People of Kazakhstan

In 2007, Kazakhstan had an estimated population of 15,284,929, giving it an average population density of 15 people/square mile. Some 56% of the population lives in urban areas, making Kazakhstan the most urbanized of the Central Asian republics. The republic’s larger cities include Almaty, the former capital; Karaganda; Khymkent, Semey; and Pavlodar. Astana, which replaced Almaty as the capital in 1997, is a relatively small city located in the north.

The population of Kazakhstan is constituted with several ethnic groups mainly kazakhs, covering about 53% of the inhabitants and Russians, who cover 30% of the residents. Several other groups reside within the region of Kazakhstan like the Ukrainians, Uzbeks, Germans, Chechens, and Ugyhurs - belonging to the Russian authority. Among the minority cluster, the Russian Germans, Poles, Romanians, Ukranians and Russian political opponents were expelled to the region of Kazakhstan during the reign of Stalin.

Religion

The Kazakhs are a Muslim people. Their first significant contact with Islam occurred in the 16th century, long after the Central Asian peoples to the south were introduced to the religion during the Arab conquests of the 8th century. Sufi ascetics, who wandered across western Asia during the 16th century, introduced the Kazakhs to Sufism, or Islamic mysticism. The personal focus of Sufism was compatible with the Kazakhs’ nomadic way of life. The Kazakhs adopted Islam gradually, with their conversion only becoming complete in the early 19th century.

During the Soviet period, the officially atheistic Communist regime sought to restrict the practice of Islam because of its potential for creating organized dissident movements. Most of Kazakhstan’s mosques were forcibly shut down in the 1920s. The regime briefly relaxed its antireligious stance during World War II but then reinstated restrictions. In the mid-1980s the Soviet government lifted most of these restrictions, and the number of practicing Muslims in Kazakhstan began to increase considerably. The revival of Islam in Kazakhstan intensified after independence in 1991.

Uzbeks and Tatars are also Muslims. The Slavic peoples of Kazakhstan are traditionally Orthodox Christians, and the Russian Orthodox Church is the largest Christian denomination in the republic. The Christian community also includes small numbers of Protestants (mainly Lutherans) and Roman Catholics.

Language

The official language of Kazakhstan is Kazakh, which belongs to the Kipchak (or Western Turkic) branch of the Turkic languages. The Kazakh language developed originally in the Arabic script, but in 1928 the Soviet government mandated a switch to the Latin (or Roman) alphabet. Then in 1940 the Soviet authorities imposed the Cyrillic alphabet (the script of the Russian language), with some modifications for the Kazakh language. This writing system continues to be used today.

Russian is the primary language of inter-ethnic communication in Kazakhstan. Most Russians do not know the Kazakh language, while many Kazakhs have a working knowledge of Russian. During the Soviet period, Russian was the primary language of instruction in most schools, and knowledge of Russian was necessary to acquire skilled jobs. Beginning in the late 1980s it became more important for residents to learn and speak Kazakh. In 1989 the Supreme Soviet (legislature) of Kazakhstan adopted legislation making Kazakh the official language of the republic, and the constitution of 1993 ratified this designation. However, the language law recognizes Russian as a national language and allows it to be used in education, government, the military, and the courts.