"text":"Ethnic Kazakhs, a mix of Turkic and Mongol nomadic tribes who migrated to the region by the 13th century, were rarely united as a single nation. The area was conquered by Russia in the 18th century, and Kazakhstan became a Soviet Republic in 1936. During the 1950s and 1960s agricultural \"Virgin Lands\" program, Soviet citizens were encouraged to help cultivate Kazakhstan's northern pastures. This influx of immigrants (mostly Russians, but also some other deported nationalities) skewed the ethnic mixture and enabled non-ethnic Kazakhs to outnumber natives. Non-Muslim ethnic minorities departed Kazakhstan in large numbers from the mid-1990s through the mid-2000s and a national program has repatriated about a million ethnic Kazakhs back to Kazakhstan. These trends have allowed Kazakhs to become the titular majority again. This dramatic demographic shift has also undermined the previous religious diversity and made the country more than 70 percent Muslim. Kazakhstan's economy is larger than those of all the other Central Asian states largely due to the country's vast natural resources. Current issues include: developing a cohesive national identity; managing Islamic revivalism; expanding the development of the country's vast energy resources and exporting them to world markets; diversifying the economy outside the oil, gas, and mining sectors; enhancing Kazakhstan's economic competitiveness; developing a multiparty parliament and advancing political and social reform; and strengthening relations with neighboring states and other foreign powers."
}
},
"Geography":{
"Location":{
"text":"Central Asia, northwest of China; a small portion west of the Ural (Zhayyq) River in easternmost Europe"
"text":"China 1,765 km, Kyrgyzstan 1,212 km, Russia 7,644 km, Turkmenistan 413 km, Uzbekistan 2,330 km"
}
},
"Coastline":{
"text":"0 km (landlocked); note - Kazakhstan borders the Aral Sea, now split into two bodies of water (1,070 km), and the Caspian Sea (1,894 km)"
},
"Maritime claims":{
"text":"none (landlocked)"
},
"Climate":{
"text":"continental, cold winters and hot summers, arid and semiarid"
},
"Terrain":{
"text":"vast flat steppe extending from the Volga in the west to the Altai Mountains in the east and from the plains of western Siberia in the north to oases and deserts of Central Asia in the south"
"text":"earthquakes in the south; mudslides around Almaty"
},
"Environment - current issues":{
"text":"radioactive or toxic chemical sites associated with former defense industries and test ranges scattered throughout the country pose health risks for humans and animals; industrial pollution is severe in some cities; because the two main rivers that flowed into the Aral Sea have been diverted for irrigation, it is drying up and leaving behind a harmful layer of chemical pesticides and natural salts; these substances are then picked up by the wind and blown into noxious dust storms; pollution in the Caspian Sea; soil pollution from overuse of agricultural chemicals and salination from poor infrastructure and wasteful irrigation practices"
"text":"world's largest landlocked country; Russia leases approximately 6,000 sq km of territory enclosing the Baykonur Cosmodrome; in January 2004, Kazakhstan and Russia extended the lease to 2050"
"text":"the name \"Kazakh\" derives from the Turkic word \"kaz\" meaning \"to wander,\" recalling the Kazakh's nomadic lifestyle; the Persian suffix \"-stan\" means \"place of\" or \"country,\" so the word Kazakhstan literally means \"Land of the wanderers\""
"text":"administrative divisions have the same names as their administrative centers (exceptions have the administrative center name following in parentheses); in 1995, the Governments of Kazakhstan and Russia entered into an agreement whereby Russia would lease for a period of 20 years an area of 6,000 sq km enclosing the Baykonur space launch facilities and the city of Bayqongyr (Baykonur, formerly Leninsk); in 2004, a new agreement extended the lease to 2050"
"text":"previous 1937, 1978 (preindependence); latest adopted 28 January 1993, approved by referendum 30 August 1995, effective 5 September 1995; amended several times, last in 2011 (2016)"
"text":"Council of Ministers appointed by the president"
},
"elections/appointments":{
"text":"president directly elected by simple majority popular vote for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 26 April 2015 (next to be held in 2020); prime minister and deputy prime minister appointed by the president, approved by the Mazhilis; note - constitutional amendments in May 2007 shortened the presidential term from 7 to 5 years and established a 2-consecutive-term limit; NAZARBAYEV has official status as the \"First President of Kazakhstan\" and is allowed unlimited terms"
},
"election results":{
"text":"Nursultan Abishuly NAZARBAYEV reelected president; percent of vote - Nursultan Abishuly NAZARBAYEV (Nur Otan) 97.8%, other 2.2%"
"text":"bicameral Parliament consists of the Senate (47 seats; 32 members indirectly elected by majority two-round vote by the oblast-level assemblies and 15 members appointed by the president; members serve 6-year terms, with one-half of the membership renewed every 3 years) and the Mazhilis (107 seats; 98 members directly elected in a single national constituency by proportional representation vote to serve 5-year terms and 9 indirectly elected by the Assembly of People of Kazakhstan, a 350-member, presidentially appointed advisory body designed to represent the country's ethnic minorities)"
"text":"Senate - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - Nur Otan 16; Mazhilis - percent of vote by party - Nur Otan 82.2%, Ak Zhol 7.2%, Communist People's Party 7.1%, other 3.5%; seats by party - Nur Otan 84, Ak Zhol 7, Communist People's Party 7"
"text":"Supreme Court judges proposed by the president of the republic on recommendation of the Supreme Judicial Council and confirmed by the Senate; judges normally serve until age 65 but can be extended to age 70; Constitutional Council - the president of the republic, the Senate chairperson, and the Majilis chairperson each appoints 1 member for a 3-year term and each appoints 1 member for a 6-year term; chairperson of the Constitutional Council appointed by the president of the republic for a 6-year term"
"text":"Ak Zhol (Bright Path) Party or Democratic Party of Kazakhstan Ak Zhol [Azat PERUASHEV] ++ Auyl National Patriotic Party [Ali BEKTAYEV] (Auyl is a September 2015 merger of the Patriots’ Party and the Auyl Social Democratic Party) ++ Birlik (Unity) [Seril SULTANGALI] (Birlik is an April 2013 merger of Adilet (Justice; formerly Democratic Party of Kazakhstan) and Rukhaniyat (Spirituality)) ++ Communist People's Party of Kazakhstan [Vladislav KOSAREV] ++ National Social Democratic Party or NSDP [Zharmakhan TUYAKBAY] ++ Nur Otan (Radiant Fatherland) Democratic People's Party [Nursultan NAZARBAYEV] (the Agrarian, Asar, and Civic parties merged with Otan)"
"text":"Adil-Soz [Tamara KALEYEVA] ++ Confederation of Free Trade Unions [Larissa KHARKOVA] ++ Foundation for Support of Civil Initiatives [Nurul RAKHIMBEK] ++ International Legal Initiative [Aina SHORMANBAYEVA] ++ Kazakhstan International Bureau on Human Rights [Yevgeniy ZHOVTIS, Chairman of Bureau's Council, Roza AKYLBEKOVA, director] ++ Legal Media Centre (sometimes known as the North Kazakhstan Legal Media Centre) [Diana OKREMOVA] ++ Public Foundation for Parliamentary Development [Zauresh BATTALOVA] ++ Republican Network of International Monitors [Daniyar LIVAZOV] ++ Transparency International [Sergey ZLOTNIKOV]"
"text":"Ambassador Kayrat UMAROV (since 14 January 2013)"
},
"chancery":{
"text":"1401 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20036"
},
"telephone":{
"text":"[1] (202) 232-5488"
},
"FAX":{
"text":"[1] (202) 232-5845"
},
"consulate(s) general":{
"text":"New York"
}
},
"Diplomatic representation from the US":{
"chief of mission":{
"text":"Ambassador George KROL (since 18 March 2015)"
},
"embassy":{
"text":"Rakhymzhan Koshkarbayev Ave. No 3, Astana 010010"
},
"mailing address":{
"text":"use embassy street address"
},
"telephone":{
"text":"[7] (7172) 70-21-00"
},
"FAX":{
"text":"[7] (7172) 54-09-14"
},
"Consulate(s) General":{
"text":"Almaty"
}
},
"Flag description":{
"text":"a gold sun with 32 rays above a soaring golden steppe eagle, both centered on a sky blue background; the hoist side displays a national ornamental pattern \"koshkar-muiz\" (the horns of the ram) in gold; the blue color is of religious significance to the Turkic peoples of the country, and so symbolizes cultural and ethnic unity; it also represents the endless sky as well as water; the sun, a source of life and energy, exemplifies wealth and plenitude; the sun's rays are shaped like grain, which is the basis of abundance and prosperity; the eagle has appeared on the flags of Kazakh tribes for centuries and represents freedom, power, and the flight to the future; blue and yellow are the national colors"
},
"National symbol(s)":{
"text":"golden eagle; national colors: blue, yellow"
},
"National anthem":{
"name":{
"text":"\"Menin Qazaqstanim\" (My Kazakhstan)"
},
"lyrics/music":{
"text":"Zhumeken NAZHIMEDENOV and Nursultan NAZARBAYEV/Shamshi KALDAYAKOV"
},
"note":{
"text":"adopted 2006; President Nursultan NAZARBAYEV played a role in revising the lyrics"
"text":"Kazakhstan, geographically the largest of the former Soviet republics, excluding Russia, possesses substantial fossil fuel reserves and other minerals and metals, such as uranium, copper, and zinc. It also has a large agricultural sector featuring livestock and grain. The government realizes that its economy suffers from an overreliance on oil and extractive industries and has embarked on an ambitious diversification program, aimed at developing targeted sectors like transport, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, petrochemicals and food processing. ++ ++ Kazakhstan's vast hydrocarbon and mineral reserves form the backbone of its economy. Kazakhstan is landlocked and depends on Russia to export its oil to Europe. In 2010, Kazakhstan joined Russia and Belarus to establish a Customs Union in an effort to boost foreign investment and improve trade. The Customs Union evolved into a Single Economic Space in 2012 and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) in January 2015. ++ ++ The economic downturn of its EEU partner, Russia, and the decline in global commodity prices have contributed to an economic slowdown in Kazakhstan, which is experiencing its slowest economic growth since the financial crises of 2008-09. Kazakhstan devalued its currency, the tenge, by 19% in February 2014, and in November 2014, the government announced a stimulus package to cope with its economic challenges. In spring 2015, Kazakhstan embarked on an ambitious reform agenda to modernize its economy and improve its institutions. In the face of further decline in the ruble, oil prices, and the regional economic slowdown, Kazakhstan announced in August 2015 that it would cancel its currency band in favor of a floating exchange rate that sparked further devaluation of the tenge. In 2015, Kazakhstan's president signed into law a new Entrepreneurial Code and a new Labor Code, both aimed at improving the business environment. Despite some positive institutional and legislative changes, investors remain concerned about corruption, bureaucracy, and arbitrary law enforcement, especially at the regional and municipal levels."
"text":"grain (mostly spring wheat and barley), potatoes, vegetables, melons; livestock"
},
"Industries":{
"text":"oil, coal, iron ore, manganese, chromite, lead, zinc, copper, titanium, bauxite, gold, silver, phosphates, sulfur, uranium, iron and steel; tractors and other agricultural machinery, electric motors, construction materials"
"text":"intercity by landline and microwave radio relay; number of fixed-line connections is inadequate; mobile-cellular usage has increased rapidly and the subscriber base now exceeds 170 per 100 persons"
"text":"country code - 7; international traffic with other former Soviet republics and China carried by landline and microwave radio relay and with other countries by satellite and by the Trans-Asia-Europe (TAE) fiber-optic cable; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (2015)"
"text":"state owns nearly all radio and TV transmission facilities and operates national TV and radio networks; nearly all nationwide TV networks are wholly or partly owned by the government; some former state-owned media outlets have been privatized; households with satellite dishes have access to foreign media; a small number of commercial radio stations operate along with state-run radio stations; recent legislation requires all media outlets to register with the government and all TV providers to broadcast in digital format by 2018 (2015)"
"text":"Kazakhstan Armed Forces: Ground Forces, Navy, Air Mobile Forces, Air Defense Forces (2013)"
},
"Military service age and obligation":{
"text":"18 is the legal minimum age for compulsory military service; conscript service obligation is 2 years, but Kazakhstan may be transitioning to a contract force; 19 is the legal minimum age for voluntary service; military cadets in intermediate (ages 15-17) and higher (ages 17-21) education institutes are classified as military service personnel (2012)"
},
"Military expenditures":{
"text":"1.21% of GDP (2012) ++ 0.97% of GDP (2011) ++ 1.21% of GDP (2010)"
}
},
"Transnational Issues":{
"Disputes - international":{
"text":"Kyrgyzstan has yet to ratify the 2001 boundary delimitation with Kazakhstan; field demarcation of the boundaries commenced with Uzbekistan in 2004 and with Turkmenistan in 2005; ongoing demarcation with Russia began in 2007; demarcation with China was completed in 2002; creation of a seabed boundary with Turkmenistan in the Caspian Sea remains under discussion; Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia ratified Caspian seabed delimitation treaties based on equidistance, while Iran continues to insist on a one-fifth slice of the sea"
"text":"significant illicit cultivation of cannabis for CIS markets, as well as limited cultivation of opium poppy and ephedra (for the drug ephedrine); limited government eradication of illicit crops; transit point for Southwest Asian narcotics bound for Russia and the rest of Europe; significant consumer of opiates"
