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Kazakhstan is located in Central Asia and is a former republic of the USSR. It is bound by Russia to the north, the Caspian Sea to the west and southwest, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan to the south and China to the southeast. Kazakhstan, the largest of the former Soviet republics in territory, excluding Russia, possesses enormous fossil fuel reserves and plentiful supplies of other minerals and metals. Kazakhstan's industrial sector rests on the extraction and processing of these natural resources.
Area: 2,717,300 sq km
Population: 15,233,244
Capital: Astana
People: Kazakh 53.4%, Russian 30%, Ukrainian 3.7%, Uzbek 2.5%, German 2.4%, Tatar 1.7%, Uygur 1.4%, other 4.9%
Language: Kazakh 64.4%, Russian (official, used in everyday business, designated the "language of interethnic communication") 95%
Religion: Muslim 47%, Russian Orthodox 44%, Protestant 2%, other 7%
Government: Republic
GDP: US$138.7 billion
Major Industries: Chemical processing, copper smelting, forging and pressing machines, instruments, iron and steel, mineral processing, mining, oil refining, rolling equipment, sugar refining, and textiles.
Major Trading Partners: Its main trading partner is the CIS.
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