(CBS)
Native Kazakhs, a mix of Turkic and Mongol nomadic tribes who migrated into the region in 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-Kazakhs to outnumber natives. Independence in 1991 caused many of these newcomers to emigrate.
Kazakhstan's economy is larger than those of all the other Central Asian states combined, largely due to the country's vast natural resources and a recent history of political stability.
Current issues include: developing a cohesive national identity; expanding the development of the country's vast energy resources and exporting them to world markets; achieving a sustainable economic growth; diversifying the economy outside the oil, gas, and mining sectors; enhancing Kazakhstan's competitiveness; and strengthening relations with neighboring states and other foreign powers.
Source: CIA World Fact Book 
(AP)
15,284,929 (July 2007 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years: 22.5% (male 1,758,782/female 1,683,249) 15-64 years: 69.2% (male 5,169,314/female 5,407,661) 65 years and over: 8.3% (male 446,549/female 819,374) (2007 est.)
Median age: total: 29.1 years male: 27.5 years female: 30.8 years (2007 est.)
Population growth rate: 0.352% (2007 est.)
Birth rate: 16.23 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Death rate: 9.4 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Net migration rate: -3.32 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.045 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.956 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.545 male(s)/female total population: 0.932 male(s)/female (2007 est.)
Infant mortality rate: total: 27.41 deaths/1,000 live births male: 31.94 deaths/1,000 live births female: 22.62 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 67.22 years male: 61.9 years female: 72.84 years (2007 est.)
Total fertility rate: 1.89 children born/woman (2007 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 0.2% (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 16,500 (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths: less than 200 (2003 est.)
Nationality: noun: Kazakhstani(s) adjective: Kazakhstani
Ethnic groups: Kazakh (Qazaq) 53.4%, Russian 30%, Ukrainian 3.7%, Uzbek 2.5%, German 2.4%, Tatar 1.7%, Uygur 1.4%, other 4.9% (1999 census)
Religions: Muslim 47%, Russian Orthodox 44%, Protestant 2%, other 7%
Languages: Kazakh (Qazaq, state language) 64.4%, Russian (official, used in everyday business, designated the "language of interethnic communication") 95% (2001 est.)
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 99.5% male: 99.8% female: 99.3% (1999 est.)
(AP)
Kazakhstan, the largest of the former Soviet republics in territory, excluding Russia, possesses enormous fossil fuel reserves and plentiful supplies of other minerals and metals. It also has a large agricultural sector featuring livestock and grain. Kazakhstan's industrial sector rests on the extraction and processing of these natural resources and also on a growing machine-building sector specializing in construction equipment, tractors, agricultural machinery, and some defense items. The breakup of the USSR in December 1991 and the collapse in demand for Kazakhstan's traditional heavy industry products resulted in a short-term contraction of the economy, with the steepest annual decline occurring in 1994. In 1995-97, the pace of the government program of economic reform and privatization quickened, resulting in a substantial shifting of assets into the private sector. Kazakhstan enjoyed double-digit growth in 2000-01 - 8% or more per year in 2002-06 - thanks largely to its booming energy sector, but also to economic reform, good harvests, and foreign investment. The opening of the Caspian Consortium pipeline in 2001, from western Kazakhstan's Tengiz oilfield to the Black Sea, substantially raised export capacity. Kazakhstan in 2006 completed the Atasu-Alashankou portion of an oil pipeline to China that is planned to extend from the country's Caspian coast eastward to the Chinese border in future construction. The country has embarked upon an industrial policy designed to diversify the economy away from overdependence on the oil sector by developing light industry. The policy aims to reduce the influence of foreign investment and foreign personnel. The government has engaged in several disputes with foreign oil companies over the terms of production agreements; tensions continue. Upward pressure on the local currency continued in 2006 due to massive oil-related foreign-exchange inflows. Aided by strong growth and foreign exchange earnings, Kazakhstan aspires to become a regional financial center and has created a banking system comparable to those in Central Europe.
GDP (purchasing power parity): $143.4 billion (2006 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate): $53.6 billion (2006 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 10.6% (2006 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP): $9,400 (2006 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 6.3% industry: 41.1% services: 52.7% (2006 est.)
Labor force: 7.834 million (2006 est.)
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture: 20% industry: 30% services: 50% (2002 est.)
Unemployment rate: 7.4% (2006 est.)
Population below poverty line: 19% (2004 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 3.3% highest 10%: 26.5% (2004 est.)
Distribution of family income - Gini index: 31.5 (2003)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 8.6% (2006 est.)
Investment (gross fixed): 27% of GDP (2006 est.)
Budget: revenues: $18.48 billion expenditures: $18.09 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2006 est.)
Public debt: 11% of GDP (2006 est.)
Agriculture - products: grain (mostly spring wheat), cotton; livestock
Industries: oil, coal, iron ore, manganese, chromite, lead, zinc, copper, titanium, bauxite, gold, silver, phosphates, sulfur, iron and steel; tractors and other agricultural machinery, electric motors, construction materials
Industrial production growth rate: 7.7% (2006 est.)
Electricity - production: 66.5 billion kWh (2006 est.)
Electricity - consumption: 59.2 billion kWh (2006 est.)
Electricity - exports: 4.9 billion kWh (2004)
Electricity - imports: 4.37 billion kWh (2004)
Oil - production: 1.3 million bbl/day (2005 est.)
Oil - consumption: 222,000 bbl/day (2005 est.)
Oil - exports: 1 million bbl/day (2005 est.)
Oil - imports: 113,600 bbl/day (2004)
Oil - proved reserves: 9 billion bbl (1 January 2005)
Natural gas - production: 20.49 billion cu m (2004 est.)
Natural gas - consumption: 15.75 billion cu m (2004 est.)
Natural gas - exports: 7.01 billion cu m (2004 est.)
Natural gas - imports: 2.27 billion cu m (2004 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves: 1.841 trillion cu m (1 January 2005 est.)
Current account balance: $133 million (2006 est.)
Exports: $35.55 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)
Exports - commodities: oil and oil products 58%, ferrous metals 24%, chemicals 5%, machinery 3%, grain, wool, meat, coal (2001)
Exports - partners: Germany 12.4%, Russia 11.6%, China 10.9%, Italy 10.5%, France 7.4%, Romania 4.9% (2006)
Imports: $22 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)
Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment 41%, metal products 28%, foodstuffs 8% (2001)
Imports - partners: Russia 36.7%, China 19.5%, Germany 7.4% (2006)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $15.26 billion (2006 est.)
Debt - external: $53.89 billion (30 June 2006 est.)
Economic aid - recipient: $74.2 million (FY04)
Currency (code): tenge (KZT)
Exchange rates: tenge per US dollar - 126.09 (2006), 132.88 (2005), 136.04 (2004), 149.58 (2003), 153.28 (2002)
Fiscal year: calendar year
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