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| Location and landscape |
| Kazakhstan is a young dynamically developing state, formed after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990. |
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| By its territory, which comes to 2,724.9 thousands square km (1,048.3 thousand square miles), Kazakhstan ranks ninth in the world after Russia, Canada, China, USA, Brazil, Australia, India and Argentina. Territorially the Republic is located in the center of the Eurasian continent at an almost equal distance from the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. Kazakhstan is located in Central Asia and borders with Russia in the North, China in the East, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan in the South and with the Caspian Sea in the West. Total border length is almost 12.2 thousand km, including 600 km across the Caspian Sea. |
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| Despite remoteness from the ocean, two seas are located on the territory of Kazakhstan: Caspian sea, known for its large oil basins, and Aral sea, which is known as an example of negative influence of humans on the environment. |
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| The Capital |
| The capital of the country is Astana. According to the Edict of President dated December 10, 1997, the capitol of the country moved from Almaty city to Akmola city, which was later renamed into Astana. However, Almaty has not lost its status of the largest city of the country, and obtained a significance of a financial, business and cultural center. |
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| National currency |
| Local currency is Kazakhstani tenge. Coins in circulation have a denomination of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50,100 tenge. There are also bank notes of 200, 500, 1000, 2000, 5000 and 10000 tenge. |
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| Population |
| “According to the latest census data, the population of Kazakhstan comes to 15 million people. In 2000 average population density came to 5.5 people per square km.” |
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| Ethnic Kazakhs constitute more than half of population. Ethnic Kazakhs belong to people of steppe belt; in ancient times they used to lead nomadic life. Russians prevail among other ethnic groups. |
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| Kazakhstan is a multinational country, with approximately 125 diasporas – representatives of other peoples, with aggregate population size of around 8 million people. |
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| Religion |
| Kazakhstan is a secular state. The predominant religion is Sunni Islam. Also, Orthodox, Protestant, Catholic churches and other religions are present in the republic. |
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| Languages |
| The main languages are Kazakh and Russian. Kazakh is declared as an official language. Kazakh language belongs to the Turkic group of languages, together with Kyrgyz, Turkmen and Uzbek languages. |
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| Climate |
| The geographic location of Kazakhstan determines its weather conditions. |
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| By its climatic characteristics the territory of Kazakhstan may be divided into two main parts: warm, sultry climate is typical for the south, whereas the north is characterized as inclement and cold. The climate of Kazakhstan may be defined as continental, which means possible sudden changes in weather conditions over a short time period. |
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| The climate of the northern part of the Republic is similar to the climate of Siberia, whereas the climate in the south is close to the climate of Central Asia. Great airiness of the territory intensifies severity of the climate in the north. |
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| Italian Chamber of Commerce in Kazakhstan |
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