhstan proclaimed its membership in the Commonwealth of Independent
States on Dec. 21, 1991, along with ten other former Soviet republics. In
1993, the country overwhelmingly approved the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty. President Nursultan Nazarbayev restructured and consolidated many
operations of the government in 1997, eliminating a third of the
government ministries and agencies. In 1997, the national capital was
changed from Almaty, the largest city, to Astana (formerly Aqmola).
In Jan. 1999, Nazarbayev was sworn into office
for another seven years, although the election was widely criticized when
an opposition leader was disqualified on a technicality. Despite his
authoritarianism, Nazarbayev, who has ruled Kazakhstan since 1989 (when it
was still part of the Soviet Union), is a widely popular leader.
Kazakhstan has the potential for becoming one of central Asia's richest
countries because of its huge mineral and oil resources and its
liberalized economy, which encourages Western investment. In 2000, oil was
discovered in Kazakhstan's portion of the Caspian Sea. It is believed to
be the largest oil find in 30 years. In March 2001, a pipeline opened to
transport oil from the Tengiz fields to the Russian Black Sea port of
Novorossiysk. In 2004, Kazakhstan signed a deal allowing China to build an
oil pipeline to the Chinese border.
But as its economic outlook blossoms,
Kazakhstan's scarce democratic principles continue to wither. In the past
several years, the president has harassed the independent media, arrested
opposition leaders, and passed a law making it virtually impossible for
new political parties to form. In Dec. 2005, President Nazarbayev was
reelected with 91% of the vote. In May 2007, Parliament voted to do away
with term limits, thus allowing President Nazarbayev to remain in office
indefinitely. In June, Nazarbayev dissolved parliament and called for
elections in August, two years ahead of schedule. The opposition
complained that the move did not give them adequate time to campaign.
Prime Minister Daniyal Akhmetov resigned in
January 2007, giving no reason for the move. He was replaced by former
deputy prime minister Karim Masimov.
In August 2007 parliamentary elections, the
governing party, Nur Otan (Light of the Fatherland), won 88.1% of the
votes and all 98 contested seats. The victory further consolidated power
in the hands of Nazarbayev.
See also Encyclopedia: Kazakhstan.
U.S. State Dept. Country Notes:
Kazakhstan
Information Please® Database, © 2008 Pearson
Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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