PROFILE

OFFICIAL NAME:
Republic of Kazakhstan

Geography
Area: 2.7 million sq. km. (1.05 million sq. mi.); ninth-largest nation in the world; the size of Western Europe.
Major cities: Astana (capital, June 1998), Almaty (former capital), Karaganda, and Shymkent.
Terrain: Extends east to west from the Caspian Sea to the Altay Mountains and north to south from the plains of Western Siberia to the oasis and desert of Central Asia.
Climate: Continental, cold winters and hot summers; arid and semi-arid.
Border lengths: Russia 6,846 km., Uzbekistan 2,203 km., China 1,533 km., Kyrgyzstan 1,051 km., and Turkmenistan 379 km.

People
Nationality: Kazakhstani.
Population (July 2006 est.): 15.2 million--down from 16.2 million in 1989; second most-populated country in Central Asia.
Population growth rate (2006 est.): 0.3%. Population distribution: 56.4% of population lives in urban areas. Twenty-six cities had approximate populations of more than 50,000 in 1999--Astana (capital) 529,000, Almaty (former capital) 1.2 million, Karaganda 440,000, Shymkent 370,000, Taraz 340,000, Ust-Kamenogorsk 310,000, Pavlodar 300,000.
Large scale emigration of ethnic Russians, Germans, and Ukrainians accounts for most of the population decrease since 1989.
Population density: 14.5 people per sq. mi. (U.S. density 2000: 79.6 people per sq. mi.).
Ethnic groups (2002): Kazakh 55.8%, Russian 28.3%, Ukrainian 3.3%, Uzbek 2.6%, German 1.8%, Uyghur 1.5%, other 5.0%.
Religion: Sunni Muslim 47%, Russian Orthodox 44%, Protestant 2%, other 7%.
Language: Kazakhstan is a bilingual country. Kazakh language has the status of the "state" language, while Russian is declared the "official" language. Russian is used routinely in business; 64.4% of population speaks the Kazakh language.
Health (2006 est.): Infant mortality rate--28.3/1,000. Life expectancy--66.89 years (male 61.56 yrs.; female 72.52 yrs.). Health care (2005 est.)--30.3 doctors and 68.2 hospital beds per 10,000 persons.
Education: Mandatory universal secondary education. School system consists of kindergarten, primary school (grades 1-4), secondary school (grades 5-9), and high school (grades 10-11). Literacy rate--98.4%.
Work force (2005, 7.85 million): Industry and construction--18.1%; agriculture and fishing--32.9%; services--49%.

Government
Type: Republic.
Independence: December 16, 1991 (from the Soviet Union).
Declaration of sovereignty: October 25, 1990.
Constitution: August 30, 1995 constitution adopted by referendum replaced a 1993 constitution.
Branches: Executive--president, prime minister, Council of Ministers. Legislative--Senate and Mazhilis. Judicial--Supreme Court.
Administrative subdivisions: 17; 14 oblasts plus 3 cities--Almaty, the former capital; Astana, the current capital; and the territory of Baykonur, which contains the space launch center that the Russians built and now lease. Twelve parties were registered for the parliamentary elections in fall 2004. They were: the Agrarian Party, Ak Zhol (Bright Path), Asar (All Together), Ayul (Farmers), the Civil Party, the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, the Communist People’s Party, DCK (Democratic Choice), the Democratic Party of Kazakhstan, Otan (Fatherland), Party of Patriots, and Rukhaniyat (Spirituality). In January 2005, DCK was liquidated. In July 2006, Otan and Asar merged. This new party retained the name Otan, but voted to change its name to Nur-Otan in early 2007.
Suffrage: Universal, 18 years of age.

Economy
GDP (2006): $52.6 billion. Exchange rate (Period average): 132.88 KZT/USD in 2005.
GDP growth rate: 13.2% (2001); 9.5% (2002); 9.2% (2003); 9.1% (2004 est.); 9.4% (2005 est.); 8.5% (2006 est.).
GDP per capita (2006): Purchasing power parity--$9,100.
Inflation rate: 6.4% (2001); 6.6% (2002); 6.8% (2003); 6.9% (2004 est.); 7.5% (2005 est.).
Trade: Exports (2006 est.)--$35.55 billion. Imports (2006 est.)--$22 billion.
Gross external debt: $18.2 billion (2002); $22.9 billion (2003); $26.03 billion (2004 est.); $41.66 billion (2005 est.).
Central Bank's foreign exchange reserves: $3.1 billion (2002); $4.96 billion (2003); $7.07 billion (2005 est.).
National (oil) fund reserves: $1.9 billion (2002); $3.6 billion (2003); $5.1 billion (2004); 10.1 billion (July 2006).
Officially recognized unemployment rate: 9.3% (2002); 8.7% (2003); 8.4% (2004 est.); 8.1% (2005 est.); 7.4% (2006 est.). Population below poverty line: 15.3% (2005, 1^st quarter est.).

PEOPLE AND HISTORY
The majority of Kazakhstanis are ethnic Kazakh; other ethnic groups include Russian, Ukrainian, Uzbek, German, and Uyghur. Religions are Sunni Muslim, Russian Orthodox, Protestant, and other. Kazakhstan is a bilingual country. The Kazakh language has the status of the "state" language, while Russian is declared the "official" language. Russian is used routinely in business; 64.4% of the population speaks the Kazakh language. Education is universal and mandatory through the secondary level, and the literacy rate is 98.4%.

Nomadic tribes have been living in the region that is now Kazakhstan since the first century BC, although the land has been inhabited at least as far back as the Stone Age. From the fourth century AD through the beginning of the 13th century, the territory of Kazakhstan was ruled by a series of nomadic nations. Following the Mongolian invasion in the early 13th century, administrative districts were established under the Mongol Empire, which eventually became the territories of the Kazakh Khanate. The major medieval cities of Taraz and Turkestan were founded along the northern route of the Great Silk Road during this period.

Traditional nomadic life on the vast steppe and semi-desert lands was characterized by a constant search for new pasture to support the livestock-based economy. The Kazakhs emerged from a mixture of tribes living in the region in about the 15th century and by the middle of the 16th century had developed a common language, culture, and economy. In the early 1600s, the Kazakh Khanate separated into the Great, Middle and Little (or Small) Hordes--confederations based on extended family networks. Political disunion, competition among the hordes, and a lack of an internal market weakened the Kazakh Khanate. The beginning of the 18th century marked the zenith of the Kazakh Khanate. The following 150 years saw the gradual colonization of the Kazakh-controlled territories by tsarist Russia.

The process of colonization was a combination of voluntary integration into the Russian Empire and outright seizure. The Little Horde and part of the Middle Horde signed treaties of protection with Russia in the 1730s and 1740s. Major parts of the northeast and central Kazakh territories were incorporated into the Russian Empire by 1840. With the Russian seizure of territories belonging to the Senior Horde in the 1860s, the tsars effectively ruled over most of the territory belonging to what is now the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The Russian Empire introduced a system of administration and built military garrisons in its effort to establish a presence in Central Asia in the so-called "Great Game" between it and Great Britain. Russian efforts to impose its system aroused the resentment of the Kazakh people, and by the 1860s, most Kazakhs resisted Russia's annexation largely because of the disruption it wrought upon the traditional nomadic lifestyle and livestock-based economy. The Kazakh national movement, which began in the late 1800s, sought to preserve the Kazakh language and identity. There were uprisings against colonial rule during the final years of tsarist Russia, with the most serious occurring in 1916. The destruction of the nomadic life, prior to and during the Communist period, created a Kazakh diaspora in neighboring countries, especially western China. Since independence in 1991, the government has encouraged the return of ethnic Kazakhs by offering subsidies for returnees.

Although there was a brief period of autonomy during the tumultuous period following the collapse of the Russian Empire, the Kazakhs eventually succumbed to Soviet rule. In 1920, the area of present-day Kazakhstan became an autonomous republic within Russia and, in 1936, a Soviet republic.

Soviet repression of the traditional elites, along with forced collectivization in late 1920s-1930s, brought about mass hunger and led to unrest. Soviet rule, however, took hold, and a communist apparatus steadily worked to fully integrate Kazakhstan into the Soviet system. Kazakhstan experienced population inflows of thousands exiled from other parts of the Soviet Union during the 1930s and later became home for hundreds of thousands evacuated from the Second World War battlefields. The Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) contributed five national divisions to the Soviet Union's World War II effort.

The period of the Second World War marked an increase in industrialization and increased mineral extraction in support of the war effort. At the time of Soviet leader Josif Stalin's death, however, Kazakhstan still had an overwhelmingly agricultural-based economy. In 1953, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev initiated the ambitious "Virgin Lands" program to turn the traditional pasturelands of Kazakhstan into a major grain-producing region for the Soviet Union. The Virgin Lands policy, along with later modernizations under Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, sped up the development of the agricultural sector, which to this day remains the source of livelihood for a large percentage of Kazakhstan's population.

Growing tensions within Soviet society led to a demand for political and economic reforms, which came to a head in the 1980s. In December 1986, mass demonstrations by young ethnic Kazakhs took place in Almaty to protest the methods of the communist system. Soviet troops suppressed the unrest, and dozens of demonstrators were jailed. In the waning days of Soviet rule, discontent continued to grow and find expression under Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of glasnost. Caught up in the groundswell of Soviet republics seeking greater autonomy, Kazakhstan declared its sovereignty as a republic within the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.) in October 1990. Following the August 1991 abortive coup attempt in Moscow and the subsequent dissolution of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan declared independence on December 16, 1991.