Kazakhstan, map of Kazakhstan

Brief information about the country

Оfficial name:  Republic of Kazakhstan

Location: Kazakhstan is by far the largest of the states of Central Asia of the former USSR. It has borders with Russia, China, and the Central Asian countries Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

Total area: 2,717,300 sq km

Population: 15,284,929 (July 2007 est.). Ethnic groups: Kazakh 53.4%, Russian 30%, Ukrainian 3.7%, Uzbek 2.5%, German 2.4%, Tatar 1.7%.

Capital: Astana
 
Principal cities: Almaty, Pavlodar

Climate: continental, cold winters and hot summers, arid and semiarid

Official language: Kazakh (state language), Russian

The political structure: Kazakhstan is a constitutional republic. The president is the head of state. President elected by popular vote for a seven-year term (no term limits); election last held 4 December 2005 (next to be held in 2012); President Nursultan A. Nazarbaev.

International organization participation: UN, UNESCO, WTO.

How to get there: By plain: the most important carrier is now Air Astana which flies to Almaty, Astana, Aktau, Aktobe, Atyrau, Uralsk, Dubai, Moscow, Delhi, Beijing, Istanbul, Bangkok, Hannover, London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Seoul.

Lufthansa has also seven days flights to Almaty, from where you can go anywhere via local carrier SKAT, which flies to most cities in Kazakhstan. British Airways and KLM now fly several times a week to Heathrow/Schiphol. Turkish airlines is good passenger carrier, with flights to Istanbul (ask a travel agent about the student fares, which can be a great deal). There are twice a week flights from Seoul to Almaty, one is Asiana Air Line and the other is Astana.

By train: Almaty to/from Moscow (77 hours).

Time zone: 2 hours ahead Moscow time.

Currency: tenge (KZT); 1 euro = 150 KZT.

Religion: Muslim 47%, Russian Orthodox 44%, Protestant 2%.

Holidays: Independence Day, 16 December (1991)

The reference web-site “Wikipedia”