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Communications

Airports [time series]

Civil air [time series]

NA major transport aircraft

Roadways (Highways) [time series]

189,000 km total (1990); 188,900 km hard surfaced (paved or gravel), 80,900 km earth

Waterways (Inland waterways) [time series]

NA km perennially navigable

Pipelines [time series]

crude oil NA km, refined products NA km, natural gas NA

Ports [time series]

none - landlocked; inland - Guryev

Railways (Railroads) [time series]

14,460 km (all 1.520-meter gauge); does not include industrial lines (1990)

Telecommunication systems (Telecommunications) [time series]

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

Defense Forces

Military and security forces (Branches) [time series]

Republic Security Forces (internal and border troops), National Guard; CIS Forces (Ground, Air, Air Defense, and Strategic Rocket)

Military expenditures (Defense expenditures) [time series]

$NA, NA% of GDP

Manpower availability [time series]

males 15-49, NA fit for military service; NA reach military age (18) annually

Economy

Agricultural products (Agriculture) [time series]

employs 30% of the labor force; grain, mostly spring wheat; meat, cotton, wool

Budget [time series]

revenues $NA million; expenditures $NA million, including capital expenditures of $1.76 billion (1991)

Exchange rates (Currency) [time series]

as of May 1992, retaining ruble as currency

Economic aid [time series]

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

Electricity [time series]

17,900,000 kW capacity; 79,100 million kWh produced, 4,735 kWh per capita (1991)

Exchange rates [time series]

Exports [time series]

$4.2 billion (f.o.b., 1991) commodities: oil, ferrous and nonferrous metals, chemicals, grain, wool, meat (1991) partners: Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan

Debt - external (External debt) [time series]

$2.6 billion (1991 est.)

Fiscal year [time series]

calendar year

Real GDP (purchasing power parity) (GDP) [time series]

purchasing power equivalent - $NA; per capita NA; real growth rate - 7% (1991 est.)

Illicit drugs [time series]

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

Imports [time series]

$NA million (c.i.f., 1990) commodities: machinery and parts, industrial materials partners: Russia and other former Soviet republics

Industrial production growth rate (Industrial production) [time series]

growth rate 0.7% (1991)

Industries [time series]

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

Inflation rate (consumer prices) [time series]

83% (1991)

Economic overview (Overview) [time series]

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.

Unemployment rate [time series]

NA%

Geography

Climate [time series]

dry continental, about half is desert

Coastline [time series]

0 km note: Kazakhstan does border the Aral Sea (1,015 km) and the Caspian Sea (1,894 km)

Area - comparative (Comparative area) [time series]

slightly less than four times the size of Texas

Disputes - international (Disputes) [time series]

none

Environment - current issues (Environment) [time series]

drying up of Aral Sea is causing increased concentrations of chemical pesticides and natural salts; industrial pollution

Area (Land area) [time series]

2,669,800 km2

Land boundaries [time series]

12,012 km; China 1,533 km, Kyrgyzstan 1,051 km, Russia 6,846 km, Turkmenistan 379 km, Uzbekistan 2,203 km

Land use [time series]

NA% arable land; NA% permanent crops; NA% meadows and pastures; NA% forest and woodland; NA% other; includes NA% irrigated

Maritime claims [time series]

none - landlocked

Natural resources [time series]

petroleum, coal, iron, manganese, chrome, nickel, cobalt, copper, molybdenum, lead, zinc, bauxite, gold, uranium, iron

Terrain [time series]

extends from the Volga to the Altai mountains and from the plains in western Siberia to oasis and desert in Central Asia

Area (Total area) [time series]

2,717,300 km2

Government

Administrative divisions [time series]

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)

Capital [time series]

Alma-Ata (Almaty)

Political parties (Communists) [time series]

party disbanded 6 September 1992

Constitution [time series]

new postindependence constitution under preparation

Diplomatic representation in the US (Diplomatic representation) [time series]

Ambassador NA; Chancery at NA NW, Washington, DC 200__; telephone NA; there are NA Consulates General US: Ambassador-designate William Courtney; Embassy at Hotel Kazakhstan, Alma-Ata, (mailing address is APO AE 09862); telephone 8-011-7-3272-61-90-56

Executive branch (Elections) [time series]

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

Executive branch [time series]

president with presidential appointed cabinet of ministers

Flag [time series]

no national flag yet adopted

Independence [time series]

16 December 1991; from the Soviet Union (formerly the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic)

Judicial branch [time series]

Executive branch (Leaders) [time series]

Chief of State: President Nursultan A. NAZARBAYEV (since April 1990), Vice President Yerik ASANBAYEV (since 1 December 1991) Head of Government: Prime Minister Sergey TERESHCHENKO (since 14 October 1991), Deputy Prime Minister Davlat SEMBAYEV (since November 1990)

Legal system [time series]

Legislative branch [time series]

Supreme Soviet

Country name (Long-form name) [time series]

Republic of Kazakhstan

International organization participation (Member of) [time series]

CIS, CSCE, IMF, NACC, OIC, UN, UNCTAD

National holiday [time series]

Political parties (Political parties and leaders) [time series]

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 [time series]

universal at age 18

Government type (Type) [time series]

republic

People

Birth rate [time series]

23 births/1,000 population (1992)

Death rate [time series]

8 deaths/1,000 population (1992)

Ethnic groups (Ethnic divisions) [time series]

Kazakh (Qazaq) 40%, Russian 38%, other Slavs 7%, Germans 6%, other 9%

Infant mortality rate [time series]

25.9 deaths/1,000 live births (1992)

Labor force [time series]

8,267,000 (1989)

Languages [time series]

Kazakh (Qazaq; official language), Russian

Life expectancy at birth [time series]

63 years male, 72 years female (1992)

Literacy [time series]

NA% (male NA%, female NA%) age 15 and over can read and write

Nationality [time series]

noun - Kazakh(s); adjective - Kazakhstani

Net migration rate [time series]

-6.1 migrants/1,000 population (1991)

Organized labor [time series]

official trade unions, independent coal miners' union

Population [time series]

17,103,927 (July 1992), growth rate 1.0% (1992)

Religions [time series]

Muslim 47% Russian Orthodox NA%, Lutheran NA%

Total fertility rate [time series]

2.9 children born/woman (1992)