Kazakhstan in 2026 is a 20.50 million-person country with a 63.6% urban population, a 470.17 KZT/USD reference rate, 10.6% annual inflation, 15.74 million inbound tourism crossings in 2025, and 87 ordinary-passport visa-free country entries in the MFA table. The strongest story is not one number but the gap between official travel flows and English-language demand: neighboring Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia dominate arrivals, while about-kazakhstan.com's early search audience is led by the USA, Canada, France, the Philippines, and Australia. This page turns that gap into a citeable dataset.
Quick Facts
- Population on January 1, 2026: 20,495,975 people [1]
- Population on April 1, 2026: 20,547,909 people [3]
- Urban population: 13,029,803 people, or 63.6% [1]
- Rural population: 7,466,172 people, or 36.4% [1]
- Largest city: Almaty, 2,348,103 people at the beginning of 2026 [2]
- Capital city: Astana, 1,639,176 people at the beginning of 2026 [2]
- Third city: Shymkent, 1,294,050 people at the beginning of 2026 [2]
- Kazakhs: 14,664,202 people, or 71.5% [2]
- Russians: 2,943,022 people, or 14.4% [2]
- GDP, January-March 2026: 34,562,043 million KZT, or $69,439.3 million [3]
- Average monthly wage, Q1 2026: 461,486 KZT; median wage 331,527 KZT [4]
- Annual inflation, April 2026: 10.6% [3]
- Base rate, April 24, 2026 decision: 18.0% with a +/- 1 percentage-point corridor [7]
- USD/KZT official rate for May 17, 2026: 470.17 [6]
- Accommodation establishments, 2025: 4,482 [5]
- Visitors served by accommodation, 2025: 10,087.1 thousand people [5]
- Inbound tourism crossings, 2025: 15,740,528 [5]
- Visa-free ordinary-passport entries in the MFA table: 87 countries [11]
- Kazakhstan time zone: UTC+5 nationwide since March 1, 2024 [16]
- IATA/OAG scheduled routes in 2025: 295 routes and 42 operating airlines [13]
Primary sources fetched on May 16, 2026:{" "} Bureau of National Statistics,{" "} National Bank of Kazakhstan,{" "} World Bank,{" "} Ministry of Foreign Affairs visa-regime table , IATA/OAG, Aviation Administration of Kazakhstan, and the About Kazakhstan internal GSC warehouse pull dated 2026-05-16.
- Official and primary-source-first dataset for ADR 003 D1
People & Demographics
Kazakhstan has 20,495,975 people on January 1, 2026, with 13.03 million urban (63.6%) and 7.47 million rural residents; ethnic Kazakhs are 71.5% of the population, Russians 14.4%, and Uzbeks 3.4% [1][2].
Kazakhstan crossed 20.5 million people in the official April 2026 dashboard, but the clean annual benchmark remains the January 1 publication: 20,495,975 people, 13,029,803 urban and 7,466,172 rural [1][3]. The refined age-and-ethnicity release, published later in March, uses a slightly revised total of 20,499,822 for its age and ethnicity tables [2].
| Metric | 2026 value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Total population, January 1 | 20,495,975 | BNS [1] |
| Total population, April 1 | 20,547,909 | BNS [3] |
| Urban population, January 1 | 13,029,803 | BNS [1] |
| Rural population, January 1 | 7,466,172 | BNS [1] |
| Men, January 1 | 10,018,735 | BNS [1] |
| Women, January 1 | 10,477,240 | BNS [1] |
| Age 0-15 | 6,190,970 | BNS [2] |
| Age 16-62 or 16-60 | 11,746,727 | BNS [2] |
| Age 63 or 61 plus | 2,562,125 | BNS [2] |
The ethnic composition is still majority Kazakh by a wide margin. BNS lists 14,664,202 Kazakhs, 2,943,022 Russians, and 695,557 Uzbeks at the beginning of 2026 [2].
| Group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Kazakhs | 14,664,202 | 71.5% |
| Russians | 2,943,022 | 14.4% |
| Uzbeks | 695,557 | 3.4% |
| Ukrainians | 367,547 | 1.8% |
| Uyghurs | 309,164 | 1.5% |
The largest city-region rows in the same release explain where population pressure is concentrated. Almaty city has 2,348,103 people, Astana city 1,639,176, Shymkent city 1,294,050, Turkistan region 2,149,205, and Almaty region 1,596,532 [2]. For the multilingual reality on the ground, see what language is spoken in Kazakhstan and the full Kazakhstan population breakdown.
Economy
Q1 2026 GDP was 34.56 trillion KZT ($69.44 billion) with a 103.0% physical-volume index, annual inflation at 10.6% in April, the National Bank base rate at 18.0% (April 24, 2026), and the official USD/KZT reference rate at 470.17 for May 17, 2026 [3][6][7].
The current official macro snapshot is mixed: real activity is still growing, but inflation and interest rates remain high. BNS reports January-March 2026 GDP at 34,562,043 million KZT, equal to $69,439.3 million in its dashboard conversion, with a GDP physical volume index of 103.0% [3]. The short-term economic indicator for January-April 2026 is 104.2% [3].
| Metric | Latest value | Period | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| GDP at current prices | 34,562,043 million KZT | Jan-Mar 2026 | BNS [3] |
| GDP at current prices | $69,439.3 million | Jan-Mar 2026 | BNS [3] |
| GDP physical volume index | 103.0% | Jan-Mar 2026 | BNS [3] |
| Short-term economic indicator | 104.2% | Jan-Apr 2026 | BNS [3] |
| Foreign trade turnover | $32,902.8 million | Jan-Mar 2026 | BNS [3] |
| Exports | $17,992.2 million | Jan-Mar 2026 | BNS [3] |
| Imports | $14,910.6 million | Jan-Mar 2026 | BNS [3] |
| Average monthly wage | 461,486 KZT | Q1 2026 | BNS [4] |
| Median monthly wage | 331,527 KZT | Q1 2026 | BNS [4] |
For international comparison, World Bank's latest non-null values are 2024: nominal GDP $291.48 billion, PPP GDP $842.05 billion, GDP per capita $14,154.63, and GDP per capita PPP $40,890.93 [10]. Those are older than the BNS 2026 flash figures, but they are useful because the World Bank API is standardized across countries.
| USD/KZT metric | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Current May 17, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Official average rate | 510.17 | 513.77 | 536.05 | 524.76 | 470.17 |
The National Bank kept the base rate at 18.0% on April 24, 2026, with a +/- 1 percentage-point corridor [7]. It cited March annual inflation of 11.0%, household inflation expectations of 14.6%, and professional-market expectations for 2026 inflation at 10.0% [7]. The BNS April inflation dashboard later showed annual CPI at 10.6%, food at 11.3%, non-food goods at 11.7%, and paid services at 8.9% [3].
External buffers are large. The National Bank's Q4 2025 macro overview says Kazakhstan ended 2025 with $65.4 billion in NBK foreign-exchange reserves, $63.9 billion in National Fund assets, and $129 billion in total international reserves [8].
Tourism & Visitors
Kazakhstan recorded 15,740,528 inbound tourism crossings in 2025 (up from 15,262,368 in 2024), with Uzbekistan (5.59M), Kyrgyzstan (3.55M), and Russia (3.50M) as the top source countries; longer-haul markets are much smaller (Germany 95K, USA 39K, UK 24K) [5].
Tourism statistics need careful wording because border crossings, hotel guests, and actual leisure tourists are different metrics. The strongest official annual border-flow number I found is the BNS inbound-tourism dynamic table: 15,740,528 inbound tourism crossings in 2025, up from 15,262,368 in 2024 [5].
| Metric | 2024 | 2025 | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inbound tourism crossings | 15,262,368 | 15,740,528 | BNS dynamic table [5] |
| Air inbound crossings | 1,599,347 | 1,897,216 | BNS dynamic table [5] |
| Road inbound crossings | 6,758,544 | 6,630,505 | BNS dynamic table [5] |
| Rail inbound crossings | 569,592 | 714,265 | BNS dynamic table [5] |
| Walking-border inbound crossings | 6,293,341 | 6,464,138 | BNS dynamic table [5] |
| Tourism-purpose crossings | 227,185 | 334,607 | BNS dynamic table [5] |
| Transit-purpose crossings | 459,650 | 337,304 | BNS dynamic table [5] |
| Private-purpose crossings | 13,125,170 | 13,468,768 | BNS dynamic table [5] |
The top source-country table is dominated by neighbors. In 2025, BNS lists Uzbekistan at 5,590,148 crossings, Kyrgyzstan 3,545,711, Russia 3,502,587, China 961,627, and Tajikistan 883,715 [5]. Longer-haul English-language markets are much smaller in the same table: Germany 95,229, the United States 38,525, and the United Kingdom 24,292 [5].
| Source country | 2025 inbound crossings |
|---|---|
| Uzbekistan | 5,590,148 |
| Kyrgyzstan | 3,545,711 |
| Russia | 3,502,587 |
| China | 961,627 |
| Tajikistan | 883,715 |
| India | 157,845 |
| Turkey | 135,952 |
| Germany | 95,229 |
| United States | 38,525 |
| United Kingdom | 24,292 |
Who Comes vs Who Reads Us
Official visitor flows are regional. Early about-kazakhstan.com search demand is not. The internal GSC country snapshot from the 2026-05-16 warehouse pull has only 8 days of history, so it is not a trend. But it is useful as an intent-gap signal: the top audience countries by impressions were the USA with 39, Canada 30, France 19, the Philippines 13, and Australia 11. That is why this article answers both statistical and practical travel queries, including "kazakhstan visa policy updates 2026", "currency of kazakhstan", and "kazakhstan time zone utc+5 2026 official" [15]. For the practical traveler view, see the Kazakhstan tourism guide.
{/* <!-- TODO verify UNWTO peer comparison against https://www.unwto.org/tourism-data/global-and-regional-tourism-performance before publishing a Uzbekistan/Kyrgyzstan/Georgia arrivals comparison. The page did not expose an extractable Kazakhstan table in the fetched text on 2026-05-16. --> */}
Visa Policy
Kazakhstan's MFA visa-regime table lists 87 countries with visa-free ordinary-passport entries (parsed May 16, 2026); US, UK, and China ordinary passport holders get 30 days visa-free, India and Iran 14 days, and Russia and Uzbekistan 90 days [11].
The MFA visa-regime table is the best current source because it lists diplomatic, service, and ordinary passport treatment country by country. Parsed on May 16, 2026, it contained 195 country rows and 87 ordinary-passport rows with visa-free treatment [11].
- US ordinary passport holders: visa-free up to 30 days [11].
- UK ordinary passport holders: visa-free up to 30 days [11].
- China ordinary passport holders: visa-free up to 30 days [11].
- India ordinary passport holders: visa-free up to 14 days [11].
- Iran ordinary passport holders: visa-free up to 14 days [11].
- Russia and Uzbekistan ordinary passport holders: visa-free up to 90 days [11].
- Austria has a diplomatic-passport note from May 1, 2026, but the ordinary passport column remains visa-free up to 30 days [11].
This matters for demand. The local GSC pull already shows impressions for "kazakhstan visa policy updates 2026", "visa free for kazakhstan", "kazakhstan passport visa free countries", and related queries [15]. The public data problem is that travelers often quote outdated 57-country lists; the current live MFA table is more granular.
Cities & Infrastructure
Three Kazakh cities exceed 1 million people: Almaty (2,348,103), Astana (1,639,176), and Shymkent (1,294,050); Almaty is the commercial centre with mountain access, Astana is the political capital, and Shymkent anchors the southern routes to Turkistan and Uzbekistan [2].
Kazakhstan's urban story is now three-city, not only Almaty versus Astana. Almaty remains the largest city, Astana is the political capital and aviation/administrative hub, and Shymkent is a southern million-plus city tied to Turkistan and Uzbekistan routes [2].
| City | Population | Climate snapshot | Airport | Visitor-useful note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Almaty | 2,348,103 | annual mean 9.5 C; January mean -7 C | ALA | Mountains about 15 minutes from the centre [14] |
| Astana | 1,639,176 | annual mean 3.5 C; January mean -15 C | NQZ | Capital, ministries, embassies, and new routes [12] |
| Shymkent | 1,294,050 | southern steppe climate | CIT | Best base for Turkistan and southern border routes |
For city choices, use the Almaty guide, Astana guide, and Almaty vs Astana comparison. The existing city dataset also gives dynamic lifestyle counts: about 2,400 restaurants in Almaty, 1,100 in Astana, and a 15-minute mountain-access advantage for Almaty [14].
Connectivity
Kazakhstan had 295 scheduled air routes in 2025 (up 12% from 263 in 2024) operated by 42 airlines across 22 airports, with internet user penetration at 93.39% of the population (World Bank, 2024) [10][13].
Kazakhstan has become easier to reach by air, and the official aviation data backs that up. The IATA/OAG 2025 snapshot counted 295 scheduled routes, up 12% from 263 in 2024, with 42 operating airlines and 22 airports with regularly scheduled flights [13]. It also shows 49% of routes with fewer than 20,000 seats per year, which is important because many regional links are thin and seasonal [13].
The Aviation Administration's February 2026 route announcement lists new or resumed international services from Shymkent, Almaty, Astana, and Aktau. SCAT has 4 routes listed, Air Astana has 6 listed plus Almaty-Tokyo under consideration, and FlyArystan has 3 listed plus an Almaty-Riyadh plan [12].
Internet access is not the bottleneck it used to be. World Bank's latest non-null API value puts Kazakhstan internet users at 93.39% of the population in 2024 [10]. For travelers, the practical answer is to set up mobile data before landing; the Kazakhstan eSIM guide compares Airalo, Holafly, Nomad, local Kcell, Beeline, Tele2, and Altel options.
{/* <!-- TODO verify a citeable official English-speaker percentage before adding a national English-proficiency number. No official value was found during this build. --> */}
Cost Of Travel Snapshot
A 2026 Kazakhstan hotel night averages $43 on Booking.com (hostels start at $10), an Almaty central one-bedroom rents for 220,000-350,000 KZT/month, and a typical Almaty-Astana train ticket is 13,938 KZT; the Q1 2026 median monthly wage is 331,527 KZT [4][14].
These are not government statistics; they are travel-planning numbers from existing About Kazakhstan datasets and live marketplace snapshots. They belong in this article because journalists and bloggers usually need a quick local-cost anchor.
| Item | 2026 snapshot | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Kazakhstan average hotel night | $43 | Booking.com snapshot in hotel guide [14] |
| Hostel starting price | $10 | Booking.com snapshot in hotel guide [14] |
| Luxury hotel upper range | $650 | Booking.com snapshot in hotel guide [14] |
| Almaty central 1-bed rent | 220,000-350,000 KZT/month | krisha.kz snapshot in cost guide [14] |
| Mid-range dinner for two, Almaty | 18,000 KZT | city comparison dataset [14] |
| Mid-range dinner for two, Astana | 16,000 KZT | city comparison dataset [14] |
| Almaty airport-centre taxi | 3,500 KZT | city comparison dataset [14] |
| Astana airport-centre taxi | 3,000 KZT | city comparison dataset [14] |
| Almaty metro fare | 120 KZT | cost guide [14] |
| Almaty-Astana train typical ticket | 13,938 KZT | Tickets.kz search snapshot [14] |
| Almaty-Astana fastest train | 15 h 52 min | Tickets.kz search snapshot [14] |
The official wage context helps frame those prices. Q1 2026 average monthly nominal wage was 461,486 KZT and the median wage was 331,527 KZT [4]. For visitors converting cash, the National Bank RSS reference rate used in this dataset was 470.17 KZT per USD for May 17, 2026 [6].
Culture & Notable Figures
Kazakhstan has 3,920 public libraries and 3,076 cultural and leisure organizations in BNS's culture publication; the most-cited contemporary cultural figure online is singer Dimash Qudaibergen, whose official YouTube channel had 3,283,756 subscribers and 617M+ views at the snapshot date [17][18].
Kazakhstan's linkable facts are not only macroeconomic. Culture and sport are often the search hooks that bring English-language readers into the country.
| Fact | Number | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Dimash Qudaibergen official YouTube subscribers | 3,283,756 | SocialCounts snapshot [17] |
| Dimash official channel videos | 237 | SocialCounts snapshot [17] |
| Dimash official channel views | 617M+ | SocialCounts snapshot [17] |
| Gennady Golovkin professional record | 42-2-1 | Box.Live snapshot [17] |
| Public libraries in Kazakhstan | 3,920 | BNS culture publication [18] |
| Cultural and leisure organizations | 3,076 | BNS culture publication [18] |
Those figures should be treated differently. BNS culture counts are official annual statistics. YouTube and boxing records are high-interest public facts but can change; the CSV marks the fetch date and source. For deeper cultural context, use what Kazakhstan is famous for, Kazakhstan traditional clothing, Nauryz in Kazakhstan (the spring-equinox national festival), Kazakh language basics, and Golden Man Kazakhstan.
Downloadable Dataset
The CSV columns are:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
metric |
Human-readable fact name |
value |
Numeric value; blank if intentionally left as TODO |
unit |
People, percent, KZT, USD, crossings, routes, or other unit |
year |
Reference year or latest period year |
source |
Publisher or dataset owner |
source_url |
Public URL, API URL, or private warehouse marker for internal GSC rows |
notes |
Fetch date, limitation, or derivation note |
License: open for journalistic, academic, and editorial use with attribution to About Kazakhstan and the original source named in each row.
Methodology
This dataset was compiled on May 16, 2026, for ADR 003 D1. Source priority was: Kazakhstan official statistics first, National Bank first for money and rates, official government tables for visas and time zone rules, World Bank API for standardized international comparisons, and then clearly labeled marketplace or internal site snapshots for travel-planning context. BNS XLSX files were parsed locally where the HTML page only summarized the publication. GSC data covers only an 8-day warehouse history, so it is used as intent-gap evidence, not a trend. Dynamic marketplace values such as hotel prices, restaurant counts, eSIM prices, and train prices should be rechecked before major republication. If a reader finds a newer official figure, use the contact link in the site footer and we will update the CSV with a dated note.
Sources & Methodology Footer
- Bureau of National Statistics: population by gender and locality as of January 1, 2026
- Bureau of National Statistics: population by ethnic groups and age groups at the beginning of 2026
- Bureau of National Statistics main dashboard, fetched May 16, 2026
- Bureau of National Statistics: wages in Q1 2026
- Bureau of National Statistics: tourism statistics and inbound dynamic XLSX
- National Bank of Kazakhstan RSS rates
- National Bank of Kazakhstan base-rate decision, April 24, 2026
- National Bank of Kazakhstan Q4 2025 macro and market overview
- National Bank of Kazakhstan December 2025 statistical bulletin
- World Bank Kazakhstan data API
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs visa-regime table
- Aviation Administration of Kazakhstan: 2026 route network expansion
- IATA/OAG: Regional Air Connectivity in Kazakhstan, 2025 snapshot
- Existing About Kazakhstan 2026 datasets and guides: Almaty vs Astana, Almaty cost of living, best hotels, eSIM, plus Tickets.kz live search snapshot.
- Internal About Kazakhstan GSC warehouse pull dated 2026-05-16. The raw files are not public; values are reproduced in the CSV for transparency.
- Government of Kazakhstan: nationwide UTC+5 time zone from March 1, 2024
- SocialCounts and Box.Live public snapshots for Dimash and Gennady Golovkin, fetched May 16, 2026.
- Bureau of National Statistics culture publication, 2024 public libraries and cultural organizations.
export const datasetSchema = {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Dataset",
name: "Kazakhstan by the Numbers 2026",
description:
"Sourced Kazakhstan 2026 statistics dataset covering demographics, economy, tourism, visas, cities, connectivity, costs, and culture.",
url: "https://about-kazakhstan.com/kazakhstan-by-the-numbers-2026/",
license: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
creator: { "@type": "Person", name: "Tugelbay Konabayev" },
publisher: { "@type": "Organization", name: "about-kazakhstan.com" },
datePublished: "2026-05-17",
isAccessibleForFree: true,
spatialCoverage: "Kazakhstan",
distribution: [
{
"@type": "DataDownload",
encodingFormat: "text/csv",
contentUrl:
"https://about-kazakhstan.com/datasets/kazakhstan-by-the-numbers-2026.csv",
},
],
};
Last verified: May 16, 2026. Next full refresh target: January 2027 after year-end BNS population and tourism updates.
Originally published on about-kazakhstan.com
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