Kazakhstan
Name
| Official name | Republic of Kazakhstan — Qazaqstan Respublikasy (Қазақстан Республикасы); Respublika Kazakhstan (Республика Казахстан) |
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| Former names | The Kazakh Khanate (1465–1847); the Kirghiz and Kazakh ASSR (1920–1936); the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (1936–1991) |
| Demonym | Kazakhstani — for the citizens; Kazakh for the people |
| Meaning of the name | The land of the Kazakhs — qazaq, "the free," "the wanderer," in the Turkic of the steppe, with the Persian -stan for country |
| Motto | None official |
Quick facts
| Capital | Astana — Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, Astana, Nur-Sultan (2019–22) and Astana again since 17 September 2022; the capital since 10 December 1997; about 1.5 million |
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| Largest cities | Almaty, about 2.3 million, the capital until 1997; Astana; Shymkent, about 1.2 million; Karaganda; Aktobe; Taraz; Pavlodar; Oskemen; Semey; Atyrau of the oil |
| Official languages | Kazakh, the state language, a Turkic tongue in Cyrillic with the Latin alphabet to come by 2031; Russian, official in the state and the courts, the language of the cities; English the third in the schools |
| Currency | Tenge — ISO code KZT, ₸; 100 tiyn; about 520 to the U.S. dollar; introduced 15 November 1993 |
| Time zone | UTC+5 across the whole country since 1 March 2024 — the two zones made one, the eastern hour abolished |
| Calling code | +7 — shared with Russia, the numbers beginning 6 and 7 |
| Internet domains | .kz and .қаз |
| ISO 3166 codes | KZ · KAZ · 398 |
| Vehicle registration code | KZ |
| Driving side | Right |
| Electricity | 220 V, 50 Hz; plug types C and F |
| Independence | 16 December 1991, from the Soviet Union — the last republic to declare it; the sovereignty declaration of 25 October 1990 |
| National days | 16 December, Independence Day; 1 December, First President's Day, abolished 2022; 6 July, Capital Day, Nazarbayev's birthday; 22 March, Nauryz, the spring new year of the Turkic peoples, three days of it; 1 May, Unity of the Peoples; 9 May, Victory Day; 30 August, Constitution Day |
| Constitution | 1 July 2026 — the new Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan, approved by the referendum of 15 March 2026 with 89.86% on a turnout of 73.12%, signed 17 March; rewriting some 84% of the Constitution of 30 August 1995, with a unicameral Kurultai, a vice president, a People's Council and the president's single seven-year term of the 2022 reform kept; the 1995 text amended in 1998, 2007, 2011, 2017 and by the referendum of 5 June 2022 before |
| Population | 19,186,015 at the census of 2021; about 20.4 million (Bureau of National Statistics, 2026 est.) — the 20 millionth born in 2023 |
| Area | 2,724,900 km² (1,052,090 sq mi) — land 2,699,700 km², water 25,200 km²; the ninth-largest country and the largest landlocked |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | A sky-blue field — the sky of the Turkic peoples, of Tengri, and the unity of the nation — with a golden sun of thirty-two rays over a soaring steppe eagle at the center, and a vertical band of the national ornament, the koshkar-muiz, the ram's horns, in gold at the hoist; designed by Shaken Niyazbekov and adopted 4 June 1992.Flag of Kazakhstan |
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| National emblem | The shanyrak, the crown of the yurt through which the sky is seen, with the tunduk poles radiating from it, between two winged horses, tulpars, under a star, over the word Qazaqstan — in gold on blue; designed by Zhandarbek Malibekov and Shot-Aman Ualikhanov, adopted 4 June 1992, the Latin script since 2018 |
| National anthem | "Menıñ Qazaqstanym" ("My Kazakhstan") — the song of 1956 by Zhumeken Nazhimedenov and Shamshi Kaldayakov, with words revised by Nursultan Nazarbayev; adopted 7 January 2006 in place of the anthem of 1992 |
| National colors | Sky blue and gold |
| National bird | The golden eagle — the berkut of the flag and of the hunters who fly it from horseback, the last of the eagle hunters; widely cited |
| National flower | The tulip — the wild tulips of the steppe, Greig's tulip and the rest, the ancestors of every tulip of Holland; widely cited |
| National animal | The snow leopard — the emblem of Almaty and the Snow Leopard economic program; the saiga antelope, saved from 40,000 to 4 million; the Kazakh horse; widely cited |
| National fruit | The apple — Malus sieversii of the Tian Shan foothills, the wild ancestor of every apple on earth, Almaty's name from alma, apple |
| National dish | Beshbarmak — "five fingers," boiled horse or mutton on flat noodles with onion broth, eaten by hand; the kumis of fermented mare's milk; the baursak; the shubat of camel milk; widely cited |
| National instrument | The dombra — the two-stringed lute of the steppe, on UNESCO's intangible list with the kuy tradition since 2014; Dombra Day, the first Sunday of July |
| Symbol status | The flag, emblem and anthem are fixed by the constitutional law on state symbols of 2007; the bird, flower, animal, fruit and dishes widely cited; the dombra by UNESCO listing |
Geography
| Location | Central Asia — transcontinental, a strip west of the Ural River in Europe; Russia the whole northern border, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to the south, the Caspian to the west |
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| Land borders | 13,364 km (8,304 mi) with five countries — Russia 7,644, the longest continuous land border in the world; Uzbekistan 2,330; China 1,765; Kyrgyzstan 1,212; Turkmenistan 413 |
| Coastline | None on the ocean — landlocked; 1,894 km (1,177 mi) on the Caspian Sea, the largest lake on earth, shared with Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkmenistan |
| Highest point | Khan Tengri, 6,995 m (22,949 ft), 7,010 m with the ice — on the Kyrgyz and Chinese border; the northernmost 7,000-meter peak |
| Lowest point | The Karagiye depression, 132 m (433 ft) below sea level, in Mangystau near the Caspian |
| Mean elevation | 387 m (1,270 ft) |
| Rivers | The Irtysh, 1,700 km in the country of its 4,248, from China to the Ob, the longest; the Ural, the boundary of Europe and Asia; the Syr Darya to the Aral, through the cotton; the Ili to Balkhash from China; the Ishim of Astana; the Tobol; the Chu |
| Lakes and seas | The Caspian; Balkhash, 16,400 km², the fifteenth-largest lake in the world, fresh in the west and salt in the east; the Aral Sea — the fourth-largest lake in 1960 at 68,000 km², drained by the Soviet cotton canals to a tenth, the ships on the sand at Aralsk, the North Aral refilled since the Kokaral dam of 2005; Zaysan; Alakol; Tengiz of the flamingos |
| Terrain | The steppe of the Saryarka across the north and center, the largest dry steppe on earth; the deserts of the Kyzylkum and the Betpak-Dala in the south; the Caspian lowland and the Ustyurt plateau in the west; the Altai in the east and the Tian Shan in the southeast; the Charyn canyon; the singing dune of Altyn-Emel |
| Climate | Continental in the extreme — the winters of Astana at −40°C, the summers of the south at 45°C; dry, under 300 mm over most; the wind of the steppe; the snow |
| Natural hazards | Earthquakes in the south — Almaty destroyed in 1887 and 1911, the swarm of 2024; the floods of the spring thaw, the worst in 80 years in April 2024 with 120,000 evacuated; the mudflows of Almaty; drought and the dust of the dry Aral; the winters |
| Natural resources | Oil and gas — Tengiz, Kashagan and Karachaganak, about 30 billion barrels of reserves; uranium, the largest producer in the world; coal of Ekibastuz; chromite, the largest reserves; copper, zinc, lead, iron, manganese, bauxite; gold; the rare earths sought; the wheat land of the north |
| Land use | Agricultural land about 77%, most of it pasture; forest about 1% |
| National parks | 14 — Altyn-Emel of the singing dune; Charyn; Ile-Alatau above Almaty; Kolsai Lakes; Burabay, the "Switzerland of Kazakhstan"; Katon-Karagay of the Altai; Aksu-Zhabagly, the oldest reserve, 1926; Korgalzhyn of the flamingos |
| UNESCO World Heritage | 6 — the Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi at Turkistan (2003); the petroglyphs of Tamgaly (2004); Saryarka, the steppe and lakes of northern Kazakhstan (2008); the Silk Roads Chang'an–Tianshan corridor (2014, shared); the Western Tien-Shan (2016, shared); the Cold Winter Deserts of Turan (2023, shared); the yurt, the dombra kuy, the falconry and Nauryz on the intangible list |
| Administrative divisions | 17 regions since the three new ones of 2022 — Abai, Jetisu and Ulytau — and the three cities of republican status, Astana, Almaty and Shymkent; the akims appointed by the president, the district akims elected since 2021; Baikonur under Russian lease |
People
| Population | 19,186,015 (census of 2021); about 20.4 million (2026 est.) |
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| Population density | About 7 per km² (19 per sq mi) — among the lowest of any large country |
| Population growth | About 1.3% a year — the Kazakh birth rate high, the Russians leaving; the returnees, the oralman, from Mongolia, China and Uzbekistan, about a million since 1991 |
| Median age | About 31 years |
| Life expectancy | About 75 years |
| Fertility rate | About 3 births per woman — the highest in the former Soviet Union but for the Caucasus and the south |
| Urban population | About 58% |
| Adult literacy | About 100% |
| Ethnic groups | Kazakh about 71%; Russian about 15%, in the north and the cities, from 38% in 1989; Uzbek about 3%; Ukrainian, Uyghur, German, Tatar, Korean — the deported peoples of Stalin's 1930s and 40s and their descendants (census of 2021) |
| Languages | Kazakh spoken by about 80%, Russian by about 90% — the bilingual state; the shift to Kazakh in the schools and the signs; Uzbek, Uyghur, Ukrainian, German, Korean |
| Religion | Sunni Muslim about 70%, the Hanafi school of the Kazakhs, Uzbeks and Uyghurs, lightly held on the steppe; Russian Orthodox about 26%; Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist; the secular state and the ban on the face veil of 2025 |
| Human Development Index | 0.837 (2023 data, 2025 report) — very high; about 60th of 193 |
| The famine and the deportations | The famine of 1930–33 under Stalin's collectivization — some 1.5 million Kazakhs dead, four in ten of the people, the Asharshylyk remembered on 31 May; the gulag of Karlag and ALZhIR, the camp of the wives; the deportations of the Volga Germans, Chechens, Koreans, Poles and Crimean Tatars to the steppe; the Virgin Lands campaign of 1954 that made the Kazakhs a minority in their own republic |
| Sport | Boxing — the Olympic golds of Vassiliy Jirov, Bekzat Sattarkhanov, Serik Sapiyev and the rest, Gennady Golovkin; weightlifting; wrestling and the kokpar of the steppe; cycling's Astana team; the Almaty Winter Asian Games of 2011; Yelena Rybakina's Wimbledon of 2022; Alexander Bublik |
| Diaspora | About 4 million ethnic Kazakhs abroad — 1.5 million in China's Xinjiang, 800,000 in Uzbekistan, 100,000 in Mongolia, Russia, Turkey; the Kazakhstanis in Russia, Germany and the United States |
Government
| Form of government | Unitary presidential republic under the Constitution of 2026 — the president head of state, elected for a single term of seven years, appointing the prime minister with the Kurultai's consent; the vice president; the unicameral Kurultai; the Constitutional Court since 2023 |
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| President | Kassym-Jomart Tokayev (independent, Amanat and Adilet before), since 20 March 2019 — the second; a diplomat of the Soviet foreign ministry, a Chinese and Sinologist, foreign minister, prime minister 1999–2002, the UN's director-general at Geneva 2011–13, chairman of the Senate, born 17 May 1953 in Almaty; sworn in on Nazarbayev's resignation of 19 March 2019, elected 9 June 2019 with 71%, re-elected 20 November 2022 with 81.31% against five little-known rivals for the single seven-year term to 2029; the "Listening State" and "New Kazakhstan" of his speeches |
| Vice President | Erlan Karin (independent), since 31 August 2026 — the first holder since the office was abolished in 1996, restored by the Constitution of 2026; the state counselor and the president's ideologist before, a political scientist born 1976; appointed by the president with the Kurultai's consent, to represent the state abroad and stand between the president and the parliament |
| Prime Minister | Olzhas Bektenov (independent), since 6 February 2024 — the head of the presidential administration and the anti-corruption agency before, born 1980; reappointed after the Kurultai election of August 2026; the ninth |
| The Constitution of 2026 | The referendum of 15 March 2026 on the draft published 12 February — Yes 7,954,667 votes and 89.86%, No 10.14%, turnout 73.12% of 12,482,613 registered; signed 17 March, in force 1 July 2026; the two-chamber parliament of the Mazhilis and the Senate replaced by the Kurultai of 145 elected by closed party lists for five years, the single-seat districts of 2023 abolished; the vice presidency restored; a People's Council; the president's powers, the critics wrote, consolidated under the name of reform — "a step back," in the Verfassungsblog's reading; "the most far-reaching institutional reform since 2022," in Deutsche Welle's |
| The 2026 election | Held 23 August 2026 for the first Kurultai: Adilet — the party formed in April 2026 into which Amanat, the Nur Otan of the Nazarbayev years, merged — 71.17% and 6,528,948 votes, 110 of the 145 seats; Auyl 6.26% and 10; Respublica 5.56% and 9; Aq Jol 5.21% and 8; the Nationwide Social Democratic Party 5.11% and 8; the Baytaq greens and the People's Party below the 5% threshold; turnout 74.08% of 12,623,289 registered; the OSCE finding the vote orderly in "an environment lacking political pluralism"; Aibek Dädebai of Adilet the Kurultai's chairman since 28 August 2026 |
| Parliament | The Kurultai — 145 members elected for five years by proportional representation with a 5% threshold, the quotas of 30% for women, the young and the disabled on the lists; sitting in Astana since 1 July 2026 in place of the Mazhilis of 98 and the Senate of 50 |
| The next election | The Kurultai due by June 2031; the presidential election of 2029, Tokayev barred from standing again |
| The Nazarbayev era and Qantar | Nursultan Nazarbayev the first president from 1990 to his resignation on 19 March 2019, the Elbasy, Leader of the Nation, with his powers kept — the capital named for him for three years; the unrest of January 2022, Qantar, that began over fuel prices in Zhanaozen on 2 January and became the storming of Almaty, put down with the CSTO troops Tokayev called in and a "shoot to kill" order, 238 dead by the official count and thousands detained; Nazarbayev's titles and his family's posts stripped in the referendum of 5 June 2022, the capital's name restored, the "Old Kazakhstan" undone |
| Legal system | Civil law on the Russian and Romano-Germanic models; the Constitutional Court restored in 2023 with the right of citizens to petition it; the Supreme Court; the death penalty abolished in 2021; the courts dependent on the executive, in the BTI's assessment |
| Regions | 17 with akims named by the president and confirmed by the elected maslikhats, the councils; the district and village akims elected since 2021 and 2023; the three cities |
| The powers | The multi-vector policy between Russia, China, the West and Turkey — the CSTO and the Eurasian Union with Moscow, the Belt and Road and the pipelines with Beijing, the oil of Chevron and ExxonMobil, the Organization of Turkic States; the war in Ukraine neither endorsed nor sanctioned, the Russian émigrés of 2022; the Middle Corridor around Russia; the C5+1 with Washington |
| Nuclear | The Semipalatinsk test site, 456 Soviet tests from 29 August 1949 to 1989, closed by Nazarbayev on 29 August 1991, the first in the world; the 1,400 warheads inherited in 1991 and given up by 1995, the largest such renunciation; the Central Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone; the referendum of 6 October 2024 approving a nuclear power plant with 71%, Rosatom chosen in June 2025 to build it at Ulken on Balkhash |
| United Nations | Member since 2 March 1992; a Security Council seat in 2017–18; the UN's regional center in Almaty; Tokayev the Director-General at Geneva |
| Memberships | The Commonwealth of Independent States, a founder at Almaty in December 1991; the Collective Security Treaty Organization; the Eurasian Economic Union of 2015, a founder; the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a founder in 2001; the Organization of Turkic States; the OSCE, chaired 2010; the OIC; the WTO since 2015; a BRICS partner state since 2025 |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$300 billion (2025, IMF) — the largest economy of Central Asia, two-thirds of the region's |
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| GDP per capita | About US$14,500 (2025) — the highest in Central Asia and above Russia's by some measures |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$38,000 (2025) |
| GDP growth | About 5–6% a year (2024–25) on the oil of Tengiz's expansion; inflation about 10%; the tenge weak |
| Economy by sector | Services about 55%, industry about 35% — the oil and the mines — agriculture about 5% |
| Currency | Tenge (KZT) |
| Oil and gas | About 1.9 million barrels a day — Tengiz, among the largest fields in the world, run by Chevron since 1993 and expanded in 2025; Kashagan under the Caspian, the largest find in 30 years and the costliest project ever at US$50 billion; Karachaganak's gas; the exports by the CPC pipeline through Russia to Novorossiysk, struck by drones in 2025–26, and the pipeline to China; oil about half of exports |
| Uranium | The largest producer in the world — about 40% of the supply, from the in-situ mines of the south by Kazatomprom, the largest uranium company, in ventures with Rosatom, the French, the Chinese and the Canadians |
| Mines and metals | Chromite, the largest reserves and the second producer; copper of Kazakhmys and KAZ Minerals; zinc and lead of Kazzinc; iron and steel of Temirtau, ArcelorMittal's until the Qarmet sale of 2023 after the mine disaster; coal of Ekibastuz; the ferroalloys of ERG; gold; the rare earths sought by the West |
| Agriculture | Wheat — the largest producer of Central Asia and among the top exporters of grain and flour, from the northern steppe of the Virgin Lands; the horses, sheep and camels of the herders; the cotton of the south |
| Public finances | The National Fund of oil money, about US$60 billion, drawn on each year; public debt about 25% of GDP, among the lowest; the Astana International Financial Centre under English law since 2018; the Kazakh sovereign wealth in Samruk-Kazyna |
| Income classification | Upper-middle income (World Bank) |
Transport & infrastructure
| Main airports | Almaty International, the busiest, about 10 million passengers, the new terminal of 2024; Nursultan Nazarbayev International at Astana; Shymkent; Aktau; Atyrau |
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| Airlines | Air Astana, founded 2001 with BP, listed in 2024, and its low-cost FlyArystan; SCAT; Qazaq Air |
| Ports | No ocean — the Caspian ports of Aktau and Kuryk for the ferries to Baku on the Middle Corridor, the trans-Caspian route around Russia carrying the containers of China to Europe; the river ports of the Irtysh |
| Railways | About 16,000 km (9,900 mi) of the Russian gauge — Kazakhstan Temir Zholy; the Turkestan–Siberia Railway of 1930, the Trans-Kazakhstan; the Khorgos dry port on the Chinese border, the largest inland port in the world; the Almaty Metro of 2011; the Astana light rail, the line of the fallen pillars, opened 2025 |
| Roads | About 96,000 km (60,000 mi); the Western Europe–Western China highway of 2,787 km across the country, completed 2017; the Astana–Almaty road; the distances of the steppe |
| Baikonur | The Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Kyzylorda steppe, 6,717 km², the first and largest spaceport on earth — Sputnik on 4 October 1957 and Gagarin on 12 April 1961 launched from it; leased to Russia for US$115 million a year until 2050; the Soyuz to the space station; the launches of the sixty-fifth year |
History in dates
| c. 3500 BC | The horse domesticated at Botai — the first riders |
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| c. 500 BC | The Saka; the Golden Man of Issyk, 5th–4th century BC |
| 751 | The Battle of Talas — Islam and paper come to the steppe |
| 1219 | Genghis Khan takes Otrar; the Golden Horde |
| 1465 | The Kazakh Khanate of Kerei and Janibek |
| 1731 | Abul Khair Khan accepts the Russian protectorate, 10 October |
| 1847 | Kenesary Khan killed; the khanate ends |
| 1916 | The revolt against conscription |
| 1920 | The Kirghiz ASSR; the Kazakh SSR, 5 December 1936 |
| 1930–1933 | The famine — 1.5 million dead |
| 1949 | The first Soviet bomb at Semipalatinsk, 29 August |
| 1954 | The Virgin Lands campaign |
| 1957 | Sputnik from Baikonur, 4 October |
| 1961 | Gagarin from Baikonur, 12 April |
| 1986 | Jeltoqsan — the Almaty protests, 16–17 December |
| 1991 | The test site closed, 29 August; independence, 16 December; the CIS at Almaty, 21 December |
| 1993 | The tenge, 15 November |
| 1997 | The capital moves to Akmola, 10 December — Astana, 1998 |
| 2005 | The Kokaral dam saves the North Aral |
| 2011 | The Zhanaozen shootings, 16 December |
| 2019 | Nazarbayev resigns, 19 March; Tokayev president; Nur-Sultan, 23 March |
| 2022 | Qantar, 2–11 January; the referendum, 5 June; Astana again, 17 September; Tokayev re-elected, 20 November |
| 2024 | One time zone, 1 March; the floods, April; the nuclear referendum, 6 October |
| 2026 | The new Constitution, 15 March and 1 July; the Kurultai elected, 23 August; Karin vice president, 31 August |
Records & firsts
| The largest landlocked country | 2,724,900 km² |
|---|---|
| The longest continuous land border | With Russia, 7,644 km |
| The first satellite and the first man in space | From Baikonur, 1957 and 1961 |
| The largest uranium producer | About 40% of the world's |
| The birthplace of the apple | Malus sieversii of the Tian Shan |
| The first riders | Botai, 3500 BC |
| The first nuclear test site closed | Semipalatinsk, 29 August 1991 |
| The largest renunciation of nuclear weapons | 1,400 warheads, 1991–95 |
| The largest dry steppe | The Saryarka |
| The Aral Sea | The fourth-largest lake, drained in a generation |
| The second-coldest capital | Astana |
| The northernmost 7,000-meter peak | Khan Tengri |
| The largest inland port | Khorgos |
| A capital renamed twice in three years | Astana, Nur-Sultan, Astana |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Kazakhstan?
The Republic of Kazakhstan — Qazaqstan Respublikasy in Kazakh, Respublika Kazakhstan in Russian — independent since 16 December 1991, the last of the Soviet republics to declare it, nine days before the Union dissolved. The name is the land of the Kazakhs, the Turkic people of the steppe whose name is taken to mean "the free," "the wanderers," and the Persian suffix for country; the Kazakh Khanate of 1465 is the state the republic counts as its ancestor. The Latin alphabet is to replace the Cyrillic by 2031.
What is the capital of Kazakhstan?
Astana — "the capital" in Kazakh — on the Ishim River in the northern steppe, the Russian fort of Akmolinsk of 1830, Tselinograd of the Virgin Lands, Akmola of the early republic, made the capital on 10 December 1997 in place of Almaty and rebuilt in glass and steel to the plans of Kisho Kurokawa; named Nur-Sultan for the first president from 2019 to 2022 and Astana again since 17 September 2022; about 1.5 million people, the second-coldest capital in the world. Almaty in the southeast, the capital until 1997 under the mountains, remains the largest city with about 2.3 million; Shymkent in the south the third.
How big is Kazakhstan, and how many people live there?
About 2,724,900 km² (1,052,090 sq mi) — the ninth-largest country in the world and the largest landlocked one, four times the size of Texas, as large as western Europe — from the Caspian Sea across the steppe and the deserts to the Altai and the Tian Shan, with Russia along 7,644 km in the north, the longest continuous land border on earth. The census of 2021 counted 19,186,015 people; the Bureau of National Statistics estimates about 20.4 million for 2026, among the sparsest countries on earth at seven a square kilometer, the Kazakhs seven in ten of them after the Russians' departure since 1991.
What are the highest and lowest points of Kazakhstan?
Khan Tengri, 6,995 m (22,949 ft) of rock and 7,010 m with its ice cap, on the border with Kyrgyzstan and China in the Tian Shan — the northernmost 7,000-meter peak in the world, the "Lord of the Sky"; and the Karagiye depression near the Caspian, 132 m (433 ft) below sea level. Between them lie the Caspian, the largest lake on earth; Lake Balkhash, half fresh and half salt; the Aral Sea, dried to a tenth by the Soviet cotton and its northern remnant saved by a dam; and the steppe of the Saryarka, the largest dry steppe in the world.
What currency does Kazakhstan use?
The tenge (ISO code KZT, ₸), of 100 tiyn, introduced on 15 November 1993 to replace the ruble — at about 520 to the U.S. dollar, floated since 2015 and fallen with the oil. Clocks keep one time, UTC+5, across the whole country since 1 March 2024, when the east gave up its hour; the change, which put the sun at its highest near 2 p.m. in Astana, is the subject of petitions to this day. Kazakhstan drives on the right.
Who governs Kazakhstan?
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, head of state since 20 March 2019, when Nursultan Nazarbayev resigned after three decades, and re-elected on 20 November 2022 with 81 percent for the single seven-year term that his own reform created, to 2029. In 2026 he rewrote the state: a new constitution, approved by referendum on 15 March with 90 percent and in force from 1 July, abolished the two-chamber parliament for a single Kurultai of 145 elected by party lists and restored the vice presidency; on 23 August 2026 the ruling Adilet, the Amanat party of the Nazarbayev years under a new name, took 110 of the 145 seats with 71 percent in a vote the OSCE called orderly but lacking pluralism; Erlan Karin became the first vice president since 1996 on 31 August, and Olzhas Bektenov, prime minister since 2024, was reappointed. The next Kurultai election is due by 2031.
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