Kazakstan 
Facts
Population: 15,284,929 (July 2007 est.).
Age structure: 0-14 years: 22.5% (male 1,758,782/female 1,683,249)
15-64 years: 69.2% (male 5,169,314/female 5,407,661)
65 years and over: 8.3% (male 446,549/female 819,374) (2007 est.).
Population growth rate: 0.352% (2007 est.).
Birth rate: 16.23 births/1,000 population (2007 est.).
Death rate: 9.4 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.).
Net migration rate: -3.32 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.).
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.045 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.956 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.545 male(s)/female
total population: 0.932 male(s)/female (2007 est.).
Infant mortality rate: total: 27.41 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 31.94 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 22.62 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.).
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 67.22 years
male: 61.9 years
female: 72.84 years (2007 est.).
Total fertility rate: 1.89 children born/woman (2007 est.).
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 0.2% (2001 est.).
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 16,500 (2001 est.).
HIV/AIDS - deaths: less than 200 (2003 est.).
Nationality: noun: Kazakhstani(s)
adjective: Kazakhstani.
Ethnic groups: Kazakh (Qazaq) 53.4%, Russian 30%, Ukrainian 3.7%, Uzbek 2.5%, German 2.4%, Tatar 1.7%, Uygur 1.4%, other 4.9% (1999 census).
Religions: Muslim 47%, Russian Orthodox 44%, Protestant 2%, other 7%.
Languages: Kazakh (Qazaq, state language) 64.4%, Russian (official, used in everyday business, designated the "language of interethnic communication") 95% (2001 est.).
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99.5%
male: 99.8%
female: 99.3% (1999 est.).
GDP (purchasing power parity): $143.1 billion (2006 est.).
GDP - real growth rate: 10.6% (2006 est.).
GDP - per capita (PPP): $9,400 (2006 est.).
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 6.3%
industry: 41.1%
services: 52.7% (2006 est.).
Labor force: 7.834 million (2006 est.).
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture: 20%
industry: 30%
services: 50% (2002 est.).
Population below poverty line: 19% (2004 est.).
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 3.3%
highest 10%: 26.5% (2004 est.).
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 8.6% (2006 est.).
Unemployment rate: 7.4% (2006 est.).
Budget: revenues: $18.48 billion
expenditures: $18.09 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2006 est.).
Agriculture - products: grain (mostly spring wheat), cotton; livestock.
Industries: oil, coal, iron ore, manganese, chromite, lead, zinc, copper, titanium, bauxite, gold, silver, phosphates, sulfur, iron and steel; tractors and other agricultural machinery, electric motors, construction materials.
Industrial production growth rate: 7.7% (2006 est.).
Electricity - production: 66.5 billion kWh (2006 est.).
Electricity - consumption: 59.2 billion kWh (2006 est.).
Electricity - exports: 4.9 billion kWh (2004).
Electricity - imports: 4.37 billion kWh (2004).
Exports: $35.55 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.).
Exports - commodities: oil and oil products 58%, ferrous metals 24%, chemicals 5%, machinery 3%, grain, wool, meat, coal (2001).
Exports - partners: Russia 12.4%, Germany 12%, China 11.2%, Italy 8.9%, France 8.6%, Romania 5.1%, US 4.5% (2005).
Imports: $22 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.).
Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment 41%, metal products 28%, foodstuffs 8% (2001).
Imports - partners: Russia 35.7%, China 21.3%, Germany 7.1% (2005).
Debt - external: $53.89 billion (30 June 2006 est.).
Economic aid - recipient: $74.2 million (FY04).
Currency (code): tenge (KZT).
Exchange rates: tenge per US dollar - 126.09 (2006), 132.88 (2005), 136.04 (2004), 149.58 (2003), 153.28 (2002).
Fiscal year: calendar year.
Statistics: C.I.A. World Factbook. Updated: July 20, 2007.
Kazakstan in the News
Students branch out to Niger, Kazakhstan or China, taking a bite out of Europe study abroad programs.
In one of the more mysterious stories of the year, Kazakh security agents arrested 22 people in November on charges of plotting to seize Eastern Kazakhstan province and establish a breakaway Russian republic there.
During much of Murat Auezov's tenure as Kazakhstan's ambassador to China in the early 1990s, he was puzzled by the term Xi Yu, which means "northwest province" in Chinese.
In separate moves, the governments of Pakistan and Kazakhstan have escalated pressure on the news media recently.
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