ASTANA – As of Dec. 1, 19,476 ethnic Kazakhs returned to their historical homeland and received Kandas status, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Population’s press service reported on Dec. 19.
Photo credit: gov.kz
Overall, 1,126,500 ethnic Kazakhs have returned to the country since 1991. This year, 51.9% of the Kandas people arrived in Kazakhstan from Uzbekistan, 19.6% from China, 10.8% from Mongolia, 8.5% from Turkmenistan, 7.2% from Russia and 2% from other countries.
The number of ethnic migrants of working age stands at 60.5% in 2023, with 15.3% having higher education, 33.6% having secondary specialized education, 42.8% having general secondary education, and 8.3% having no education. Minors account for 30.9%, and pensioners 8.6%.
Kandas people settling in the Akmola, Abai, Kostanai, Pavlodar, East, and North Kazakhstan Regions receive state support measures in the form of a relocation subsidy, a one-time amount of 241,500 tenge ($526,50) for the head and each family member.
They are also provided with monthly payments from 51,700 ($112,71) to 103,500 tenge ($225,64) for renting housing and paying for utilities for one year.
Some 1,630 Kandas people have received various support measures and one-time subsidies since the beginning of the year, with 614 people employed permanently and 513 people getting subsidized housing costs.
