Yemen (2008) | Kazakhstan (2001) | |
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Administrative divisions | 19 governorates (muhafazat, singular - muhafazah); Abyan, 'Adan, Ad Dali', Al Bayda', Al Hudaydah, Al Jawf, Al Mahrah, Al Mahwit, 'Amran, Dhamar, Hadramawt, Hajjah, Ibb, Lahij, Ma'rib, Sa'dah, San'a', Shabwah, Ta'izz
note: for electoral and administrative purposes, the capital city of Sanaa is treated as an additional governorate |
14 oblystar (singular - oblysy) and 3 cities (qala, singular - qalasy)*; Almaty, Almaty*, Aqmola (Astana), Aqtobe, Astana*, Atyrau, Batys Qazaqstan (Oral), Bayqongyr*, Mangghystau (Aqtau; formerly Shevchenko), Ongtustik Qazaqstan (Shymkent), Pavlodar, Qaraghandy, Qostanay, Qyzylorda, Shyghys Qazaqstan (Oskemen; formerly Ust'-Kamenogorsk), Soltustik Qazaqstan (Petropavl), Zhambyl (Taraz; formerly Dzhambul)
note: administrative divisions have the same names as their administrative centers (exceptions have the administrative center name following in parentheses); in 1995 the Governments of Kazakhstan and Russia entered into an agreement whereby Russia would lease for a period of 20 years an area of 6,000 sq km enclosing the Baykonur space launch facilities and the city of Bayqongyr (Baykonyr, formerly Leninsk) |
Age structure | 0-14 years: 46.3% (male 5,239,003/female 5,047,301)
15-64 years: 51.1% (male 5,781,491/female 5,585,152) 65 years and over: 2.6% (male 281,121/female 296,463) (2007 est.) |
0-14 years:
26.73% (male 2,271,866; female 2,200,078) 15-64 years: 66.03% (male 5,358,535; female 5,688,550) 65 years and over: 7.24% (male 412,761; female 799,513) (2001 est.) |
Agriculture - products | grain, fruits, vegetables, pulses, qat, coffee, cotton; dairy products, livestock (sheep, goats, cattle, camels), poultry; fish | grain (mostly spring wheat), cotton; wool, livestock |
Airports | 50 (2007) | 449 (2000 est.) |
Airports - with paved runways | total: 17
over 3,047 m: 4 2,438 to 3,047 m: 8 1,524 to 2,437 m: 3 914 to 1,523 m: 1 under 914 m: 1 (2007) |
total:
28 over 3,047 m: 6 2,438 to 3,047 m: 14 1,524 to 2,437 m: 5 under 914 m: 3 (2000 est.) |
Airports - with unpaved runways | total: 33
over 3,047 m: 3 2,438 to 3,047 m: 8 1,524 to 2,437 m: 5 914 to 1,523 m: 13 under 914 m: 4 (2007) |
total:
421 over 3,047 m: 11 2,438 to 3,047 m: 18 1,524 to 2,437 m: 45 914 to 1,523 m: 101 under 914 m: 246 (2000 est.) |
Area | total: 527,970 sq km
land: 527,970 sq km water: 0 sq km note: includes Perim, Socotra, the former Yemen Arab Republic (YAR or North Yemen), and the former People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY or South Yemen) |
total:
2,717,300 sq km land: 2,669,800 sq km water: 47,500 sq km |
Area - comparative | slightly larger than twice the size of Wyoming | slightly less than four times the size of Texas |
Background | North Yemen became independent of the Ottoman Empire in 1918. The British, who had set up a protectorate area around the southern port of Aden in the 19th century, withdrew in 1967 from what became South Yemen. Three years later, the southern government adopted a Marxist orientation. The massive exodus of hundreds of thousands of Yemenis from the south to the north contributed to two decades of hostility between the states. The two countries were formally unified as the Republic of Yemen in 1990. A southern secessionist movement in 1994 was quickly subdued. In 2000, Saudi Arabia and Yemen agreed to a delimitation of their border. | Native Kazakhs, a mix of Turkic and Mongol nomadic tribes who migrated into the region in the 13th century, were rarely united as a single nation. The area was conquered by Russia in the 18th century and Kazakhstan became a Soviet Republic in 1936. During the 1950s and 1960s agricultural "Virgin Lands" program, Soviet citizens were encouraged to help cultivate Kazakhstan's northern pastures. This influx of immigrants (mostly Russians, but also some other deported nationalities) skewed the ethnic mixture and enabled non-Kazakhs to outnumber natives. Independence has caused many of these newcomers to emigrate. Current issues include: developing a cohesive national identity; expanding the development of the country's vast energy resources and exporting them to world markets; and continuing to strengthen relations with neighboring states and other foreign powers. |
Birth rate | 42.67 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) | 17.3 births/1,000 population (2001 est.) |
Budget | revenues: $7.902 billion
expenditures: $8.167 billion (2007 est.) |
revenues:
$3.1 billion expenditures: $3.6 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1999 est.) |
Capital | name: Sanaa
geographic coordinates: 15 21 N, 44 12 E time difference: UTC+3 (8 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) |
Astana; note - the government moved from Almaty to Astana in December 1998 |
Climate | mostly desert; hot and humid along west coast; temperate in western mountains affected by seasonal monsoon; extraordinarily hot, dry, harsh desert in east | continental, cold winters and hot summers, arid and semiarid |
Coastline | 1,906 km | 0 km (landlocked); note - Kazakhstan borders the Aral Sea, now split into two bodies of water (1,070 km), and the Caspian Sea (1,894 km) |
Constitution | 16 May 1991; amended 29 September 1994 and February 2001 | adopted by national referendum 30 August 1995; first post-independence constitution was adopted 28 January 1993 |
Country name | conventional long form: Republic of Yemen
conventional short form: Yemen local long form: Al Jumhuriyah al Yamaniyah local short form: Al Yaman former: Yemen Arab Republic [Yemen (Sanaa) or North Yemen] and People's Democratic Republic of Yemen [Yemen (Aden) or South Yemen] |
conventional long form:
Republic of Kazakhstan conventional short form: Kazakhstan local long form: Qazaqstan Respublikasy local short form: none former: Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic |
Currency | - | tenge (KZT) |
Death rate | 8.05 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) | 10.61 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.) |
Debt - external | $6.122 billion (31 December 2007 est.) | $12.5 billion (2000 est.) |
Diplomatic representation from the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Stephen A. SECHE
embassy: Sa'awan Street, Sanaa mailing address: P. O. Box 22347, Sanaa telephone: [967] (1) 755-2000 ext. 2153 or 2266 FAX: [967] (1) 303-182 |
chief of mission:
Ambassador Richard H. JONES embassy: 99/97A Furmanova Street, Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan 480091 mailing address: American Embassy Almaty, Department of State, Washington, DC 20521-7030 telephone: [7] (3272) 63-39-21, 50-76-23, 50-76-27 (emergency number) FAX: [7] (3272) 63-38-83, 50-76-24 |
Diplomatic representation in the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Abd al-Wahab Abdallah al-HAJRI
chancery: 2319 Wyoming Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 965-4760 FAX: [1] (202) 337-2017 |
chief of mission:
Ambassador Kanat SAUDABAYEV chancery: 1401 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036 telephone: [1] (202) 232-5488 FAX: [1] (202) 232-5845 consulate(s): New York |
Disputes - international | Saudi Arabia has reinforced its concrete-filled security barrier along sections of the fully demarcated border with Yemen to stem illegal cross-border activities | Caspian Sea boundaries are not yet determined among Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan |
Economic aid - recipient | $2.3 billion (2003-07 disbursements) | $409.6 million (1995) |
Economy - overview | Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Arab world, reported average annual growth in the range of 3-4% from 2000 through 2007. Its economic fortunes depend mostly on declining oil resources, but the country is trying to diversify its earnings. In 2006 Yemen began an economic reform program designed to bolster non-oil sectors of the economy and foreign investment. As a result of the program, international donors pledged about $5 billion for development projects. In addition, Yemen has made some progress on reforms over the last year that will likely encourage foreign investment. Oil revenues probably increased in 2007 as a result of higher prices. | Kazakhstan, the second largest of the former Soviet republics in territory, possesses enormous fossil fuel reserves as well as plentiful supplies of other minerals and metals. It also is a large agricultural - livestock and grain - producer. Kazakhstan's industrial sector rests on the extraction and processing of these natural resources and also on a growing machine-building sector specializing in construction equipment, tractors, agricultural machinery, and some defense items. The breakup of the USSR in December 1991 and the collapse of 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. The Caspian Pipeline Consortium agreement to build a new pipeline from western Kazakhstan's Tengiz oil field to the Black Sea increases prospects for substantially larger oil exports in several years. Kazakhstan's economy again turned downward in 1998 with a 2% decline in GDP due to slumping oil prices and the August financial crisis in Russia. The recovery of international oil prices in 1999, combined with a well-timed tenge devaluation and a bumper grain harvest, pulled the economy out of recession in 2000. Astana has embarked upon an industrial policy designed to diversify the economy away from overdependence on the oil sector by developing light industry. |
Electricity - consumption | 3.381 billion kWh (2005 est.) | 44.132 billion kWh (1999) |
Electricity - exports | 0 kWh (2005) | 200 million kWh (1999) |
Electricity - imports | 0 kWh (2005) | 3.077 billion kWh (1999) |
Electricity - production | 4.456 billion kWh (2005 est.) | 44.36 billion kWh (1999) |
Electricity - production by source | - | fossil fuel:
87.12% hydro: 12.65% nuclear: 0.23% other: 0% (1999) |
Elevation extremes | lowest point: Arabian Sea 0 m
highest point: Jabal an Nabi Shu'ayb 3,760 m |
lowest point:
Vpadina Kaundy -132 m highest point: Khan Tangiri Shyngy (Pik Khan-Tengri) 6,995 m |
Environment - current issues | very limited natural fresh water resources; inadequate supplies of potable water; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification | radioactive or toxic chemical sites associated with its former defense industries and test ranges are found throughout the country and pose health risks for humans and animals; industrial pollution is severe in some cities; because the two main rivers which 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 |
Environment - international agreements | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
party to:
Air Pollution, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol |
Ethnic groups | predominantly Arab; but also Afro-Arab, South Asians, Europeans | Kazakh (Qazaq) 53.4%, Russian 30%, Ukrainian 3.7%, Uzbek 2.5%, German 2.4%, Uighur 1.4%, other 6.6% (1999 census) |
Exchange rates | Yemeni rials per US dollar - 199.14 (2007), 197.18 (2006), 192.67 (2005), 184.78 (2004), 183.45 (2003) | tenge per US dollar - 145.09 (January 2001), 142.13 (2000), 119.52 (1999), 78.30 (1998), 75.44 (1997), 67.30 (1996) |
Executive branch | chief of state: President Ali Abdallah SALIH (since 22 May 1990, the former president of North Yemen, assumed office upon the merger of North and South Yemen); Vice President Maj. Gen. Abd al-Rab Mansur al-HADI (since 3 October 1994)
head of government: Prime Minister Ali Muhammad MUJAWWAR (since 31 March 2007); Deputy Prime Minister Rashad Muhammad al-ALIMI cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president on the advice of the prime minister elections: president elected by popular vote for a seven-year term; election last held 20 September 2006 (next to be held in September 2013); vice president appointed by the president; prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed by the president election results: Ali Abdallah SALIH elected president; percent of vote - Ali Abdallah SALIH 77.2%, Faysal BIN SHAMLAN 21.8% |
chief of state:
President Nursultan A. NAZARBAYEV (chairman of the Supreme Soviet from 22 February 1990, elected president 1 December 1991) head of government: Prime Minister Kazymzhomart TOKAYEV (since 2 October 1999) cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president elections: president elected by popular vote for a seven-year term; election last held 10 January 1999, a year before it was previously scheduled (next to be held NA 2006); note - President NAZARBAYEV's previous term had been extended to 2000 by a nationwide referendum held 30 April 1995; prime minister and first deputy prime minister appointed by the president election results: Nursultan A. NAZARBAYEV reelected president; percent of vote - Nursultan A. NAZARBAYEV 81.7%, Serikbolsyn ABDILDIN 12.1%, Gani KASYMOV 4.7%, other 1.5% note: President NAZARBAYEV expanded his presidential powers by decree: only he can initiate constitutional amendments, appoint and dismiss the government, dissolve Parliament, call referenda at his discretion, and appoint administrative heads of regions and cities |
Exports | 320,600 bbl/day (2004) | $8.8 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.) |
Exports - commodities | crude oil, coffee, dried and salted fish | oil 40%, ferrous and nonferrous metals, machinery, chemicals, grain, wool, meat, coal |
Exports - partners | China 31.4%, India 17.4%, Thailand 16.7%, South Korea 7%, US 6.7%, UAE 4.1% (2006) | EU 23%, Russia 20%, China 8% (1999) |
Fiscal year | calendar year | calendar year |
Flag description | three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and black; similar to the flag of Syria, which has two green stars in the white band, and of Iraq, which has an Arabic inscription centered in the white band; also similar to the flag of Egypt, which has a heraldic eagle centered in the white band | sky blue background representing the endless sky and a gold sun with 32 rays soaring above a golden steppe eagle in the center; on the hoist side is a "national ornamentation" in gold |
GDP | - | purchasing power parity - $85.6 billion (2000 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 12.4%
industry: 40.9% services: 46.7% (2007 est.) |
agriculture:
10% industry: 30% services: 60% (1999 est.) |
GDP - per capita | - | purchasing power parity - $5,000 (2000 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate | 3.2% (2007 est.) | 10.5% (2000 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 15 00 N, 48 00 E | 48 00 N, 68 00 E |
Geography - note | strategic location on Bab el Mandeb, the strait linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, one of world's most active shipping lanes | landlocked; Russia leases approximately 6,000 sq km of territory enclosing the Baykonur Cosmodrome |
Highways | - | total:
NA km paved: 150,000 km (these roads are said to be hard-surfaced, and include, in addition to conventionally paved roads, some that are surfaced with gravel or other coarse aggregate, making them trafficable in all weather) (2000) unpaved: NA km (these roads are made of unstabilized earth and are difficult to negotiate in wet weather) |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: 3%
highest 10%: 25.9% (2003) |
lowest 10%:
2.7% highest 10%: 26.3% (1996) |
Illicit drugs | - | significant illicit cultivation of cannabis and limited cultivation of opium poppy and ephedra (for the drug ephedrone); limited government eradication program; cannabis consumed largely in the CIS; used as transshipment point for illicit drugs to Russia, North America, and Western Europe from Southwest Asia; developing heroin addiction problem |
Imports | 58,100 bbl/day (2004) | $6.9 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.) |
Imports - commodities | food and live animals, machinery and equipment, chemicals | machinery and parts, industrial materials, oil and gas, vehicles |
Imports - partners | UAE 16.4%, China 12.8%, Saudi Arabia 7.7%, Kuwait 5.8%, Brazil 4.5%, Malaysia 4.2%, US 4% (2006) | Russia 37%, US, Uzbekistan, Turkey, UK, Germany, Ukraine, South Korea (1999) |
Independence | 22 May 1990 (Republic of Yemen was established with the merger of the Yemen Arab Republic [Yemen (Sanaa) or North Yemen] and the Marxist-dominated People's Democratic Republic of Yemen [Yemen (Aden) or South Yemen]); note - previously North Yemen became independent in November 1918 (from the Ottoman Empire) and became a republic with the overthrow of the theocratic Imamate in 1962; South Yemen became independent on 30 November 1967 (from the UK) | 16 December 1991 (from the Soviet Union) |
Industrial production growth rate | 3.2% (2007 est.) | 14.9% (2000 est.) |
Industries | crude oil production and petroleum refining; small-scale production of cotton textiles and leather goods; food processing; handicrafts; small aluminum products factory; cement; commercial ship repair | oil, coal, iron ore, manganese, chromite, lead, zinc, copper, titanium, bauxite, gold, silver, phosphates, sulfur, iron and steel, nonferrous metal, tractors and other agricultural machinery, electric motors, construction materials |
Infant mortality rate | total: 57.88 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 62.48 deaths/1,000 live births female: 53.05 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.) |
59.17 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 10.7% (2007 est.) | 13.4% (2000 est.) |
International organization participation | AFESD, AMF, CAEU, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt (signatory), ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO (correspondent), ITSO, ITU, ITUC, LAS, MIGA, MINURSO, NAM, OAS (observer), OIC, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMIS, UNOCI, UNOMIG, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO (observer) | AsDB, CCC, CIS, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, ECO, ESCAP, FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, NAM (observer), OAS (observer), OIC, OPCW, OSCE, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO (observer) |
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | - | NA |
Irrigated land | 5,500 sq km (2003) | 22,000 sq km (1996 est.) |
Judicial branch | Supreme Court | Supreme Court (44 members); Constitutional Council (7 members) |
Labor force | 6.316 million (2007 est.) | 8.8 million (1997) |
Labor force - by occupation | note: most people are employed in agriculture and herding; services, construction, industry, and commerce account for less than one-fourth of the labor force | industry 27%, agriculture 23%, services 50% (1996) |
Land boundaries | total: 1,746 km
border countries: Oman 288 km, Saudi Arabia 1,458 km |
total:
12,012 km border countries: China 1,533 km, Kyrgyzstan 1,051 km, Russia 6,846 km, Turkmenistan 379 km, Uzbekistan 2,203 km |
Land use | arable land: 2.91%
permanent crops: 0.25% other: 96.84% (2005) |
arable land:
12% permanent crops: 11% permanent pastures: 57% forests and woodland: 4% other: 16% (1996 est.) |
Languages | Arabic | Kazakh (Qazaq, state language) 40%, Russian (official, used in everyday business) 66% |
Legal system | based on Islamic law, Turkish law, English common law, and local tribal customary law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction | based on civil law system |
Legislative branch | a bicameral legislature consisting of a Shura Council (111 seats; members appointed by the president) and a House of Representatives (301 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve six-year terms)
elections: last held on 27 April 2003 (next to be held in April 2009) election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - GPC 228, Islah 47, YSP 7, Nasserite Unionist Party 3, National Arab Socialist Ba'th Party 2, independents 14 |
bicameral Parliament consists of the Senate (47 seats; 7 senators are appointed by the president; other members are popularly elected, two from each of the former oblasts and the former capital of Almaty, to serve six-year terms) and the Majilis (67 seats; the addition of 10 "Party List" seats brings the total to 77; members are popularly elected to serve five-year terms); note - with the oblasts being reduced to 14, the Senate will eventually be reduced to 37; a number of Senate seats come up for reelection every two years
elections: Senate - (indirect) last held 17 September 1999 (next to be held NA 2001); Majilis - last held 10 and 24 October and 26 December 1999 (next to be held NA 2004) election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - NA; 16 seats up for election in 1999, candidates nominated by local councils; Majilis - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - Otan 23, Civic Party 13, Communist Party 3, Agrarian Party 3, People's Cooperative Party 1, independents 34; note - most independent candidates are affiliated with parastatal enterprises and other pro-government institutions |
Life expectancy at birth | total population: 62.52 years
male: 60.61 years female: 64.54 years (2007 est.) |
total population:
63.29 years male: 57.87 years female: 68.97 years (2001 est.) |
Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 50.2% male: 70.5% female: 30% (2003 est.) |
definition:
age 15 and over can read and write total population: 98% male: 99% female: 96% (1989 est.) |
Location | Middle East, bordering the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Red Sea, between Oman and Saudi Arabia | Central Asia, northwest of China |
Map references | Middle East | Commonwealth of Independent States |
Maritime claims | territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin |
none (landlocked) |
Merchant marine | total: 4 ships (1000 GRT or over) 15,474 GRT/18,072 DWT
by type: cargo 1, chemical tanker 1, petroleum tanker 1, roll on/roll off 1 registered in other countries: 12 (Bolivia 1, Cambodia 3, North Korea 2, Panama 5, St Kitts and Nevis 1) (2007) |
- |
Military - note | a Coast Guard was established in 2002 | - |
Military branches | Army (includes Republican Guard), Navy (includes Marines), Yemen Air Force (includes Air Defense Force) (2007) | General Purpose Forces (Army), Air Force, Border Guards, Navy, Republican Guard |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | - | $322 million (FY99) |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 6.6% (2006) | 1.5% (FY99) |
Military manpower - availability | - | males age 15-49:
4,509,179 (2001 est.) |
Military manpower - fit for military service | - | males age 15-49:
3,598,859 (2001 est.) |
Military manpower - military age | - | 18 years of age |
Military manpower - reaching military age annually | - | males:
163,628 (2001 est.) |
National holiday | Unification Day, 22 May (1990) | Republic Day, 25 October (1990) |
Nationality | noun: Yemeni(s)
adjective: Yemeni |
noun:
Kazakhstani(s) adjective: Kazakhstani |
Natural hazards | sandstorms and dust storms in summer | earthquakes in the south, mudslides around Almaty |
Natural resources | petroleum, fish, rock salt, marble; small deposits of coal, gold, lead, nickel, and copper; fertile soil in west | major deposits of petroleum, natural gas, coal, iron ore, manganese, chrome ore, nickel, cobalt, copper, molybdenum, lead, zinc, bauxite, gold, uranium |
Net migration rate | 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.) | -6.43 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.) |
Pipelines | gas 71 km; liquid petroleum gas 22 km; oil 1,309 km (2007) | crude oil 2,850 km; refined products 1,500 km; natural gas 3,480 km (1992) |
Political parties and leaders | General People's Congress or GPC [Abdul-Kader BAJAMMAL]; Islamic Reform Grouping or Islah [Mohammed Abdullah AL-YADOUMI (acting)]; Nasserite Unionist Party [Abdal Malik al-MAKHLAFI]; National Arab Socialist Ba'th Party [Dr. Qasim SALAM]; Yemeni Socialist Party or YSP [Ali Salih MUQBIL]; note - there are at least seven more active political parties | Agrarian Party [Romin MADENOV]; Alash [Soverkazhy AKATAYEV]; AZAMAT Movement [Petr SVOIK, Murat AUEZOV, and Galym ABILSIITOV, cochairmen]; Civic Party [Azat PERUASHEV, first secretary]; Communist Party or KPK [Serikbolsyn ABDILDIN, first secretary]; Forum of Democratic Forces [Nurbulat MASANOV, Deputy Chairman of the Republican People's Party of Kazakhstan (RNPK); Amirzhan KOSANOV, RNPK activist; Seidakhmet KUTTYKADAM, Orleu Movement; cochairmen]; Labor and Worker's Movement [Madel ISMAILOV, chairman]; Orleu Movement [Seidakhmet KUTTYKADAM]; Otan [Sergei TERESCHENKO, chairman]; Pensioners Movement or Pokoleniye [Irina SAVOSTINA, chairwoman]; People's Congress of Kazakhstan of NKK [Olzhas SULEIMENOV, chairman]; People's Cooperative Party [Umirzak SARSENOV]; People's Unity Party or PUP [Nursultan A. NAZARBAYEV]; Republican People's Party of Kazakhstan or RNPK [Akezhan KAZHEGELDIN] |
Political pressure groups and leaders | NA | Kazakhstan International Bureau on Human Rights [Yevgeniy ZHOVTIS, executive director] |
Population | 22,230,531 (July 2007 est.) | 16,731,303 (July 2001 est.) |
Population below poverty line | 45.2% (2003) | 35% (1999 est.) |
Population growth rate | 3.461% (2007 est.) | 0.03% (2001 est.) |
Ports and harbors | - | Aqtau (Shevchenko), Atyrau (Gur'yev), Oskemen (Ust-Kamenogorsk), Pavlodar, Semey (Semipalatinsk) |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 6, FM 1, shortwave 2 (1998) | AM 60, FM 17, shortwave 9 (1998) |
Radios | - | 6.47 million (1997) |
Railways | - | total:
14,400 km in common carrier service; does not include industrial lines broad gauge: 14,400 km 1.520-m gauge (3,299 km electrified) (1997) |
Religions | Muslim including Shaf'i (Sunni) and Zaydi (Shi'a), small numbers of Jewish, Christian, and Hindu | Muslim 47%, Russian Orthodox 44%, Protestant 2%, other 7% |
Sex ratio | at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.038 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.035 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.948 male(s)/female total population: 1.034 male(s)/female (2007 est.) |
at birth:
1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.03 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.94 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.52 male(s)/female total population: 0.93 male(s)/female (2001 est.) |
Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal | 18 years of age; universal |
Telephone system | general assessment: since unification in 1990, efforts have been made to create a national telecommunications network
domestic: the national network consists of microwave radio relay, cable, tropospheric scatter, and GSM cellular mobile telephone systems; fixed-line and mobile-cellular teledensity remains low by regional standards international: country code - 967; landing point for the international submarine cable Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe (FLAG); satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (2 Indian Ocean and 1 Atlantic Ocean), 1 Intersputnik (Atlantic Ocean region), and 2 Arabsat; microwave radio relay to Saudi Arabia and Djibouti |
general assessment:
service is poor; equipment antiquated domestic: intercity by landline and microwave radio relay; mobile cellular systems are available in most of Kazakhstan international: international traffic with other former Soviet republics and China carried by landline and microwave radio relay; with other countries by satellite and by the Trans-Asia-Europe (TAE) fiber-optic cable; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat |
Telephones - main lines in use | 968,400 (2006) | 1.818 million (1997) |
Telephones - mobile cellular | 2 million (2006) | 11,202 (1997) |
Television broadcast stations | 3 (including one Egypt-based station that broadcasts in Yemen); (plus several repeaters) (2007) | 12 (plus nine repeaters) (1998) |
Terrain | narrow coastal plain backed by flat-topped hills and rugged mountains; dissected upland desert plains in center slope into the desert interior of the Arabian Peninsula | extends from the Volga to the Altai Mountains and from the plains in western Siberia to oases and desert in Central Asia |
Total fertility rate | 6.49 children born/woman (2007 est.) | 2.07 children born/woman (2001 est.) |
Unemployment rate | 35% (2003 est.) | 13.7% (1998 est.) |
Waterways | - | 3,900 km
note: on the Syrdariya (Syr Darya) and Ertis (Irtysh) rivers |