🇰🇿 Kazakhstan

National Flag

🎵 National Anthem

Geography & Borders

ChinaKyrgyzstanRussiaTurkmenistanUzbekistan

Introduction & Background

Kazakhstan,c officially the Republic of Kazakhstan,d is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe.e It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbekistan to the south, and Turkmenistan to the southwest, with a coastline along the Caspian Sea. Its capital is Astana, known as Nur-Sultan from 2019 to 2022. Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city, was the country's capital until 1997. Kazakhstan is the world's largest landlocked country, the largest and northernmost Muslim-majority country by land area, and the ninth-largest country in the world. It has a population of 19 million people, and one of the lowest population densities in the world, at fewer than 6 people per square kilometre (15 people per square mile).

The country dominates Central Asia economically and politically, generating 60 percent of the region's GDP, primarily through its oil and gas industry; it also has vast mineral resources.9 Officially, it is a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic with a diverse cultural heritage,10 and has the highest Human Development Index ranking in the region. Kazakhstan is a member state of the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the Eurasian Economic Union, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Organization of Turkic States, and the International Organization of Turkic Culture.