Kazakhstan Geography
| Total area: | 2,717,300 km2 | |
| Land area: | 2,669,800 km2 | |
| Comparative area: | slightly less than four times the size of Texas | |
| Land boundaries: | 12,012 km; China 1,533 km, Kyrgyzstan 1,051 km, Russia 6,846 km, Turkmenistan 379 km, Uzbekistan 2,203 km | |
| Coastline: | 0 km, Kazakhstan does border the Aral Sea (1,015 km) and the Caspian Sea (1,894 km) | |
| Maritime claims: | none - landlocked | |
| Disputes: | none | |
| Climate: | dry continental, about half is desert | |
| Terrain: | extends from the Volga to the Altai mountains and from the plains in western Siberia to oasis and desert in Central Asia | |
| Natural resources: | petroleum, coal, iron, manganese, chrome, nickel, cobalt, copper, molybdenum, lead, zinc, bauxite, gold, uranium, iron | |
| Land use: | No data | |
| Environment: | drying up of Aral Sea is causing increased concentrations of chemical pesticides and natural salts; industrial pollution | |
Kazakhstan People
| Population: | 17,103,927 (July 1992), growth rate 1.0% (1992) |
| Birth rate: | 23 births/1,000 population (1992) |
| Death rate: | 8 deaths/1,000 population (1992) |
| Net migration rate: | -6.1 migrants/1,000 population (1991) |
| Infant mortality rate: | 25.9 deaths/1,000 live births (1992) |
| Life expectancy: | 63 years male, 72 years female (1992) |
| Total fertility rate: | 2.9 children born/woman (1992) |
| Nationality: | noun - Kazakh(s); adjective - Kazakhstani |
| Ethnic divisions: | Kazakh (Qazaq) 40%, Russian 38%, other Slavs 7%, Germans 6%, other 9% |
| Religions: | Muslim 47% Russian Orthodox NA%, Lutheran NA% |
| Languages: | Kazakh (Qazaq; official language), Russian |
| Literacy: | NA% (male NA%, female NA%), all of age 10 and over can read and write |
| Labor force: | 8,267,000 (1989) |
| Organized labor: | official trade unions, independent coal miners' union |
Kazakhstan Government
| Long-form name: | Republic of Kazakhstan |
| Type: | republic |
| Capital: | Alma-Ata (Almaty) |
| Administrative divisions: | 19 oblasts (oblastey, singular - oblast'); Aktyubinsk, Alma-Ata, Atyrau, Chimkent, Dzhambul, Dzhezkazgan, Karaganda, Kokchetav, Kustanay, Kzyl-Orda, Mangistauz (Aqtau), Pavlodar, Semipalatinsk, Severo-Kazakhstan (Petropavlovsk), Taldy-Kurgan, Tselinograd, Turgay (Arkalyk), Ural'sk, Vostochno-Kazakhstan (Ust'-Kamenogorsk); note - an oblast has the same name as its administrative center (exceptions have the administrative center name following in parentheses) |
| Independence: | 16 December 1991; from the Soviet Union (formerly the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic) |
| Constitution: | |
| Legal system: | |
| National holiday: | |
| Executive branch: | president with presidential appointed cabinet of ministers |
| Legislative branch: | |
| Judicial branch: | |
| Leaders | |
| Chief of State: | President Nursultan A. NAZARBAYEV (since April 1990), Vice President Yerik ASANBAYEV (since 1 December 1991) |
| Head of Government: | Prime Minister Serik Kajegeldin, Deputy Prime Minister Davlat SEMBAYEV (since November 1990) |
| Political parties and leaders: | Peoples Forum Party, Olzhas SULEIMENOV
and Mukhtar SHAKHANOV, co-chairmen; Socialist Party (former Communist Party), Anuar ALIJANOV, chairman; ZHOLTOKSAN, Hasan KOJAKHETOV, chairmen; AZAT Party, Sabitkazi AKETAEV, chairman |
| Suffrage: | universal at age 18 |
| Elections | |
| President: | last held 1 December 1991 (next to be
held NA); percent of vote by party NA; seats - (NA total) percent of seats by party NA |
| Communists: | party disbanded 6 September 1992 |
| Member of: | CIS, CSCE, IMF, NACC, OIC, UN, UNCTAD |
| Diplomatic representation: | |
| US: | 8-011-7-3272-61-90-56 |
| Flag: | |
Kazakhstan Economy
| Overview: The second-largest in area of the 15 former Soviet republics, Kazakhstan has vast oil, coal, and agricultural resources. Kazakhstan is highly dependent on trade with Russia, exchanging its natural resources for finished consumer and industrial goods. Kazakhstan now finds itself with serious pollution problems, backward technology, and little experience in foreign markets. The government in 1991 pushed privatization of the economy at a faster pace than Russia's program. The ongoing transitional period - marked by sharp inflation in wages and prices, lower output, lost jobs, and disruption of time-honored channels of supply - has brought considerable social unrest. Kazakhstan lacks the funds, technology, and managerial skills for a quick recovery of output. US firms have been enlisted to increase oil output but face formidable obstacles; for example, oil can now reach Western markets only through pipelines that run across independent (and sometimes unfriendly) former Soviet republics. Finally, the end of monolithic Communist control has brought ethnic grievances into the open. The 6 million Russians in the republic, formerly the favored class, now face the hostility of a society dominated by Muslims. Ethnic rivalry will be just one of the formidable obstacles to the creation of a productive, technologically advancing society. |
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| Inflation rate (consumer prices): | |
| Unemployment rate: | |
| Budget: | |
| Exports: | $4.2 billion (f.o.b., 1991) |
| commodities: | oil, ferrous and nonferrous metals, chemicals, grain, wool, meat (1991) |
| partners: | Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan |
| Imports: | |
| commodities: | machinery and parts, industrial materials |
| partners: | Russia and other former Soviet republics |
| External debt: | $2.6 billion (1991 est.) |
| Industrial production: | growth rate 0.7% (1991) |
| Electricity: | 17,900,000 kW capacity; 79,100 million kWh produced, 4,735 kWh per capita (1991) |
| Industries: | extractive industries (oil, coal, iron ore, manganese, chromite, lead, zinc, copper, titanium, bauxite, gold, silver, phosphates, sulfur) iron and steel, nonferrous metal, tractors and other agricultural machinery, electric motors, construction materials |
| Agriculture: | employs 30% of the labor force; grain, mostly spring wheat; meat, cotton, wool |
Kazakhstan Economy
| Illicit drugs: | illicit producers of cannabis and opium; mostly for domestic consumption; status of government eradication programs unknown; used as transshipment points for illicit drugs to Western Europe |
| Economic aid: | US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-87), $NA billion; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-86), $NA million; Communist countries (1971-86), $NA million |
| Currency: | Tenge |
| Exchange rates: | |
| Fiscal year: | |
| calendar year |
Kazakhstan Communications
| Railroads: | 14,460 km (all 1.520-meter gauge); does not include industrial lines (1990) |
| Highways: | 189,000 km total (1990); 188,900 km hard surfaced (paved or gravel), |
| Inland waterways: | NA km perennially navigable |
| Pipelines: | crude oil NA km, refined products NA km, natural gas NA |
| Ports: | none - landlocked; inland - Guryev |
| Civil air: | Kazak Airways |
| Airports: | Hard surfaced in all major cities |
| Telecommunications: | telephone service is poor, with only about 6 telephones for each 100 persons; of the approximately 1 million telephones, Alma-Ata has 184,000; international traffic with other former USSR republics and China carried by landline and microwave, and with other countries by satellite and through the Moscow international gateway switch; satellite earth stations - INTELSAT and Orbita, there is limited cellular network in capital city |
Kazakhstan Defense Forces
| Branches: | Republic Security Forces (internal and border troops), National Guard; CIS Forces (Ground, Air, Air Defense, and Strategic Rocket) |
| Manpower availability: | males 15-49, NA fit for military service; NA reach military age (18) annually |
| Defense expenditures: | $NA, NA% of GDP |
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