Economic Overview
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. 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 2002-07 - thanks largely to its booming energy sector, but also to economic reform, good harvests, and foreign investment. inflation, however, jumped to more than 10% in 2007. in the energy sector, the opening of the caspian consortium pipeline in 2001, from western kazakhstan's tengiz oilfield to the black sea, substantially raised export capacity. in 2006 kazakhstan completed the atasu-alashankou portion of an oil pipeline to china that is planned in future construction to extend from the country's caspian coast eastward to the chinese border. the country has embarked upon an industrial policy designed to diversify the economy away from overdependence on the oil sector by developing its manufacturing potential. 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 2007 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.
Environmental Issues
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
Government Type
Republic; authoritarian presidential rule, with little power outside the executive branch
Population
15,340,533 (july 2008 est.)
Location
Central asia, northwest of china; a small portion west of the ural river in eastern-most europe
Area
Total: 2,717,300 sq km
land: 2,669,800 sq km
water: 47,500 sq km
Slightly less than four times the size of texas
Country Aliases
Conventional long form: republic of kazakhstan
conventional short form: kazakhstan
local long form: qazaqstan respublikasy
local short form: qazaqstan
former: kazakh soviet socialist republic
Capital
Name: astana
geographic coordinates: 51 10 n, 71 25 e
time difference: utc+6 (11 hours ahead of washington, dc during standard time)
note: kazakhstan is divided into two time zones
Military Service
18 years of age for compulsory military service; conscript service obligation - 2 years; minimum age for volunteers na (2004)
International Disputes
Kyrgyzstan has yet to ratify the 2001 boundary delimitation with kazakhstan; field demarcation of the boundaries with turkmenistan commenced in 2005, and with uzbekistan in 2004; demarcation is scheduled to get underway with russia in 2007; demarcation with china was completed in 2002; creation of a seabed boundary with turkmenistan in the caspian sea remains under discussion; equidistant seabed treaties have been ratified with azerbaijan and russia in the caspian sea, but no resolution has been made on dividing the water column among any of the littoral states
Sources: Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
