Demographics of Kazakhstan
The demographics of Kazakhstan enumerate the demographic features of the population of Kazakhstan, including population growth, population density, ethnicity, education level, health, economic status, religious affiliations, and other aspects of the population. Some use the word Kazakh to refer to the Kazakh ethnic group and language and Kazakhstani to refer to Kazakhstan and its citizens regardless of ethnicity, but it is common to use Kazakh in both senses.
Demographic trends
Official estimates put the population of Kazakhstan at 18,137,300 as of December 2017, of which 44% is rural and 56% urban population. The 2009 population estimate is 6.8% higher than the population reported in the last census from January 1999. These estimates have been confirmed by the 2009 population census, and this means that the decline in population that began after 1989 has been arrested and reversed.The proportion of men makes up 48.3%, the proportion of women 51.7%. The proportion of Kazakhs makes up 63.6%, Russians 23.7%, Uzbeks 2.9%, Ukrainians 2.1%, Uygur 1.4%, Tatars 1.3%, Germans 1.1%, others 3.9%. Note that a large percentage of the population are of mixed ethnicity.
The first census in Kazakhstan was conducted under Russian Imperial rule in 1897, which estimated population at round 4 million people. Following censuses showed a growth until 1939, where numbers showed a decrease to 6,081 thousand relative to the previous census done 13 years earlier, due to famines of 1922 and 1933.
But since 1939 population has steadily increased to 16.5 million in the 1989, according to corresponding year census. Official estimates indicate that the population continued to increase after 1989, peaking out at 17 million in 1993 and then declining to 15 million in the 1999 census. The downward trend continued through 2002, when the estimated population bottomed out at 14.9 million, and then resumed its growth. Significant numbers of Russians returned to Russia. Kazakhstan underwent significant urbanization during the first 50 years of the Soviet era, as the share of rural population declined from more than 90% in the 1920s to less than 50% since the 1970s.
beach, Pavlodar Region
Population of Kazakhstan 1897–2018
As of 2003, there were discrepancies between Western sources regarding the population of Kazakhstan. United States government sources, including the CIA World Fact Book and the US Census Bureau International Data Base, listed the population as 15,340,533, while the World Bank gave a 2002 estimate of 14,858,948. This discrepancy was presumably due to difficulties in measurement caused by the large migratory population in Kazakhstan, emigration, and low population density - only about 5.5 persons per km² in an area the size of Western Europe.Vital statistics
Births and deaths
| Average population | Live births1 | Deaths1 | Natural change1 | Crude birth rate | Crude death rate | Natural change | Fertility rates | |
| 1950 | 6,703,000 | 254,169 | 79,005 | 175,164 | 37.9 | 11.8 | 26.1 | - |
| 1951 | 6,946,000 | 272,354 | 80,553 | 191,801 | 39.2 | 11.6 | 27.6 | - |
| 1952 | 7,133,000 | 265,235 | 85,241 | 179,994 | 37.2 | 12.0 | 25.2 | - |
| 1953 | 7,271,000 | 262,758 | 73,930 | 188,828 | 36.1 | 10.2 | 26.0 | - |
| 1954 | 7,528,000 | 278,420 | 76,092 | 202,328 | 37.0 | 10.1 | 26.9 | - |
| 1955 | 7,992,000 | 299,854 | 73,283 | 226,571 | 37.5 | 9.2 | 28.3 | - |
| 1956 | 8,426,000 | 305,430 | 64,807 | 240,623 | 36.3 | 7.7 | 28.6 | - |
| 1957 | 8,722,000 | 326,766 | 68,050 | 258,716 | 37.5 | 7.8 | 29.7 | - |
| 1958 | 9,077,000 | 336,020 | 62,680 | 273,340 | 37.0 | 6.9 | 30.1 | - |
| 1959 | 9,516,000 | 349,794 | 69,602 | 280,192 | 36.8 | 7.3 | 29.4 | - |
| 1960 | 9,996,000 | 372,595 | 65,667 | 306,928 | 37.2 | 6.6 | 30.7 | - |
| 1961 | 10,480,000 | 377,789 | 68,610 | 309,179 | 36.1 | 6.5 | 29.5 | - |
| 1962 | 10,958,000 | 369,002 | 70,952 | 298,050 | 33.7 | 6.5 | 27.2 | - |
| 1963 | 11,321,000 | 346,084 | 67,218 | 278,866 | 30.6 | 5.9 | 24.6 | - |
| 1964 | 11,610,000 | 324,412 | 66,197 | 258,215 | 27.9 | 5.7 | 22.2 | - |
| 1965 | 11,909,000 | 314,533 | 69,803 | 244,730 | 26.4 | 5.9 | 20.6 | - |
| 1966 | 12,185,000 | 307,905 | 69,402 | 238,503 | 25.3 | 5.7 | 19.6 | - |
| 1967 | 12,456,000 | 301,715 | 71,824 | 229,891 | 24.2 | 5.8 | 18.5 | - |
| 1968 | 12,694,000 | 296,882 | 73,496 | 223,386 | 23.4 | 5.8 | 17.6 | - |
| 1969 | 12,901,000 | 297,129 | 78,660 | 218,469 | 23.0 | 6.1 | 16.9 | - |
| 1970 | 13,106,000 | 301,451 | 77,619 | 223,832 | 23.0 | 5.9 | 17.1 | - |
| 1971 | 13,321,000 | 317,423 | 79,881 | 237,542 | 23.8 | 6.0 | 17.8 | - |
| 1972 | 13,534,000 | 318,551 | 85,122 | 233,429 | 23.5 | 6.3 | 17.2 | - |
| 1973 | 13,742,000 | 321,075 | 90,282 | 230,793 | 23.4 | 6.6 | 16.8 | - |
| 1974 | 13,955,000 | 338,291 | 93,582 | 244,709 | 24.2 | 6.7 | 17.5 | - |
| 1975 | 14,136,000 | 343,668 | 101,865 | 241,803 | 24.3 | 7.2 | 17.1 | - |
| 1976 | 14,279,000 | 350,362 | 103,892 | 246,470 | 24.5 | 7.3 | 17.3 | - |
| 1977 | 14,425,000 | 349,379 | 105,376 | 244,003 | 24.2 | 7.3 | 16.9 | - |
| 1978 | 14,589,000 | 355,337 | 107,293 | 248,044 | 24.4 | 7.4 | 17.0 | - |
| 1979 | 14,743,000 | 354,320 | 113,687 | 240,633 | 24.0 | 7.7 | 16.3 | - |
| 1980 | 14,884,000 | 356,013 | 119,078 | 236,935 | 23.9 | 8.0 | 15.9 | - |
| 1981 | 15,033,000 | 367,950 | 120,974 | 246,976 | 24.5 | 8.0 | 16.4 | - |
| 1982 | 15,185,000 | 373,416 | 120,165 | 253,251 | 24.6 | 7.9 | 16.7 | - |
| 1983 | 15,334,000 | 378,577 | 123,807 | 254,770 | 24.7 | 8.1 | 16.6 | - |
| 1984 | 15,481,000 | 399,403 | 129,796 | 269,607 | 25.8 | 8.4 | 17.4 | - |
| 1985 | 15,623,000 | 396,929 | 126,786 | 270,143 | 25.4 | 8.1 | 17.3 | - |
| 1986 | 15,776,000 | 410,846 | 119,149 | 291,697 | 26.0 | 7.6 | 18.5 | - |
| 1987 | 15,948,000 | 417,139 | 122,835 | 294,304 | 26.2 | 7.7 | 18.5 | - |
| 1988 | 16,188,000 | 407,116 | 126,898 | 280,218 | 25.3 | 7.9 | 17.4 | - |
| 1989 | 16,243,000 | 382,269 | 126,378 | 255,891 | 23.5 | 7.8 | 15.8 | - |
| 1990 | 16,328,000 | 362,081 | 128,576 | 233,505 | 22.2 | 7.9 | 14.3 | - |
| 1991 | 16,405,000 | 353,174 | 134,324 | 218,850 | 21.5 | 8.2 | 13.3 | 2.67 |
| 1992 | 16,439,000 | 337,612 | 137,518 | 200,094 | 20.5 | 8.4 | 12.2 | 2.62 |
| 1993 | 16,381,000 | 315,482 | 156,070 | 159,412 | 19.3 | 9.5 | 9.7 | 2.54 |
| 1994 | 16,146,000 | 305,624 | 160,339 | 145,285 | 18.9 | 9.9 | 9.0 | 2.43 |
| 1995 | 15,816,000 | 276,125 | 168,656 | 107,469 | 17.5 | 10.7 | 6.8 | 2.21 |
| 1996 | 15,578,000 | 253,175 | 166,028 | 87,147 | 16.3 | 10.7 | 5.6 | 2.02 |
| 1997 | 15,334,000 | 232,356 | 160,138 | 72,218 | 15.2 | 10.4 | 4.7 | 1.93 |
| 1998 | 15,072,000 | 222,380 | 154,314 | 68,066 | 14.8 | 10.2 | 4.5 | 1.81 |
| 1999 | 14,939,000 | 217,578 | 147,416 | 70,162 | 14.6 | 9.9 | 4.7 | 1.79 |
| 2000 | 14,915,000 | 222,054 | 149,778 | 72,276 | 14.9 | 10.0 | 4.8 | 1.88 |
| 2001 | 14,910,000 | 221,487 | 147,876 | 73,611 | 14.9 | 9.9 | 4.9 | 1.84 |
| 2002 | 14,931,000 | 227,171 | 149,381 | 77,790 | 15.2 | 10.0 | 5.2 | 1.88 |
| 2003 | 15,002,000 | 247,946 | 155,277 | 92,669 | 16.5 | 10.4 | 6.2 | 2.03 |
| 2004 | 15,126,000 | 273,028 | 152,250 | 120,778 | 18.0 | 10.1 | 8.0 | 2.21 |
| 2005 | 15,281,000 | 278,977 | 157,121 | 121,856 | 18.3 | 10.3 | 8.0 | 2.22 |
| 2006 | 15,463,000 | 301,756 | 157,210 | 144,546 | 19.5 | 10.2 | 9.3 | 2.36 |
| 2007 | 15,659,000 | 321,963 | 158,297 | 163,666 | 20.6 | 10.1 | 10.5 | 2.47 |
| 2008 | 15,870,000 | 356,575 | 152,706 | 203,869 | 22.5 | 9.6 | 12.8 | 2.68 |
| 2009 | 16,093,000 | 356,378 | 143,238 | 213,140 | 22.1 | 8.9 | 13.2 | 2.55 |
| 2010 | 16,322,000 | 367,942 | 146,370 | 221,572 | 22.5 | 8.9 | 13.6 | 2.60 |
| 2011 | 16,557,000 | 372,801 | 144,944 | 227,857 | 22.5 | 8.7 | 13.8 | 2.59 |
| 2012 | 16,791,000 | 381,005 | 142,880 | 238,125 | 22.7 | 8.5 | 14.2 | 2.62 |
| 2013 | 17,035,000 | 393,421 | 137,630 | 255,791 | 22.7 | 8.0 | 14.7 | 2.64 |
| 2014 | 17,289,000 | 401,066 | 132,236 | 268,830 | 23.1 | 7.6 | 15.5 | 2.76 |
| 2015 | 17,557,000 | 398,561 | 131,867 | 266,694 | 22.7 | 7.5 | 15.2 | 2.73 |
| 2016 | 17,818,000 | 400,940 | 132,373 | 277,567 | 22.5 | 7.4 | 15.6 | 2.80 |
| 2017 | 18,014,000 | 390,520 | 130,033 | 260,487 | 21.7 | 7.2 | 14.5 | 2.73 |
| 2018 | 18,137,000 | 397,947 | 130,515 | 267,432 | 21.8 | 7.1 | 14.7 | 2.84 |
| 2019 | 18,448,000 | 403,064 | 133,489 | 269,575 | 21.8 | 7.2 | 14.6 | 2.90 |
1
Vital statistics
Births:- January-March of 2019: 91,942
- January-March of 2020: 92,712
- January-March of 2019: 33,752
- January-March of 2020: 31,220
Structure of the population :
| Age Group | Male | Female | Total | % |
| Total | 7 541 053 | 8 132 947 | 15 674 000 | 100 |
| 0-4 | 748 150 | 709 793 | 1 457 943 | 9.30 |
| 5-9 | 564 701 | 537 847 | 1 102 548 | 7.03 |
| 10-14 | 617 314 | 592 199 | 1 209 513 | 7.72 |
| 15-19 | 755 608 | 730 830 | 1 486 438 | 9.48 |
| 20-24 | 784 675 | 765 803 | 1 550 478 | 9.89 |
| 25-29 | 651 820 | 644 059 | 1 295 879 | 8.27 |
| 30-34 | 580 262 | 596 220 | 1 176 482 | 7.51 |
| 35-39 | 533 348 | 559 349 | 1 092 697 | 6.97 |
| 40-44 | 501 603 | 543 293 | 1 044 896 | 6.67 |
| 45-49 | 515 147 | 580 290 | 1 095 437 | 6.99 |
| 50-54 | 404 797 | 482 577 | 887 374 | 5.66 |
| 55-59 | 306 307 | 394 131 | 700 438 | 4.47 |
| 60-64 | 160 524 | 222 349 | 382 873 | 2.44 |
| 65-69 | 168 503 | 271 744 | 440 247 | 2.81 |
| 70-74 | 131 480 | 222 294 | 33 774 | 2.26 |
| 75-79 | 68 446 | 140 506 | 208 952 | 1.33 |
| 80-84 | 36 112 | 98 418 | 134 530 | 0.86 |
| 85-89 | 9 112 | 30 681 | 39 793 | 0.25 |
| 90-94 | 2 091 | 8 213 | 10 304 | 0.07 |
| 95-99 | 731 | 1 947 | 2 678 | 0.02 |
| 100+ | 322 | 404 | 726 | <0.01 |
Total fertility rate
Total fertility rate by regions of Kazakhstan: Mangystau - 3.80, South Kazakhstan - 3.71, Kyzylorda - 3.42, Atyrau - 3.29, Jambyl - 3.20, Aqtobe - 2.70, Almaty - 2.65, Almaty - 2.65, City of Astana - 2.44, West Kazakhstan - 2.29, Aqmola - 2.19, East Kazakhstan - 2.07, Qaragandy - 2.04, Pavlodar - 1.98, North Kazakhstan - 1.72, Qostanay - 1.70, Republic of Kazakhstan - 2.65. Thus it can be seen that fertility rate is higher in more traditionalist and religious south and west, and lower in the north and east, where the percentage of Slavic and German population is still relatively high.According to the Kazakhstan Demographic and Health Survey in 1999, the TFR for Kazakhs was 2.5 and that for Russians was 1.38. TFR in 1989 for Kazakhs & Russians were 3.58 and 2.24 respectively.
| Total fertility rate per woman by ethnicity | 1989 | 1995 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 |
| Kazakh women | 3.58 | 3.11 | 2.50 | 2.12 | 2.11 | 2.14 | 2.30 | 2.52 | 2.54 | 2.73 |
| Russian women | 2.24 | 1.69 | 1.38 | 1.18 | 1.17 | 1.21 | 1.30 | 1.36 | 1.35 | 1.38 |
| Ukrainian women | 1.60 | 1.59 | 1.60 | 1.71 | 1.76 | 1.73 | 1.80 | |||
| Uzbek women | 2.90 | 2.92 | 2.88 | 3.10 | 3.39 | 3.32 | 3.43 |
Life expectancy at birth
Source: UN World Population ProspectsEthnic groups
History of ethnic composition
Kazakhstan's dominant ethnic group Kazakhs, traces its origin to 15th century, when a number of Turkic and some Mongol tribes united to establish the Kazakh Khanate. With cohesive culture and national identity, they constituted absolute majority on the land until Russian colonization.Russian advancement into the territory of Kazakhstan began in the late 18th century, when the Kazakhs nominally accepted Russian rule in exchange for protection against repeated attacks by the western Mongolian Kalmyks. In the 1890s, Russian peasants began to settle the fertile lands of northern Kazakhstan, causing many Kazakhs to move eastwards into Chinese territory in search of new grazing grounds. The 1906 completion of the Trans-Aral Railway between Orenburg and Tashkent further facilitated Russian colonization. The first collectivized farms opened in Kazakhstan in 1921, populated primarily by Russians and Soviet deportees. In 1930, as part of the first Five Year Plan, the Kazakh Central Committee decreed the sedentarization of nomads and their incorporation into collectivized farms. This movement resulted in devastating famine, claiming the lives of an estimated 40% of ethnic Kazakhs, between 1930-33. Hundreds of thousands also fled to China, Iran and Afghanistan. The famine rendered Kazakhs a minority within Kazakhstan, and only after the republic gained independence in 1991 did Kazakhs recover a slim demographic majority within Kazakhstan.
Demographics would continue to shift in the 1950-1960s, wherein as part of Nikita Khrushchev's Virgin Lands Campaign, hundreds of thousands of Soviet deportees were relocated to the Kazakh steppes in order to farm. As recognized in the 1959 census, the Kazaks became a minority for the first time in history, comprising just 30% of the total population of Kazakhstan. Russians numbered 42.7%.
According to the 2009 census, the ethnic composition of Kazakhstan is approximately: 63.1% Kazakh, 23.7% Russian, 2.9% Uzbek, 2.1% Ukrainian, 1.4% Uyghur, 1.3% Tatar, 1.1% German, 1% Kyrgyz, and <1% Korean, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Belarusian, Dungan, Kurdish, Tajik, Polish, Chechen.