Republic of Kazakhstan

The Republic of Kazakhstan covers 2.72 million square kilometres, making it the ninth-largest country in the world. It reaches the Caspian Sea in the west and the Altai Mountains in the east and borders Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. According to the Bureau of National Statistics, its population on 1 January 2026 was 20,495,975. The capital is Astana and the largest city Almaty; the state language is Kazakh and the currency the tenge.

History

These steppes were home to the Saka, the Huns, the Göktürks, the Karluks, the Kipchaks and the Golden Horde. In 1465 the khans Kerey and Janibek founded the Kazakh Khanate. In the 18th–19th centuries the Kazakh lands were gradually absorbed into the Russian Empire, and the Alash Orda autonomy existed in 1917–1920.

In the Soviet era the famine of the 1930s (Asharshylyk) inflicted terrible losses on the Kazakh people, and nuclear tests were carried out for 40 years at the Semipalatinsk test site. Kazakhstan declared independence on 16 December 1991, and in 1997 the capital moved from Almaty to Astana.

Geography

Most of the country is steppe and desert; the Tien Shan and Dzungarian Alatau rise in the south-east and the Altai in the east. The highest point is Khan Tengri (7,010 m). Lakes Balkhash and Zaysan and the shores of the Caspian and the Aral shape the country's water map.

Government and economy

Kazakhstan is a presidential republic with a parliament of two chambers, the Mazhilis and the Senate. It is a founding member of the Organization of Turkic States, and the International Turkic Academy is based in Astana. The economy rests on oil, gas, uranium, metals and grain: Kazakhstan is the world's largest uranium producer, and oil comes from the Tengiz and Kashagan fields.