Portal:Kazakhstan/Intro
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
 |
 |
|
Kazakhstan, also spelled Kazakstan, (Kazakh: Қазақстан, Qazaqstan, IPA [qɑzɑqˈstɑn]; Russian: Казахстан, Kazakhstán, IPA [kəzʌxˈstan]), officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a country that stretches over a vast expanse of northern and central Eurasia. Its territory of 2 717 300 km² (bigger than Western Europe) is partially located to the west of the Ural River in eastern-most Europe.
It has borders with Russia, the People's Republic of China, and the Central Asian countries Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, and has a coastline on the Caspian Sea.
Prior to full independence, Kazakhstan existed as the Kazakh SSR republic in the Soviet Union. It is now a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Kazakhstan is the ninth-largest country in the world by area, but it is only the 62nd country in population with less than 6 people per square kilometre (15 per sq. mi.). The population in 2006 is estimated at 15,300,000, down from 16,464,464 in 1989[1] due to the emigration of ethnic Russians and Volga Germans. Much of the country's land consists of semi-desert (steppe) terrain.
