Regions of Kazakhstan
Қазақстан облыстары (Kazakh)
Области Казахстана (Russian)
  • Also known as:
  • Province
    Oblast
Kazakhstan provinces and their capitals since 8th June of 2022
CategoryUnitary state
LocationRepublic of Kazakhstan
Number17 regions and 3 cities (Almaty, Astana, and Shymkent)
Populations36,175 (Baikonur) – 2,685,009 (Turkistan)
Areas680 km2 (263 sq mi) (Almaty) – 427,980 km2 (165,245 sq mi) (Karaganda)
Government
Subdivisions

Kazakhstan is divided into 17 regions (Kazakh: облыстар, romanized: oblystar; sg. облыс, oblys; Russian: области, romanized: oblasti; sg. область, oblast). The regions are further subdivided into districts (Kazakh: аудандар, romanized: audandar; sg. аудан, audan; Russian: районы, romanized: rayony; sg. район, rayon). Three cities, Almaty, Shymkent, and the capital city Astana, do not belong to their surrounding regions.

On 16 March 2022, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced that three new regions would be created.[1] Abai Region was created from East Kazakhstan Region with its capital in Semey. Ulytau Region was created from Karaganda Region with its capital in Jezkazgan. Jetisu Region was created from Almaty Region with its capital in Taldykorgan; Almaty Region's capital was moved from Taldykorgan to Qonayev.[2]

Regions

Coat of arms Full English name Type Capital Full Kazakh name Full Russian name
Abai Region region Semey Абай облысы
Abai oblysy		 Абайская область
Abaiskaya Oblast′
Akmola Region region Kokshetau Ақмола облысы
Aqmola oblysy		 Акмолинская область
Akmolinskaya Oblast′
Aktobe Region region Aktobe Ақтөбе облысы
Aqtöbe oblysy		 Актюбинская область
Aktyubinskaya Oblast′
Almaty city[nb 1] Алматы қаласы
Almaty qalasy		 город Алматы
gorod Almaty
Almaty Region region Qonaev Алматы облысы
Almaty oblysy		 Алматинская область
Almatinskaya Oblast′
Astana city[nb 1] Астана қаласы
Astana qalasy		 город Астана
gorod Astana
Atyrau Region region[nb 2] Atyrau Атырау облысы
Atyrau oblysy		 Атырауская область
Atyrauskaya Oblast′
Baikonur city[nb 3] Байқоңыр қаласы
Baiqoñyr qalasy		 город Байконур
gorod Baykonur[3]
East Kazakhstan Region region Oskemen Шығыс Қазақстан облысы
Şyğys Qazaqstan oblysy		 Восточно-Казахстанская область
Vostochno-Kazakhstanskaya Oblast′
Jambyl Region region Taraz Жамбыл облысы
Jambyl oblysy		 Жамбылская область
Zhambylskaya Oblast′
Jetisu Region region Taldykorgan Жетісу облысы
Jetısu oblysy		 Жетысуская область
Zhetysuskaya Oblast′
Karaganda Region region Karaganda Қарағанды облысы
Qarağandy oblysy		 Карагандинская область
Karagandinskaya Oblast′
Kostanay Region region Kostanay Қостанай облысы
Qostanai oblysy		 Костанайская область
Kostanayskaya Oblast′
Kyzylorda Region region Kyzylorda Қызылорда облысы
Qyzylorda oblysy		 Кызылординская область
Kyzylordinskaya Oblast′
Mangystau Region region Aktau Маңғыстау облысы
Mañğystau oblysy		 Мангыстауская область
Mangystauskaya Oblast′
North Kazakhstan Region region Petropavl Солтүстік Қазақстан облысы
Soltüstık Qazaqstan oblysy		 Северо-Казахстанская область
Severo-Kazakhstanskaya Oblast′
Pavlodar Region region Pavlodar Павлодар облысы
Pavlodar oblysy		 Павлодарская область
Pavlodarskaya Oblast′
Shymkent city[nb 1] Шымкент қаласы
Şymkent qalasy		 город Шымкент
gorod Shymkent
Turkistan Region
(formerly South Kazakhstan)		 region Turkistan Түркістан облысы
Türkıstan oblysy		 Туркестанская область
Turkestanskaya Oblast′
Ulytau Region region Jezkazgan Ұлытау облысы
Ūlytau oblysy		 Улытауская область
Ulytauskaya Oblast′
West Kazakhstan Region region[nb 2] Oral Батыс Қазақстан облысы
Batys Qazaqstan oblysy		 Западно-Казахстанская область
Zapadno-Kazakhstanskaya Oblast′
The share of the European population by districts and cities of regional and republican subordination Kazakhstan in 2022
  ≥70%
  60.0 – 69.9%
  50.0 – 59.9%
  40.0 – 49.9%
  30.0 – 39.9%
  20.0 – 29.9%
  10.0 – 19.9%
  0.0 – 9.9%

Demographic statistics

In 2022, three new regions were created - Abai (from part of East Kazakhstan), Jetisu (from part of Almaty Region) and Ulytau (from part of Karaganda Region). In the following table, the 2009 population totals have been amended to reflect the population in the new or altered regions.

Entity Capital Area
(km2)		 Population
(2009)[4]		 Population
(2022)[5]		 Density
(2022) 		ISO 3166-2
Abai Region Semey 185,500 654,423 610,183 3.29 KZ-
Aqmola Region Kokshetay 146,219 737,495 786,012 5.38 KZ-AKM
Aqtobe Region Aqtobe 300,629 757,768 924,845 3.08 KZ-AKT
Almaty Almaty 682 1,449,696 2,147,113 3,148.26 KZ-ALA
Almaty Region Qonaev 105,100 1,103,237 1,497,025 14.24 KZ-ALM
Astana Astana 797 613,006 1,340,782 1,682.29 KZ-AST
Atyrau Region Atyrau 118,631 510,377 689,674 5.81 KZ-ATY
Baikonur Baikonur 57 36,175 34,544 606.04 KZ-BAY*
East Kazakhstan Region Oskemen 97,700 742,170 730,818 7.48 KZ-VOS
Jambyl Region Taraz 144,264 1,022,129 1,215,482 8.43 KZ-ZHA
Jetisu Region Taldyqorgan 118,500 620,593 698,952 5.90 KZ-
Karaganda Region Karaganda 239,100 1,118,036 1,134,146 4.74 KZ-KAR
Kostanay Region Kostanay 196,001 885,570 832,445 4.25 KZ-KUS
Kyzylorda Region Kyzylorda 226,019 678,794 830,901 3.68 KZ-KZY
Mangystau Region Aktau 165,642 485,392 761,401 4.60 KZ-MAN
North Kazakhstan Region Petropavl 97,993 596,535 534,966 5.46 KZ-SEV
Pavlodar Region Pavlodar 124,800 742,475 754,829 6.05 KZ-PAV
Shymkent Shymkent 1,163 730,873 1,184,113 1,018.15 KZ-
Turkistan Region Turkistan 116,100 1,738,484 2,110,502 18.18 KZ-TUR
West Kazakhstan Region Oral 151,339 598,880 686,655 4.54 KZ-ZAP
Ulytau Region Jezqazgan 188,900 223,664 221,014 1.17 KZ-

Former administrative boundaries

Change of oblast names and boundaries from 1954 to today

Over the last 60 years, both the distribution and names of regions of Kazakhstan have changed considerably. Major changes were several fusions and splits between Guryev and Mangystau, Karaganda and Dzhezkazgan, Almaty and Taldy-Kurgan, East Kazakhstan and Semipalatinsk and Kostanay, Turgay and Tselinograd, respectively. Changes in region names were often in line with the renaming of cities, such as in the case of Alma-Ata/Almaty. After the administrative reform in 1997, the last change happened since then took place in 1999, when parts of North Kazakhstan that originally belonged to Kokshetau region became part of Akmola. The 1990s merges were in order to dilute the Russian population in the resulting region and to avoid having regions where Russians form a majority.[6]

Notes

Notes
^1 Almaty, Astana and Shymkent have the status of the city of republican significance, and as such do not relate to any region.
^2 The West Kazakhstan and Atyrau regions are both partly located in Eastern Europe as the Ural River runs through Atyrau and Oral, their respective capital cities.
^3 Baikonur city has a special status because it is currently being leased to Russia along with Baikonur Cosmodrome until the year 2050.

References

  1. ^ "V Kazakhstane poyavitsya chetyre novykh regiona" В Казахстане появится четыре новых региона [Four new regions will appear in Kazakhstan]. Interfax.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 20 April 2022.
  2. ^ INFORM.KZ (4 May 2022). "3 new regions established in Kazakhstan". Казинформ. qazinform. Retrieved 22 May 2022..
  3. ^ On the time change in the city of Baikonur and Kyzylorda region, Administration of the city of Baikonur, 13 December 2018 (in Russian).
  4. ^ "Analytical report" (PDF). www.liportal.de. 2009. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  5. ^ The Agency of Statistics of the Republic of Kazakhstan (web) - as at 1 October 2022
  6. ^ Bologov, Pyotr (25 August 2016). "Tri ugrozy dlya Nazarbayeva: naskol'ko stabilen Kazakhstan" Три угрозы для Назарбаева: насколько стабилен Казахстан [Three threats to Nazarbayev: how stable is Kazakhstan] (in Russian). carnegie.ru. Retrieved 29 August 2016.

Sources

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