Kazakhstan's Population Expands by 1.26% in 2024, Reaching a Total of 20.2 Million Residents
City Swoon: Population Numbers and Trends in Kazakhstan (2024 Update)
Wave hello to 20.2 million citizens, Kazakhstan! That's right, the country's population hit that mark as of January 1, 2024, thanks to a 1.26% increase over the past year.
But where are all these people popping up? Expect the usual suspects - Kazakhstan's largest cities - to be the busy bees of this demographic buzz.
Almaty, the jeweled crown, is looking particularly snazzy these days. With a population closing in on 2.3 million, an additional 63,658 have decided to move in over the year. The competition in the city race is fierce, with Astana (over 1.5 million) about 98,782 new residents stronger, and Shymkent (1.2 million+) up by 34,197.
Now, hold onto your hat - here's another mind-blowing stat: over 12.7 million folks call an urban area home in Kazakhstan, leaving about 7.5 million camped out in the countryside. Put differently, the urban population accounts for roughly 62% of the total pie, while the rural population takes up about 38%.
But all isn't rosy in the rural parts. Seems like a few northern and eastern regions have caught the departure bug, possibly because they're less buzzing about the economic opportunities that the cities offer or are tied to the struggling resource industries in those areas. Regions like North Kazakhstan, Kostanay, Pavlodar, East Kazakhstan, Karaganda, Abay, and Zhetysu have reported decreasing populations due to high out-migration rates and shrinking birth rates.
Long story short, Kazakhstan is tilting towards the city life. While some struggle with the high living costs and housing prices, the major cities continue to be magnets for migrants. As the sun sets on rural Kazakhstan, the cityscape lights up - one being a veritable never-ending construction site.
(Enrichment Insights: This ongoing urbanization trend is further exacerbated by the declining resource industries in some regions, less successful regional development programs, and the enticing economic opportunities offered by the urban centers[2]. The highest urbanization rates can be seen in regions like South Kazakhstan, Almaty, and Akmola, closely followed by Aktobe and Pavlodar[3]. This movement is expected to continue as Kazakhstan continues to modernize and urbanize[4]. The growing gap between urban and rural areas in Kazakhstan highlights the need for improved infrastructure and development projects in the rural regions to promote economic growth and curb migration[5].)
In light of the highlighted urbanization trend, politics in Kazakhstan may increasingly focus on urban development and infrastructure projects to minimize the growing gap between city and rural areas. General news may center around the effects of this migration on Kazakhstan's economy and the challenges faced by rural regions.
