"Qazaqstan" redirects here. For the Kazakh state television broadcaster, see Qazaqstan (channel).

Republic of Kazakhstan

Қазақстан Республикасы (Kazakh)

Qazaqstan Respublikasy

Flag

Emblem

Anthem: Menıñ Qazaqstanym

"My Kazakhstan"

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Location of Kazakhstan (green)

 Capital Nur-Sultan
51°10′N 71°26′E

Largest city Almaty

43°16′39″N 76°53′45″E

Official languages Kazakh

Co-official Russian[a]
Official scripts • Cyrillic[b]
• Latin[c]

Ethnic groups • 68.5% Kazakh

(2020 )
[2] • 18.9% Russian
• 3.3% Uzbek
• 1.5% Uyghur
• 1.4% Ukrainian
• 1.1% Tatar
• 1.0% German
• 4.5% Others

Demonym(s) Kazakhstani[d][4]

Government Unitary dominant-

party presidential constitutional
republic

• Chairman of the Nursultan Nazarbayev

Security Council
• President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev
• Prime Minister Askar Mamin
• Chair of the Senate Mäulen Äşimbaev
• Chairman of the Nurlan Nigmatulin
Mazhilis

Legislature Parliament

• Upper house Senate

• Lower house Mazhilis

Formation

• Kazakh Khanate 1465

• Alash Autonomy 13 December 1917
• Kirghiz ASSR 26 August 1920
• Kazakh ASSR 19 June 1925
• Kazakh SSR 5 December 1936
• Declared Sovereignty 25 October 1990
• Reconstituted as 10 December 1991
the Republic of
Kazakhstan
• Declared Independence 16 December 1991
from the USSR
• CIS Accession 21 December 1991
• Recognised 26 December 1991
• Admitted to the United 2 March 1992
Nations
• Current constitution 30 August 1995

Area
• Total 2,724,900 km2 (1,052,100 sq mi)
(9th)
• Water (%) 1.7

Population
• 2020 estimate 18,711,560[5] (64th)
• Density 7/km2 (18.1/sq mi) (236th)

GDP (PPP) 2020 estimate

• Total $569.813 billion[6] (41st)
• Per capita $30,178[6] (53rd)

GDP (nominal) 2020 estimate

• Total $179.332 billion[6] (55th)
• Per capita $9,686[6] (69th)

Gini (2017) 27.5[7]

low

HDI (2019) 0.817[8]

very high · 50th

Currency Tenge (₸) (KZT)

Time zone UTC+5 / +6 (West / East)

Driving side right

Calling code +7-6xx, +7-7xx

ISO 3166 code KZ

 Internet TLD • .kz
• .қаз

Kazakhstan,[e] officially the Republic of Kazakhstan,[f][4][13] is a transcontinental country mainly

located in Central Asia with a smaller portion west of the Ural River in Eastern Europe. It covers a
land area of 2,724,900 square kilometres (1,052,100 sq mi), and shares land borders with Russia in
the north, China in the east, and Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan in the south while also
adjoining a large part of the Caspian Sea in the southwest. Kazakhstan does not border Mongolia,
although they are only 37 kilometers apart, separated by a short portion of the border between
Russia and China.
Kazakhstan is the world's largest landlocked country, and the ninth-largest country in the world. It
has a population of 18.8 million residents, and has one of the lowest population densities in the
world, at fewer than 6 people per square kilometre (15 people per sq mi). Since 1997, the capital
is Nur-Sultan, formerly known as Astana. It was moved from Almaty, the country's largest city.
The territory of Kazakhstan has historically been inhabited by nomadic groups and empires. In
antiquity, the nomadic Scythians inhabited the land and the Persian Achaemenid Empire expanded
towards the southern territory of the modern country. Turkic nomads, who trace their ancestry to
many Turkic states such as the First and Second Turkic Khaganates, have inhabited the country
throughout its history. In the 13th century, the territory was subjugated by the Mongol
Empire under Genghis Khan. By the 16th century, the Kazakhs emerged as a distinct group, divided
into three jüz. The Russians began advancing into the Kazakh steppe in the 18th century, and by the
mid-19th century, they nominally ruled all of Kazakhstan as part of the Russian Empire. Following
the 1917 Russian Revolution, and subsequent civil war, the territory of Kazakhstan was reorganised
several times. In 1936, it was made the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, part of the Soviet Union.
Kazakhstan was the last of the Soviet republics to declare independence during the dissolution of
the Soviet Union in 1991. Human rights organisations have described the Kazakh government as
authoritarian, and regularly describe Kazakhstan's human rights situation as poor.
Kazakhstan is the most dominant nation of Central Asia economically, generating 60% of the
region's GDP, primarily through its oil and gas industry. It also has vast mineral resources,[14] and is
officially a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic with a diverse cultural
heritage.[15] Kazakhstan is a member of the United Nations (UN), WTO, CIS, the Shanghai
Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Eurasian Economic Union, CSTO, OSCE, OIC, CCTS,
the Turkic Council and TURKSOY.