General overview
Kazakhstan is situated in Central Asia, deep in the Eurasian continent. Its territory is as large as 2,724,900 sq km (i.e. 1,049,150 sq miles). It occupies the ninth place in the world according to its square.
Kazakhstan borders upon the following states: China (1.460 km), Kyrgyzstan (980 km), Turkmenistan (380 km), Uzbekistan (2.300 km), the Russian Federation (6.467 km). Total length of the border amounts to 12.187 km.
The territory of the Republic stretches on from the low reaches of the Volga in the West to the foothills of the Altai mountains in the East - for some 3,000 km (a distance that spans two time zones), from West Siberian lowland in the North to the desert of Kyzylkum and the mountain range of Tien Shan in the South for some 2,000 km.
The climate of the country is sharply continental. Average temperature in January varies within -19° - -4° C while average July temperature fluctuates within + 19° - + 26° C.
Population: 16 402 861 people (according to the 2009 Census). Population density is as high as 6 people per 1 sq km.
The capital is the city of Astana (since December 10, 1997) whose population is as large as 678,000 people.
Administratively Kazakhstan is comprised of 14 regions, 84 cities of which 39 refer to those of Republican and regional subordination, 159 districts, 241 settlements, 2,042 aul (rural) counties.
State Language: Kazakh.
Currency: Tenge, introduced on 15 November, 1993.
National holiday: Independence Day (16 December).
Several geographic data. There are 8,500 big and small rivers in Kazakhstan. The length of seven largest rivers exceeds 1000 km. The largest ones are the Ural and the Emba flowing into the Caspian Sea, the Syrdaria falling into the Aral Sea while the Irtysh, the Ishim and the Tobol run all across the Republic to eventually reach the Arctic Ocean.
There are 48,000 big and small lakes in Kazakhstan. The largest among them are the Aral Sea, Balkhash, Zaisan, Alakol, Tenghiz and Seletenghiz. Besides Kazakhstan shares the larger portion of the northern and half of the eastern littoral of the Caspian Sea - the largest ever sea on the planet. The length of the coast line of the Caspian Sea (its Kazakhstani portion) is 2,340 km.
Steppes occupy some 26% of the territory of Kazakhstan. 167,000,000 ha account for deserts (44%) and semi-deserts (14%) with forests occupying 21,000,000 ha.
When speaking about the flora and fauna of the Republic, we have to mention 155 species of mammals, 480 and 150 species of birds and fish respectively and about 250 species of medicinal herbs.
