Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country situated primarily in Central Asia, with a portion of its territory extending into Eastern Europe. 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, and it has a coastline along the Caspian Sea. The capital is Astana and the country's largest city and principal cultural and economic center is Almaty, which served as the capital until 1997.

Kazakhstan is the world's ninth-largest country by land area and the largest landlocked country. Hilly plateaus and plains account for nearly half its vast territory, with lowlands composing another third; its southern and eastern frontiers are composed of mountainous regions. Kazakhstan has a population of 20.5 million and one of the lowest population densities in the world, with fewer than . Ethnic Kazakhs constitute a majority, while ethnic Russians form a significant minority. Officially secular, Kazakhstan is a Muslim-majority country with a sizeable Christian community.

Kazakhstan has been inhabited since the Paleolithic era. In antiquity, various nomadic Iranian peoples such as the Saka, Massagetae, and Scythians dominated the territory, with the Achaemenid Persian Empire expanding towards the south. Turkic nomads entered the region from the sixth century. In the 13th century, the area was subjugated by the Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan. Following the disintegration of the Golden Horde in the 15th century, the Kazakh Khanate was established over an area roughly corresponding with modern Kazakhstan. By the 18th century, the Kazakh Khanate had fragmented into three (tribal divisions), which were gradually absorbed and conquered by the Russian Empire; by the mid-19th century, all of Kazakhstan was nominally under Russian rule. Following the 1917 Russian Revolution and subsequent Russian Civil War, it became an autonomous republic of the Russian SFSR within the Soviet Union. Its status was elevated to that of a union republic in 1936. The Soviet government settled Russians and other ethnicities in the republic, which resulted in ethnic Kazakhs being a minority during the Soviet era. Kazakhstan was the last constituent republic of the Soviet Union to declare independence in 1991 during its dissolution.

Kazakhstan dominates Central Asia both economically and politically, accounting for 60% of the region's GDP, primarily through its oil and gas industry; it also has vast mineral resources, ranking among the highest producers of iron and silver in the world. Kazakhstan also has the highest Human Development Index ranking in the region. It is a unitary constitutional republic; however, its government is authoritarian. Nevertheless, there have been incremental efforts at democratization and political reform since the resignation of Nursultan Nazarbayev in 2019, who had led the country since independence. Kazakhstan is a member state of the United Nations, World Trade Organization, Commonwealth of Independent States, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Eurasian Economic Union, Collective Security Treaty Organization, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Organization of Turkic States, International Organization of Turkic Culture and Special Guest status with the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly.

Etymology

According to the most widely accepted theory, the word qazaq (Kazakh) derives from a Turkic root meaning "free", "independent", or "wanderer".

The Turkic word qazaq (قازاق) was reliably recorded in 13th–14th century dictionaries, including the Codex Cumanicus and a Mamluk-Kipchak Arabic dictionary published by Martin Houtsma. In these sources, the word meant "unattached", "homeless", "loner", or "exile", and later acquired the meaning "free man".

The English word Kazakh, meaning a member of the Kazakh people, derives from . The native name is '. It might originate from the Turkic word verb qaz-, 'to wander', reflecting the Kazakhs' nomadic culture. The term Cossack is of the same origin. According to Vasily Bartold, the Kazakhs likely began using that name during the 15th century.

Though Kazakh traditionally referred only to ethnic Kazakhs, including those living in China, Russia, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and other neighbouring countries, the term is increasingly being used to refer to any inhabitant of Kazakhstan, including residents of other ethnicities. In the Kazakh language, the country is called Qazaqstan in the Latin script.

History

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Antiquity

Kazakhstan has been inhabited since the Paleolithic era. The Botai culture (3700–3100 BC) is credited with the first domestication of horses. The Botai population derived most of their ancestry from a deeply European-related population known as Ancient North Eurasians, while also displaying some Ancient East Asian admixture. Pastoralism developed during the Neolithic. The population was Caucasoid during the Bronze and Iron Age period.

The Kazakh territory was a key constituent of the Eurasian trading Steppe Route, the ancestor of the terrestrial Silk Roads. Archaeologists believe that humans first domesticated the horse in the region's vast steppes. During recent prehistoric times, Central Asia was inhabited by groups such as the possibly Indo-European Afanasievo culture, later early Indo-Iranian cultures such as Andronovo, and later Indo-Iranians such as the Saka and Massagetae. Other groups included the nomadic Scythians and the Persian Achaemenid Empire in the southern territory of the modern country. The Andronovo and Srubnaya cultures, precursors to the peoples of the Scythian cultures, were found to harbour mixed ancestry from the Yamnaya Steppe herders and peoples of the Central European Middle Neolithic.

Turkic Khaganate and Cuman–Kipchak period

thumb|150px|Funerary depiction of long-haired Göktürks in the [[Kazakh Steppe. Miho funerary couch, c. 570 CE.]]

The main migrations of the Turkic peoples took place between the 5th and 11th centuries, during which Turkic-speaking groups spread across much of Central Asia. Over time, they gradually assimilated or replaced many of the earlier Iranian-speaking populations, transforming Central Asia from a predominantly Iranian region into one largely Turkic-speaking.

Medieval statehood on the territory of present-day Kazakhstan began to emerge with the establishment of the Turkic Khaganate in the mid-6th century. In 630, the Eastern Turkic Khaganate was defeated by the Chinese and incorporated into the Tang dynasty. In 658, the Western Turkic Khaganate suffered a similar fate after its defeat by Tang forces. Turkic political power was later restored when Kutlug Ilterish Qaghan revived the Eastern Turkic Khaganate in 682.

On the territory of the former Western Turkic Khaganate, the Turgesh Khaganate emerged in 699 under the leadership of Üch-elik. The Turgesh actively resisted the Arab expansion into Central Asia during the 720s and 730s, but were ultimately defeated in the mid-8th century. During the same period, the Eastern Turkic Khaganate fragmented as a result of internal conflicts and political disunity.

The Oghuz tribes established themselves in the Aral Sea region and made Yangikent (Dzhankent) their capital. Despite attempts at political consolidation, internal conflicts weakened the Oghuz state.

thumb|left|250px|Mausoleums of Rabiga Sultān Begim and Khoja Ahmad Yasawi in the city of [[Turkistan (city)|Turkestan]]

In the early 16th century Kazakhs transformed the Khanate into a nomadic empire stretching across the steppes east of the Caspian Sea and north of the Aral Sea as far as the upper Irtysh River and the western approaches to the Altai Mountains. During the reigns of Burunduk Khan (ruled 1488–1509) and Kasym Khan (1509–18), the Kazakhs were the masters of virtually the entire steppe region, reportedly able to bring 200,000 cavalry into the field and feared by all their neighbours. Many historians consider Kasym Khan's leadership the starting point of a distinct and sovereign Kazakh state. His influence extended Kazakh authority from the southeastern regions of modern Kazakhstan to the Ural Mountains.

150px|thumb|[[Padishah (Emperor) of Dast-i Qipchaq, (1550). Possible portrait of Kazakh khan.]]

After Tauke's death in 1715/1718 the Kazakh Khanate lost its unity, and the three hordes effectively became separate khanates. The beginning of the 18th century marked the zenith of the Kazakh Khanate. During this period the Little Horde participated in the 1723–1730 war against the Dzungar Khanate, following their "Great Disaster" invasion of Kazakh territory. Under the leadership of Abul Khair Khan, the Kazakhs won major victories over the Dzungar at the Bulanty River in 1726 and at the Battle of Añyraqai in 1729.

[[File:Жуз.svg|thumb|left|250px|Approximate areas occupied by the three Kazakh jüz in the early 20th century

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The collapse of the Dzungar Khanate shifted the balance of power in Inner Asia. For a time, the Kazakh khanates became the dominant political and military force in the region. At the same time, the positions of Russia and Qing China strengthened, and they began to define the system of international relations in the northwestern part of Central Asia. Ablai Khan pursued a policy of balancing between Russia and China, which allowed the Kazakh Khanate to maintain relative independence for a time. After his death, his son, Vali Khan, abandoned this independent policy and recognized the supreme authority of the Russian Empire.

Russian Kazakhstan

thumb|[[Ural Cossacks skirmish with Kazakhs]]

In the first half of the 18th century the Russian Empire constructed the , a series of forty-six forts and ninety-six redoubts, including Omsk (1716), Semipalatinsk (1718), Pavlodar (1720), Orenburg (1743) and Petropavlovsk (1752), to prevent Kazakh and Oirat raids into Russian territory. In the late 18th century the Kazakhs took advantage of Pugachev's Rebellion, which was centred on the Volga area, to raid Russian and Volga German settlements. In the 19th century, the Russian Empire began to expand its influence into Central Asia. The "Great Game" period is generally regarded as running from approximately 1813 to the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907. The tsars effectively ruled over most of the territory belonging to what is now the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The Russian Empire introduced an administrative system and built military garrisons and barracks in its effort to establish a presence in Central Asia in the so-called "Great Game" for dominance in the area against the British Empire, Russia, which was expanding its influence southward into India and Southeast Asia, established its first outpost, Orsk, in 1735. The Russian language was introduced in schools and government institutions throughout the region.

Russian attempts to impose their political and cultural system provoked resentment among the Kazakhs. By the 1860s, resistance to Russian rule had intensified. The traditional nomadic way of life and the livestock-based economy were severely disrupted, leading to famine and the decline of some Kazakh tribes.

Beginning in the late nineteenth century, the Kazakh national movement sought to preserve the native language and cultural identity in opposition to the Russian Empire's assimilation policies. At the same time, Russian-style education introduced modern ideas to the steppe, and figures like Shoqan Walikhanov and Abay Kunanbayev adapted these ideas to the specific needs of Kazakh society, creating a secular culture unparalleled in other parts of Asian Russia. Vasile Balabanov was the administrator responsible for the resettlement during much of this time.

The competition for land and water that ensued between the Kazakhs and the newcomers caused great resentment against colonial rule during the final years of the Russian Empire. The most serious uprising, the Central Asian revolt, occurred in 1916. The Kazakhs attacked Russian and Cossack settlers and military garrisons. The revolt resulted in a series of clashes and in brutal massacres committed by both sides. Both sides resisted the communist government until late 1919.

In the wake of the Russian Revolution, the Alash Orda government was formed in 1917 as an attempt to secure Kazakh autonomy. Although it existed only in name, Alash Orda represented the Kazakh push for self-rule. The Bolshevik Red Army eventually defeated White Russian forces in the region by 1920, and Kazakhstan was incorporated into the Soviet Union. During the 1930s, some members of the Kazakh intelligentsia were executed – as part of the policies of political reprisals pursued by the Soviet government in Moscow.

On 5 December 1936 the Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (whose territory by then corresponded to that of modern Kazakhstan) was detached from the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) and made the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, a full union republic of the USSR, one of eleven such republics at the time, along with the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic.

The republic was one of the destinations for exiled and convicted persons, as well as for mass resettlements, or deportations affected by the central USSR authorities during the 1930s and 1940s, such as approximately 400,000 Volga Germans deported from the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in September–October 1941, and then later the Greeks and Crimean Tatars. Deportees and prisoners were interned in some of the biggest Soviet labour camps (the Gulag), including ALZhIR camp outside Astana, which was reserved for the wives of men considered "enemies of the people". Many moved due to the policy of population transfer in the Soviet Union and others were forced into involuntary settlements in the Soviet Union.

The Soviet-German War (1941–1945) led to an increase in industrialization and mineral extraction in support of the war effort. At the time of Joseph Stalin's death in 1953, however, Kazakhstan still had an overwhelmingly agricultural economy. In 1953, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev initiated the Virgin Lands Campaign designed to turn the traditional pasturelands of Kazakhstan into a major grain-producing region for the Soviet Union. The Virgin Lands policy brought mixed results. However, along with later modernizations under Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev (in power 1964–1982), it accelerated the development of the agricultural sector, which remains the source of livelihood for a large percentage of Kazakhstan's population. Because of the decades of privation, war and resettlement, by 1959 the Kazakhs had become a minority, making up 30% of the population. Ethnic Russians accounted for 43%.

In 1947, the USSR, as part of its atomic bomb project, founded an atomic bomb test site near the north-eastern town of Semipalatinsk, where the first Soviet nuclear bomb test was conducted in 1949. Hundreds of nuclear tests were conducted until 1989 with adverse consequences for the nation's environment and population. The Anti-nuclear movement in Kazakhstan became a major political force in the late 1980s.

In April 1961 Baikonur became the springboard of Vostok 1, a spacecraft with Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin being the first human to enter space.

In December 1986 mass demonstrations by young ethnic Kazakhs, later called the Jeltoqsan riot, took place in Almaty to protest the replacement of the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Kazakh SSR Dinmukhamed Konayev with Gennady Kolbin from the Russian SFSR. Governmental troops suppressed the unrest, several people were killed, and many demonstrators were jailed. In the waning days of Soviet rule, discontent continued to grow and found expression under Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of glasnost ("openness").

<gallery widths=200 heights=160>

File:Young Pioneers in Kazakh SSR.jpg|Young Pioneers at a Young Pioneer camp in the Kazakh SSR

File:Egemen Archive Momyshuly Margulan.jpg|Bauyrzhan Momyshuly (holding a cane) next to Alkey Margulan and Mekemtas Myrzakhmetuly (on the right side, next to Momyshuly) at the Congress of the Writers' Union of Kazakhstan

File:International conference on Primary Health Care - Conferencia Internacional sobre Atención Primaria de Salud - Almaty -1978.jpg|The International Conference on Primary Health Care in 1978, known as the Alma-Ata Declaration

</gallery>

Independence

Kazakhstan declared its sovereignty within the Soviet Union on 25 October 1990. Following the failed August 1991 coup attempt in Moscow, the country proclaimed full independence on 16 December 1991, becoming the last Soviet republic to do so. Ten days after Kazakhstan's declaration, the Soviet Union itself dissolved. This period marked a significant turning point in Kazakhstan's history, as it embarked on a new political and economic path separate from Moscow's control.

Nursultan Nazarbayev, the communist-era leader of Kazakhstan, became the country's first president. Under his leadership, Kazakhstan transitioned from a Soviet-era planned economy to a market economy, focusing on privatization and foreign investments. The emphasis on economic reform, particularly in the oil sector, helped Kazakhstan become one of Central Asia's most economically powerful nations. By 2006, Kazakhstan contributed around 60% of the region's GDP, primarily through its oil exports. However, political reforms lagged behind these economic strides, and Nazarbayev maintained an authoritarian rule throughout his presidency. a decision that symbolized the government's desire to modernize and assert control over the country's vast territories. The capital city change was part of broader efforts to establish a new national identity and shift the political center from former Soviet-era heartlands.

Kazakhstan's political landscape during Nazarbayev's rule was characterized by limited political pluralism. In the 2004 parliamentary elections, the pro-government Otan Party, led by Nazarbayev, dominated the Majilis (the lower house of parliament). Other parties sympathetic to the president, such as the agrarian-industrial bloc AIST and the Asar party (founded by Nazarbayev's daughter), secured most of the remaining seats, while opposition parties struggled to gain representation. International observers, including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, criticized the elections for not meeting democratic standards.

Despite claims of progress toward democracy, Kazakhstan's political system remained authoritarian well into the 21st century. In 2010, the country was still ranked as an authoritarian regime on The Economists Democracy Index. His successor, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, won the 2019 presidential election and took office on 12 June 2019. Tokayev's first official act was to rename the capital city to Nur-Sultan, in honour of Nazarbayev's legacy.

But Tokayev's presidency faced significant challenges. In January 2022, Kazakhstan was gripped by large-scale protests following a sharp rise in fuel prices. The unrest quickly escalated, and Tokayev responded decisively by assuming control of the country's Security Council, removing Nazarbayev from the post and consolidating his own power. This marked a dramatic shift in Kazakhstan's political dynamics, with Tokayev signalling a departure from the old Nazarbayev-era system. In September 2022, the capital's name was reverted to Astana, a move seen as part of the broader efforts to distance the country from the former president's influence.

Geography

Since it extends across both sides of the Ural River, considered the dividing line separating Europe and Asia, Kazakhstan is one of only two landlocked countries in the world that has territory in two continents (the other is Azerbaijan).

With an area of <!--per WP:MOSNUM-->—equivalent in size to Western Europe—Kazakhstan is the ninth-largest country and largest landlocked country in the world. While it was part of the Russian Empire, Kazakhstan lost some of its territory to China's Xinjiang province, and some to Uzbekistan's Karakalpakstan autonomous republic during Soviet years.

It shares borders of <!--per WP:MOSNUM--> with Russia, with Uzbekistan, with China, with Kyrgyzstan, and with Turkmenistan. Major cities include Almaty, Astana, Shymkent, Aktöbe and Karagandy. It lies between latitudes 40° and 56° N, and longitudes 46° and 88° E. While located primarily in Asia, a small portion of Kazakhstan is also located west of the Urals in Eastern Europe.

Kazakhstan's terrain extends west to east from the Caspian Sea to the Altai Mountains and the Tian Shan, and north to south from the plains of Western Siberia to the oases and deserts of Central Asia. The Kazakh Steppe (plain), with an area of around , occupies one-third of the country and is the world's largest dry steppe region. The steppe is characterized by large areas of grasslands and sandy regions. Major seas, lakes and rivers include Lake Balkhash, Lake Zaysan, the Charyn River and gorge, the Ili, Irtysh, Ishim, Ural and Syr Darya rivers, and the Aral Sea until it largely dried up in one of the world's worst environmental disasters.

The Charyn Canyon is long, cutting through a red sandstone plateau and stretching along the Charyn River gorge in northern Tian Shan ("Heavenly Mountains", east of Almaty) at . The steep canyon slopes, columns and arches rise to heights of between . The inaccessibility of the canyon provided a safe haven for a rare ash tree, Fraxinus sogdiana, which survived the Ice Age there and has now also grown in some other areas. Bigach crater, at , is a Pliocene or Miocene asteroid impact crater, in diameter and estimated to be 5±3&nbsp;million years old.

Kazakhstan's Almaty region is also home to the Mynzhylky mountain plateau.

<gallery widths=200 heights=160>

File:Kazakhstan BMNG.jpg|Satellite image of Kazakhstan (November 2004)

File:Eurasian steppe belt.jpg|The Kazakh Steppe is part of the Eurasian Steppe Belt (in on the map).

File:Panorama(sharyn).jpg|Charyn Canyon

File:Steppe of western Kazakhstan in the early spring.jpg|The Kazakh Steppe in the early spring

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Natural resources

thumb|[[Qarağandy Region]]

Kazakhstan has an abundant supply of accessible mineral and fossil fuel resources. Development of petroleum, natural gas, and mineral extractions has attracted most of the over $40&nbsp;billion in foreign investment in Kazakhstan since 1993 and accounts for some 57% of the nation's industrial output (or approximately 13% of gross domestic product). According to some estimates, Kazakhstan has the second largest uranium, chromium, lead, and zinc reserves; the third largest manganese reserves; the fifth largest copper reserves; and ranks in the top ten for coal, iron, and gold. In 2015, Kazakhstan's gold production is 64 metric tonnes. It is also an exporter of diamonds. Perhaps most significant for economic development, Kazakhstan also has the 11th largest proven reserves of both petroleum and natural gas. One such location is the Tokarevskoye gas condensate field.

In total, there are 160 deposits with over of petroleum. Oil explorations have shown that the deposits on the Caspian shore are only a small part of a much larger deposit. It is said that of oil and of gas could be found in that area. Overall the estimate of Kazakhstan's oil deposits is . However, there are only three refineries within the country, situated in Atyrau, Pavlodar, and Şymkent. These are not capable of processing the total crude output, so much of it is exported to Russia. According to the US Energy Information Administration, Kazakhstan was producing approximately of oil per day in 2009.

thumb|220x220px|[[Lake Kaindy in south-eastern Kazakhstan]]

thumb|220x220px|[[Aral Sea in 1989 and 2008]]

There are several large navigable rivers in Kazakhstan. All of them flow along the edges of the country, mainly in the north, while the southern and central parts of the river are mostly steppe, often drying up completely in the height of summer.

Kazakhstan also possesses large deposits of phosphorite. Two of the largest deposits include the Karatau basin with 650 million tonnes of P<sub>2</sub>O<sub>5</sub> and the Chilisai deposit of the Aqtobe phosphorite basin located in northwestern Kazakhstan, with resources of 500–800million tonnes of 9% ore.

On 17 October 2013 the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) accepted Kazakhstan as "EITI Compliant", meaning that the country has a basic and functional process to ensure the regular disclosure of natural resource revenues.

Climate

thumb|328x328px|Köppen–Geiger climate classification map at 1-km resolution for Kazakhstan 1991–2020

Kazakhstan has an "extreme" continental and cold steppe climate, and sits solidly inside the Eurasian Steppe, featuring the Kazakh Steppe, with hot summers and cold winters. Indeed, Astana is the second coldest capital city in the world, after Ulaanbaatar. Precipitation varies between arid and semi-arid conditions, the winter being particularly dry.

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="margin:auto;"

|+Average daily maximum and minimum temperatures for large cities in Kazakhstan

|-

!Location

!July (°C)

!July (°F)

!January (°C)

!January (°F)

|-

|Almaty || 30/18 || 86/64 || 0/−8 || 33/17

|-

|Şymkent || 32/17 || 91/66 || 4/−4 || 39/23

|-

|Qarağandy || 27/14 || 80/57 || −8/−17 || 16/1

|-

|Astana|| 27/15 || 80/59 || −10/−18 || 14/−1

|-

|Pavlodar || 28/15 || 82/59 || −11/−20 || 12/−5

|-

|Aqtobe || 30/15 || 86/61 || −8/−16 || 17/2

|}

Wildlife

thumb|upright|[[Corsac fox]]

There are ten nature reserves and ten national parks in Kazakhstan that provide safe haven for many rare and endangered plants and animals. In total there are twenty five areas of conservancy. Common plants are Astragalus, Gagea, Allium, Carex and Oxytropis; endangered plant species include native wild apple (Malus sieversii), wild grape (Vitis vinifera) and several wild tulip species (e.g., Tulipa greigii) and rare onion species Allium karataviense, also Iris willmottiana and Tulipa kaufmanniana. Kazakhstan had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 8.23/10, ranking it 26th globally out of 172 countries.

Common mammals include the wolf, red fox, corsac fox, moose, argali (the largest species of sheep), Eurasian lynx, Pallas's cat, and snow leopards, several of which are protected.

Kazakhstan's Red Book of Protected Species lists 125 vertebrates including many birds and mammals, and 404 plants including fungi, algae and lichens.

Przewalski's horse has been reintroduced to the steppes after nearly 200 years.

Government and politics

Political system

Officially Kazakhstan is a democratic, secular, constitutional unitary republic; Nursultan Nazarbayev led the country from 1991 to 2019. He was succeeded by Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. The president may veto legislation that has been passed by the parliament and is also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The prime minister chairs the cabinet of ministers and serves as Kazakhstan's head of government. There are three deputy prime ministers and sixteen ministers in the cabinet.

Kazakhstan has a bicameral parliament composed of the Majilis (the lower house) and senate (the upper house). Single-mandate districts popularly elect 107 seats in the Majilis; there also are ten members elected by party-list vote. The senate has 48 members. Two senators are selected by each of the elected assemblies (mäslihats) of Kazakhstan's twenty principal administrative divisions (seventeen regions and three nationally significant cities). The president appoints the remaining fifteen senators. Majilis deputies and the government both have the right of legislative initiative, though the government proposes most legislation considered by the parliament.

In 2020, Freedom House rated Kazakhstan as a "consolidated authoritarian regime", stating that freedom of speech in Kazakhstan is not respected and "Kazakhstan's electoral laws do not provide for free and fair elections."

The Economist Intelligence Unit has consistently ranked Kazakhstan as an "authoritarian regime" in its Democracy Index, ranking it 128th out of 167 countries for 2020. The V-Dem Democracy Indices described Kazakhstan an electoral autocracy in 2024.

Political reforms

Reforms have begun to be implemented after the election of Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in June 2019. Tokayev supports a culture of opposition, public assembly, and loosening rules on forming political parties. In June 2019, Tokayev established the National Council of Public Trust as a public platform for national conversation regarding government policies and reforms. In July 2019, the President of Kazakhstan announced a concept of a 'listening state' that quickly and efficiently responds to all constructive requests of the country's citizens. A law will be passed to allow representatives from other parties to hold chair positions on some Parliamentary committees, to foster alternative views and opinions. The minimum membership threshold needed to register a political party will be reduced from 40,000 to 20,000 members. He furthermore announced the preparation of a new reform package to "decentralise" and "distribute" power between government institutions. The reform package also seeks to modify the electoral system and increase the decision-making authorities of Kazakhstan's regions. The powers of the parliament were expanded at the expense of those of the president, relatives of whom are now also barred from holding government positions, while the Constitutional Court was restored and the death penalty abolished.

Administrative divisions

Kazakhstan is divided into seventeen regions (, ; , ), as well as four cities which are administered separately from their surrounding geographic regions. The districts are further subdivided into rural districts at the lowest level of administration, which include all rural settlements and villages without an associated municipal government.

The cities of Almaty, Astana and Shymkent have official status as cities of republican significance and do not belong to their surrounding regions. The city of Baikonur also has special status because it is being leased to Russia until 2050 for the Baikonur cosmodrome. Shymkent gained its status as a "city of republican significance" in June 2018.

Each region is headed by an äkim (regional governor) appointed by the president. District äkimi are appointed by regional äkims. On 10 December 1997, Kazakhstan's government relocated its capital from Almaty, established under the Soviet Union, to Astana.

Municipal divisions

Municipalities exist at each level of administrative division in Kazakhstan. Cities of republican, regional, and district significance are designated as urban inhabited localities; all others are designated rural.

| list_by_pop =

| div_name = Region

| div_link =

|city_1 = Almaty

|div_1 = Almaty

|pop_1 = 1,854,656

|city_2 = Astana

|div_2 = Astana

|pop_2 = 1,078,384

|city_3 = Şymkent

|div_3 = ShymkentShymkent

|pop_3 = 1,009,086

|city_4 = Qarağandy

|div_4 = Qarağandy RegionQarağandy

|pop_4 = 497,712

|city_5 = Aqtobe

|div_5 = Aqtobe RegionAqtobe

|pop_5 = 487,994

|city_6 = Taraz

|div_6 = Jambyl RegionJambyl

|pop_6 = 357,791

|city_7 = Pavlodar

|div_7 = Pavlodar RegionPavlodar

|pop_7 = 333,989

|city_8 = Öskemen

|div_8 = East Kazakhstan RegionEast Kazakhstan

|pop_8 = 331,614

|city_9 = Semey

|div_9 = Abai RegionAbai

|pop_9 = 323,138

|city_10 = Atyrau

|div_10 = Atyrau RegionAtyrau

|pop_10 = 269,720

Foreign relations

thumb|President [[Nursultan Nazarbayev|Nazarbayev with US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in 2012]]

Kazakhstan is a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Economic Cooperation Organization and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The nations of Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan established the Eurasian Economic Community in 2000, to revive earlier efforts to harmonize trade tariffs and to create a free trade zone under a customs union. On 1 December 2007, it was announced that Kazakhstan had been chosen to chair the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe for the year 2010. Kazakhstan was elected a member of the UN Human Rights Council for the first time on 12 November 2012.

Kazakhstan is also a member of the United Nations, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, Turkic Council, and Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). It is an active participant in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Partnership for Peace program.

In 1999 Kazakhstan had applied for observer status at the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly. The official response of the Assembly was that because Kazakhstan is partially located in Europe, it could apply for full membership, but that it would not be granted any status whatsoever at the council until its democracy and human rights records improved.

Since independence in 1991, Kazakhstan has pursued what is known as the "multi-vector foreign policy" (), seeking equally good relations with its two large neighbours, Russia and China, as well as with the United States and the rest of the Western world. Russia leases approximately of territory enclosing the Baikonur Cosmodrome space launch site in south central Kazakhstan, where the first man was launched into space as well as Soviet space shuttle Buran and the well-known space station Mir.

On 11 April 2010 presidents Nazarbayev and Obama met at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, D.C., and discussed strengthening the strategic partnership between the United States and Kazakhstan. They pledged to intensify bilateral co-operation to promote nuclear safety and non-proliferation, regional stability in Central Asia, economic prosperity, and universal values.

Since 2014 the Kazakhstani government has been bidding for a non-permanent member seat on the UN Security Council for 2017–2018. On 28 June 2016 Kazakhstan was elected as a non-permanent member to serve on the UN Security Council for a two-year term.

thumb|Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, [[Recep Tayyip Erdoğan|Erdoğan, Xi Jinping, and other leaders at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Samarkand, 16 September 2022]]

Kazakhstan has supported UN peacekeeping missions in Haiti, Western Sahara, and Côte d'Ivoire. In March 2014, the Ministry of Defense chose 20 Kazakhstani military men as observers for the UN peacekeeping missions. The military personnel, ranking from captain to colonel, had to go through specialized UN training; they had to be fluent in English and skilled in using specialized military vehicles. President Nazarbayev said of the war in Ukraine, "The fratricidal war has brought true devastation to eastern Ukraine, and it is a common task to stop the war there, strengthen Ukraine's independence and secure territorial integrity of Ukraine." Experts believe that no matter how the Ukraine crisis develops, Kazakhstan's relations with the European Union will remain normal. It is believed that Nazarbayev's mediation is positively received by both Russia and Ukraine. In 2018, Kazakhstan signed the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

thumb|President [[Kassym-Jomart Tokayev with Russian President Vladimir Putin, 28 November 2022]]

On 6 March 2020 the Concept of the Foreign Policy of Kazakhstan for 2020–2030 was announced. The document outlines the following main points:

  • An open, predictable and consistent foreign policy of the country, which is progressive in nature and maintains its endurance by continuing the course of the First President – the country at a new stage of development;
  • Protection of human rights, development of humanitarian diplomacy and environmental protection;
  • Promotion of the country's economic interests in the international arena, including the implementation of state policy to attract investment;
  • Maintaining international peace and security;
  • Development of regional and multilateral diplomacy, which primarily involves strengthening mutually beneficial ties with key partners – Russia, China, the United States, Central Asian states and the EU countries, as well as through multilateral structures – the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and others.

thumb|Member states of the [[Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)]]

Kazakhstan's memberships of international organizations include:

  • Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
  • Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)
  • Shanghai Cooperation Organization
  • Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council
  • Individual Partnership Action Plan, with NATO, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro
  • Turkic Council and the TÜRKSOY community. (The national language, Kazakh, is related to the other Turkic languages, with which it shares cultural and historical ties)
  • United Nations
  • Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)
  • UNESCO, where Kazakhstan is a member of its World Heritage Committee
  • Nuclear Suppliers Group as a participating government
  • World Trade Organization
  • Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)
  • The Abraham Accords (2025)

Based on these principles, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Kazakhstan has increasingly pursued an independent foreign policy, defined by its own foreign policy objectives and ambitions through which the country attempts to balance its relations with "all the major powers and an equally principled aversion towards excessive dependence in any field upon any one of them, while also opening the country up economically to all who are willing to invest there."

Kazakhstan is the 59th most peaceful country in the world, according to the 2024 Global Peace Index.

In November 2025, after establishing diplomatic relations with Israel, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry issued a statement indicating that the nation had become a participant in the Abraham Accords to safeguard its interests, consistent with the balanced, constructive, and peaceful foreign policy of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Military

right|thumb|[[Republican Guard (Kazakhstan)|Kazakhstan Republican Guard]]

thumb|A Kazakhstani [[Sukhoi Su-27]]

Most of Kazakhstan's military was inherited from the Soviet Armed Forces' Turkestan Military District. These units became the core of Kazakhstan's new military. It acquired all the units of the 40th Army (the former 32nd Army) and part of the 17th Army Corps, including six land-force divisions, storage bases, the 14th and 35th air-landing brigades, two rocket brigades, two artillery regiments, and a large amount of equipment that had been withdrawn from over the Urals after the signing of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe. Since the late 20th century, the Kazakhstan Army has focused on expanding the number of its armoured units. Since 1990, armoured units have expanded from 500 to 1,613 in 2005.

The Kazakh air force is composed mostly of Soviet-era planes, including 41 MiG-29s, 44 MiG-31s, 37 Su-24s and 60 Su-27s. A small naval force is maintained on the Caspian Sea.

Kazakhstan sent 29 military engineers to Iraq to assist the US post-invasion mission in Iraq. During the second Iraq War, Kazakhstani troops dismantled 4 million mines and other explosives, helped provide medical care to more than 5,000 coalition members and civilians, and purified of water.

Kazakhstan's National Security Committee (UQK) was established on 13 June 1992. It includes the Service of Internal Security, Military Counterintelligence, Border Guard, several Commando units, and Foreign Intelligence (Barlau). The latter is considered the most important part of KNB. Its director is Nurtai Abykayev.

Since 2002 the joint tactical peacekeeping exercise "Steppe Eagle" has been hosted by the Kazakhstan government. "Steppe Eagle" focuses on building coalitions and gives participating nations the opportunity to work together. During the Steppe Eagle exercises, the KAZBAT peacekeeping battalion operates within a multinational force under a unified command within peacekeeping operations, with NATO and the US Military.

In December 2013 Kazakhstan announced it will send officers to support United Nations Peacekeeping forces in Haiti, Western Sahara, Ivory Coast and Liberia.

Human rights

Kazakhstan was ranked 142nd out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders' Press Freedom Index for 2024; previously it ranked 134th for 2023.

Kazakhstan's human rights situation has been described as poor by independent observers. In its 2015 report of human rights in the country, Human Rights Watch said that "Kazakhstan heavily restricts freedom of assembly, speech, and religion." It has also described the government as authoritarian. In 2014, authorities closed newspapers, jailed or fined dozens of people after peaceful but unsanctioned protests, and fined or detained worshipers for practising religion outside state controls. Government critics, including opposition leader Vladimir Kozlov, remained in detention after unfair trials. In mid-2014, Kazakhstan adopted new criminal, criminal executive, criminal procedural, and administrative codes, and a new law on trade unions, which contain articles restricting fundamental freedoms and are incompatible with international standards. Torture remains common in places of detention." However, Kazakhstan has achieved significant progress in reducing the prison population. The 2016 Human Rights Watch report commented that Kazakhstan "took few meaningful steps to tackle a worsening human rights record in 2015, maintaining a focus on economic development over political reform." Some critics of the government have been arrested for allegedly spreading false information about the COVID-19 pandemic in Kazakhstan. Various police reforms, like creation of local police service and zero-tolerance policing, aimed at bringing police closer to local communities, have not improved cooperation between policemen and ordinary citizens.

According to a US government report released in 2014, in Kazakhstan: