Kazakhstan

C

Natural Resources

Only 8 percent of Kazakhstan is cultivated, and the northern steppes are the most intensely farmed area. Kazakhstan contains vast mineral resources, with significant deposits of coal, iron ore, manganese, bauxite, chromium, tungsten, uranium, and other minerals. Kazakhstan also has large reserves of petroleum and natural gas in the western Caspian Sea area.

D

Climate

The climate of Kazakhstan is extremely continental, with hot summers and cold winters. Temperatures vary immensely by region, with the most dramatic differences between the deserts and mountains. The southern regions have milder winters and hotter summers than the northern and central regions. The steppes experience especially harsh winters due to strong, cold winds from the north. Depending on the region, the average daily temperature in January ranges from -19° to -4°C (-2° to 25°F), while in July it ranges from 19° to 26°C (66° to 79°F). Extreme summer temperatures can reach 45°C (113°F), and extreme winter temperatures can fall below -45°C (-49°F). Annual precipitation levels are generally low, ranging from less than 100 mm (4 in) in the deserts to between 250 and 350 mm (10 and 14 in) on the steppes, where summer thunderstorms often produce flash floods. During winter, most of the country is covered in snow. In the mountains, where peaks are perpetually snowcapped, precipitation averages 1,500 mm (60 in) per year.

E

Environmental Issues

The environment of Kazakhstan began to suffer serious harm during the Soviet period. The country now faces an urgent need to address the Soviet legacy of ecological mismanagement.

Between 1949 and 1991 the Soviet government conducted about 70 percent of all of its nuclear testing in Kazakhstan, mostly in the northeastern area near the city of Semipalatinsk (now Semey). Nearly 500 nuclear explosions occurred both above and below ground near Semipalatinsk, while more than 40 nuclear detonations occurred at other testing grounds in western Kazakhstan and in the Qyzylqum desert. More than 1 million of Kazakhstan’s inhabitants were exposed to dangerous levels of radiation because the Soviet government did not evacuate or even warn nearby populations. In the late 1980s Kazakhs held large demonstrations calling for an end to the nuclear testing, and in 1991 the government of Kazakhstan put a stop to the practice. However, the testing grounds, and perhaps even underground aquifers (water-bearing layers of rock, sand, or gravel), remain highly contaminated. The Nevada-Semipalatinsk Organization, which led the campaign against nuclear testing during the 1980s, has turned its attention to teaching residents of polluted areas how to avoid nuclear contamination. One of every three children born in the Semipalatinsk region has mental or physical defects, and about half the population suffers from immune system deficiencies.

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Another ecological disaster area in Kazakhstan is the Aral Sea, which is split roughly in half between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The Aral Sea has shrunk to less than half its former size since the early 1960s, when the Soviet government initiated a drive to increase cotton yields in the arid lands of Central Asia. Excessive irrigation substantially decreased inflow to the Aral, and the Aral’s shoreline began to recede rapidly. This has caused severe environmental problems in the Aral Sea Basin, including the destruction of wildlife habitat as a result of desertification (a process whereby previously habitable or arable land becomes desert). The Aral Sea crisis is also associated with a number of health problems, including respiratory infections and parasitic diseases. Efforts to address the crisis have focused on preventing further shrinkage of the Aral Sea, mainly because the damage is so severe that it is practically irreversible.

Kazakhstan also faces the problem of urban pollution, particularly in its eastern cities, which receive harmful emissions from lead and zinc smelters, a uranium-processing mill, and other industries. In recent years, environmental activist groups in Kazakhstan have begun lobbying for tighter emission controls. Other environmental issues in Kazakhstan include soil pollution from the overuse of pesticides in agriculture and the increasingly polluted waters of the Caspian Sea.

III

The People of Kazakhstan

In 2007 Kazakhstan had an estimated population of 15,284,929, giving it an average population density of 6 persons per sq km (15 per sq mi). Some 56 percent of the population lives in urban areas, making Kazakhstan the most urbanized of the Central Asian republics. The republic’s larger cities include Almaty, the former capital; Qaraghandy (also spelled Karaganda); Shymkent (Chimkent); Semey; and Pavlodar. Astana, which replaced Almaty as the capital in 1997, is a relatively small city located in the north.

A

Ethnic Groups

Kazakhs constitute 53 percent of Kazakhstan’s population, according to the 1999 census. The next largest ethnic group is Russians, with 30 percent of the population. Russians are concentrated in the north and in large urban areas, whereas Kazakhs are the predominant ethnic group in rural areas. Other ethnic groups in Kazakhstan include Ukrainians, Uzbeks, Germans, Uygurs (Uighurs), Chechens, Tatars, and Koreans.

Kazakhstan was the only Soviet republic in which the titular nationality (or ethnic group for which a republic was named) constituted less than 50 percent of the population. Large numbers of Russians and Ukrainians settled in Kazakhstan in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, after Central Asia became part of the Russian Empire. During World War II (1939-1945), the Soviet authorities deported Germans, Crimean Tatars, Koreans, and others to Kazakhstan from other parts of the Soviet Union. Another wave of large-scale immigration of Russians and other Slavs into Kazakhstan began in 1954 as part of a Soviet program to increase the amount of cultivated land in northern Kazakhstan. By 1959 Russians outnumbered Kazakhs in the republic. During the 1980s this demographic trend reversed. Birth rates were higher among Kazakhs, and the immigration of other ethnic groups abated. By 1989, when the last Soviet census was conducted, Kazakhs outnumbered Russians, although only by a slim margin. At that time Kazakhs constituted 39.7 percent of the population, and Russians made up 37.8 percent. After Kazakhstan became an independent republic in 1991, the proportion of Kazakhs continued to increase because many Germans, Russians, and members of other ethnic groups left Kazakhstan, while a significant number of Kazakhs moved into the republic from the neighboring Central Asian states and from Mongolia. In addition, the birth rate was generally higher among Kazakhs.

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