Location: Central Asia, south of Russia and northwest of China
Total area: 1,049,149.53 sq miles (2,717,300 sq km)
Land area: 1,030,809.78 sq miles (2,669800 sq km)
Comparative area:
- Ninth largest in the world, equivalent to the size of Western Europe.
- Four times the size of Texas.
- Five times the size of France.
Boundaries: Total 7,459 miles (12,012 km). The Republic of Kazakhstan shares its longest borders with Russia, 4,251 miles (6,846 km) and China, 951 miles (1,533 km), as well as with Uzbekistan 1,369 miles (2,203 km), Kyrgyzstan, 653 miles (1,051 km), and Turkmenistan, 235 miles (379 km). It also borders 1,183 miles (1,894 km) of the Caspian Sea.
Independence: December 16, 1991
National Holiday: Independence Day, December 16
Population: 15,2 million
Ethnic Diversity:
Kazakh 51.8%, Russian 31.4%, Ukrainian 4.4%, Tatar 1.7%, German 1.6%. There are over 100 other nationalities.
Religions: 46 religious confessions, including Muslims 47%, Russian Orthodox 44%, others, such as Roman Catholics, Protestants, Judaists at 9%. For more info click here
Languages: Kazakh, spoken by over 52% of the population, is the state language. Russian, spoken by two-thirds of the population, is used in everyday business and enjoys on offical status under the Constitution. Kazakhstan has a state program of promoting studies of English as the language of international affairs and business.
Literacy: 98%. For more info click here
Monetary unit: tenge - equal to 100 tyins. It was introduced on November 15, 1993. Exchange rate is floating and approximatley equals 1USD=151KZT (April 22, 2003)
Regions and major cities: Kazakhstan is divided into 14 oblasts (regions) headed by provincial governor (akims) and 5 economic regions: Western Kazakhstan (Aktyubinsk, Western-Kazakhstan, Atyrau, and Mangistau oblasts), Northern Kazakhstan (Kostanai, Northern-Kazakhstan oblasts), Central Kazakhstan (Akmola, Karaganda oblasts), Southern Kazakhstan (Almaty, Zhambyl, Kyzylorda, and Southern-Kazakhstan oblasts), and East Kazakhstan (Eastern-Kazakhstan, Pavlodar oblasts).
There are 82 cities and towns in the Republic. The biggest are: Almaty, Shymkent, Karaganda, Zhambyl, Semipalatinsk, Pavlodar, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Astana, Uralsk, and Aktyubinsk.
System of Goverment
Kazakhstan has a hybrid system of Government that combines aspects of both parliamentary and presidential systems.
The President is directly elected for a 7-year term. The President serves as commander-in-chief, sets foreign policy, can initiate legislation, and appoints the Prime Minister, subject to Parliamentary approval.
The Parliament consists of two houses, the Senate (upper house) and the Majilis (lower house). The Senate has 47 deputies, 40 indirectly elected by local legislators and seven appointed by the President. Senators serve six-year terms, with one-half of the Senate facing re-election every three years. Sixty-seven members of the Majilis are directly elected for five-year terms from single-member districts, with an additional ten members from political parties selected on the basis of proportional representation. For more info click here
Judicial branch: Supreme Court (44 members); Constitutional Council (7 members).
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
Natural Resources: The world's largest reserves of barite, lead, tungsten, and uranium; second largest reserves of chromite, silver, and zinc; third largest of manganese, significant deposits of copper, gold, and iron ore.
Current Oil Reserves:
35 billion barrels (twice as much as the North Sea)
Projected Oil Reserves:
100-110 billion barrels by 2015 (would be in top 3 of the world)
Current Gas Reserves:
2 trillion cubic metres
Projected Gas Reserves:
5 trillion cubic metres by 2015
