Kazakhstan

World Factbook as of November 2014: Kazakhstan, geographically the largest of the former Soviet republics, excluding Russia, possesses enormous fossil fuel reserves and plentiful supplies of other minerals and metals, such as uranium, copper, and zinc. It also has a large agricultural sector featuring livestock and grain... Extractive industries have been and will continue to be the engine of Kazakhstan's growth, although the country is aggressively pursuing diversification strategies. Landlocked, with restricted access to the high seas, Kazakhstan relies on its neighbors to export its products, especially oil and grain. Although its Caspian Sea ports, pipelines, and rail lines carrying oil have been upgraded, civil aviation and roadways continue to need attention. Telecoms are improving, but require considerable investment, as does the information technology base. Supply and distribution of electricity can be erratic because of regional dependencies, but the country is moving forward with plans to improve reliability of electricity and gas supply to its population... In 2010 Kazakhstan joined the Belarus-Kazakhstan-Russia Customs Union in an effort to boost foreign investment and improve trade relationships."

Oil:
2011:Kazakhstan is 19th in oil production, 18th in oil exports and 11th in proved oil reserves

Export commodities
Oil and oil products 59%, ferrous metals 19%, chemicals 5%, machinery 3%, grain, wool, meat, coal

Kazakhstan doesn't tax much, its revenues only 18% of GDP, and its health figures show it.

Health expenditures
2009: 4.3% of GDP (ranks 155th, in other words near the bottom)

People

Population:
July 2014: 17.95 million

Birth / Death per 1,000 population
2014: 19.61 / 8.31

Infant mortality
2014: 21.61 deaths, ranks 83rd from the worst. Japan leads with a mere 2.13 deaths.

Life expectance at birth
2014: 70.24 years

Living in an urban area:
2010: 59%
2008: 58%)

Net migration rate
2012: More arriving than leaving. A net gain 0.43 persons per 1,000 population per year.

2010: A net loss of 3.7 per 1,000 population. Those leaving Kazakhstan have largely been ethnic Russians and Volga Germans.

Ethnicities:
2009 census: Kazakh 63.1%, Russian 23.7%, Uzbek 2.8%, Ukrainian 2.1%, Uighur 1.4%, Tatar 1.3%, German 1.1%, other 4.5%

Religions
Muslim 47%, Russian Orthodox 44%, Protestant 2%, other 7%

Geography

Central Asia, south of Russia, west of China, north of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Almost four times the size of Texas. Landlocked. A large part of the country is semidesert. Borders on a portion of the Caspian Sea. .

Government

President is elected by popular vote for a five-year term, last election t held on 3 April 201. The prime minister and deputy prime ministers are appointed by the president.

The World Factbook: "Kazakhstan is a constitutional republic. The president is the head of state. The president also is the commander in chief of the armed forces and may veto legislation that has been passed by the Parliament

Capital: Astana

Recent History

Kazakhstan was the last of the Soviet republics to declare independence with the disintegration of the Soviet Union, doing so on December 6, 1991. Kazakhstan is a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, former republics within the Soviet Union that today are closely associated with Russia's economically, in defense and foreign policy.

Dec 4, 2005, Nursultan Nazarbayev was reelected in a landslide victory. The electoral commission announced that he had won over 90% of the vote. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) concluded the election did not meet international standards despite some improvements in the administration of the election."

SOURCES:
The World Factbook

Republic of Kazakhstan

People

Geography

Government

Recent History