ASTANA – The population of Kazakhstan is on the rise, according to figures released by the Ministry of National Economy statistics committee. Since the beginning of 2015, the number of residents has officially increased by 257,000 compared to the same period in 2014, reaching approximately 17,417,673. The numbers are divided by urban – 9,868,600 (56.7 percent) and rural – 7,549,000 (43.3 percent) settings.
The ninth largest country in the world had a mid-year population density, calculated by dividing the number of people by the land area in square kilometres, of 6.3, compared to neighbouring Russia (8) and China (145), according to www.worldometers.info.
The population of the capital has soared more than 30 percent compared to the previous year, while the number of people living in Almaty, the country’s largest city, has increased by 15 percent to reach 1,642,000 people in January 2015.
The natural increase in 2014 was positive, as the number of births exceeded deaths by 269,061.
Average life expectancy for both sexes at birth last year was estimated at 71.62 years, compared to the 2013 global figure of 71 years, according to the United Nations (UN) Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division. The number represents an increase for the people in Kazakhstan compared to 2012, when the country’s life expectancy of 69.61 years was below the global average. The 10 countries with the lowest life expectancies in 2010-2015, with values ranging from 45.3-51.7 years, are Yemen (25.3), Mali (27.0), Afghanistan (27.7), South Sudan (27.9), Sierra Leone (28.8), Bhutan (29.5), Timor-Leste (30.0), Angola (30.0), Gambia (30.3) and Burkina Faso (30.9), reported the UN department in 2013. By contrast, life expectancy is highest in the developed countries, such as Japan (83.5), Switzerland (82.5), Singapore (82.2) and Sweden (81.7), according to the same source.
The infant mortality rate has been widely used as an indicator of population health. Statistics show 3,868 infants under the age of one died in Kazakhstan in 2014, approximately a 40-percent reduction compared to the 6,078 babies who succumbed during their first year in 2010. A similar positive trend (47 in 2014 compared to 84 in 2010) has been seen in the maternal death rate. The figure indicates the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, but not from accidental or incidental causes.
Comparing 2013 and 2014, the birth rate (155,816 and 148,077) and marriage rate (168,447 and 159,328) in Kazakhstan each decreased nearly 5 percent, while the divorce rate (51,482 and 52,673) increased slightly by more than 2 percent. The proportion of live births outside marriage in 2014 was almost 40 percent (60,090 babies). The average age of marriage was 27.1 last year, nearly the same as 2010.
Net migration has shown a negative trend since 2012; 28,946 people migrated from Kazakhstan in 2014, while 16,784 came into the country. By contrast, 42,057 people migrated to Kazakhstan in 2010. The main migration (26,098 people in 2014) is to Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) nations. Of those, 23,856 individuals left Kazakhstan to settle in Russia, followed by Germany, the United States and Canada.
