Regions of Kazakhstan

Regions of Kazakhstan
Қазақстан облыстары (Kazakh)
Области Казахстана (Russian)
Regions of Kazakhstan; Қазақстан облыстары (Kazakh); Области Казахстана (Russian)
Also known as:; Province; Oblast;
Category	Unitary state
Location	Republic of Kazakhstan
Number	17 regions and 3 cities (Almaty, Astana, Shymkent)
Populations	36,175 (Baikonur) – 2,685,009 (Turkistan)
Areas	680 km2 (263 sq mi) (Almaty) – 427,980 km2 (165,245 sq mi) (Karaganda)
Government	Region government, National government;
Subdivisions	District;

Kazakhstan is divided into 17 regions (Kazakh: облыстар/oblystar; singular: облыс/oblys; Russian: области/oblasti; singular: область/oblast' ). The regions are further subdivided into districts (Kazakh: аудандар/audandar; singular: аудан/audan; Russian: районы/rayoni; singular: Russian: район/rayon). Three cities, Shymkent, the largest city Almaty, and the capital Astana) are not part of the regions they are surrounded by.

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 Qonaev.^[2]

Regions

Full English name	Type	Capital	Full Kazakh name	Full Russian name	Standard time
Abai Region	region	Semey	Абай облысы Abai oblysy	Абайская область Abaiskaya Oblast′	UTC+06:00
Akmola Region	region	Kokshetau	Ақмола облысы Aqmola oblysy	Акмолинская область Akmolinskaya Oblast′	UTC+06:00
Aktobe Region	region	Aktobe	Ақтөбе облысы Aqtöbe oblysy	Актюбинская область Aktyubinskaya Oblast′	UTC+05:00
Almaty	city^{[nb 1]}		Алматы қаласы Almaty qalasy	город Алматы gorod Almaty	UTC+06:00
Almaty Region	region	Qonaev	Алматы облысы Almaty oblysy	Алматинская область Almatinskaya Oblast′	UTC+06:00
Astana	city^{[nb 1]}		Астана қаласы Astana qalasy	город Астана gorod Astana	UTC+06:00
Atyrau Region	region^{[nb 2]}	Atyrau	Атырау облысы Atyrau oblysy	Атырауская область Atyrauskaya Oblast′	UTC+05:00
Baikonur	city^{[nb 3]}		Байқоңыр қаласы Baiqoñyr qalasy	город Байконур gorod Baykonur	UTC+05:00^[3]
East Kazakhstan Region	region	Oskemen	Шығыс Қазақстан облысы Şyğys Qazaqstan oblysy	Восточно-Казахстанская область Vostochno-Kazakhstanskaya Oblast′	UTC+06:00
Jambyl Region	region	Taraz	Жамбыл облысы Jambyl oblysy	Жамбылская область Zhambylskaya Oblast′	UTC+05:00
Jetisu Region	region	Taldykorgan	Жетісу облысы Jetısu oblysy	Жетысуская область Zhetysuskaya Oblast′	UTC+06:00
Karaganda Region	region	Karaganda	Қарағанды облысы Qarağandy oblysy	Карагандинская область Karagandinskaya Oblast′	UTC+06:00
Kostanay Region	region	Kostanay	Қостанай облысы Qostanai oblysy	Костанайская область Kostanayskaya Oblast′	UTC+06:00
Kyzylorda Region	region	Kyzylorda	Қызылорда облысы Qyzylorda oblysy	Кызылординская область Kyzylordinskaya Oblast′	UTC+05:00
Mangystau Region	region	Aktau	Маңғыстау облысы Mañğystau oblysy	Мангыстауская область Mangystauskaya Oblast′	UTC+05:00
North Kazakhstan Region	region	Petropavl	Солтүстік Қазақстан облысы Soltüstık Qazaqstan oblysy	Северо-Казахстанская область Severo-Kazakhstanskaya Oblast′	UTC+06:00
Pavlodar Region	region	Pavlodar	Павлодар облысы Pavlodar oblysy	Павлодарская область Pavlodarskaya Oblast′	UTC+06:00
Shymkent	city^{[nb 1]}		Шымкент қаласы Şymkent qalasy	город Шымкент gorod Shymkent	UTC+06:00
Turkistan Region (formerly South Kazakhstan)	region	Turkistan	Түркістан облысы Türkıstan oblysy	Туркестанская область Turkestanskaya Oblast′	UTC+06:00
Ulytau Region	region	Jezkazgan	Ұлытау облысы Ūlytau oblysy	Улытауская область Ulytauskaya Oblast′	UTC+06:00
West Kazakhstan Region	region^{[nb 2]}	Oral	Батыс Қазақстан облысы Batys Qazaqstan oblysy	Западно-Казахстанская область Zapadno-Kazakhstanskaya Oblast′	UTC+05:00

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

Entity	Capital	Area (km²)	Population (2009)^[4]	Density	ISO 3166-2
Akmola Region	Kokshetau	146,219	0,737,495	5.044	KZ-AKM
Aktobe Region	Aktobe	300,629	0,757,768	2.521	KZ-AKT
Almaty	Almaty	000,319	1,365,632	4281	KZ-ALA
Almaty Region	Taldykorgan	223,924	1,807,894	6.099	KZ-ALM
Astana	Astana	000,710	0,613,006	863.4	KZ-AST
Atyrau Region	Atyrau	118,631	0,510,377	4.302	KZ-ATY
Baikonur	Baikonur	000,057	0,036,175	644.6	KZ-BAY*
East Kazakhstan Region	Oskemen	283,226	1,396,593	4.931	KZ-VOS
Jambyl Region	Taraz	144,264	1,022,129	7.085	KZ-ZHA
Karaganda Region	Karaganda	427,982	1,341,700	3.135	KZ-KAR
Kostanay Region	Kostanay	196,001	0,885,570	4.518	KZ-KUS
Kyzylorda Region	Kyzylorda	226,019	0,678,794	3.003	KZ-KZY
Mangystau Region	Aktau	165,642	0,485,392	2.930	KZ-MAN
North Kazakhstan Region	Petropavl	097,993	0,596,535	6.088	KZ-SEV
Pavlodar Region	Pavlodar	124,800	0,742,475	5.948	KZ-PAV
Shymkent	Shymkent	0,1,170	0,603,499	515.81	KZ-
Turkistan Region	Turkistan	117,249	2,469,357	21.06	KZ-TUR
West Kazakhstan Region	Oral	151,339	0,598,880	3.957	KZ-ZAP

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.^[5]

Notes

Notes: ^1 Almaty, Astana and Shymkent cities have the status of State significance and 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 with Baikonur Cosmodrome until the year 2050.

References

^ "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.
^ INFORM.KZ. "3 new regions established in Kazakhstan". Казинформ. qazinform. Retrieved 22 May 2022..
^ On the time change in the city of Baikonur and Kyzylorda region, Administration of the city of Baikonur, 13 December 2018 (in Russian).
^ "Analytical report" (PDF). www.liportal.de. 2009. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
^ 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

GeoHive

[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. "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] 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.

[1]

[2]

[nb 1]

[nb 2]

[nb 3]

[3]

[4]

[5]

v t e Regions of Kazakhstan
Regions	Akmola Aktobe Almaty Atyrau East Kazakhstan Jambyl Karaganda Kostanay Kyzylorda Mangystau North Kazakhstan Pavlodar Turkistan West Kazakhstan
Special status cities	Almaty Astana Baikonur Shymkent

v t e Articles on first-level administrative divisions of Asian countries
Sovereign states	Afghanistan Armenia² Azerbaijan¹ Bahrain Bangladesh Bhutan Brunei Cambodia China Cyprus² Egypt¹ Georgia¹ India Indonesia¹ Iran Iraq Israel Japan Jordan Kazakhstan¹ North Korea province special city South Korea Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Lebanon Malaysia Maldives Mongolia Myanmar Nepal Oman Pakistan Palestine Philippines Qatar Russia¹ Saudi Arabia Singapore Sri Lanka Syria Tajikistan Taiwan Thailand Timor-Leste (East Timor) Turkey¹ Turkmenistan United Arab Emirates Uzbekistan Vietnam Yemen¹
States with limited recognition	Abkhazia² Artsakh² Northern Cyprus² South Ossetia²
Table of administrative divisions by country ¹ Spans the conventional boundary between Asia and another continent. ² Considered European for cultural, political and historical reasons but is geographically in Western Asia.

v t e First-level administrative divisions in European countries
Sovereign states	Albania Andorra Armenia² Austria Azerbaijan¹ Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus² Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia¹ Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Kazakhstan¹ Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands North Macedonia Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia¹ San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey¹ Ukraine United Kingdom
States with limited recognition	Abkhazia² Artsakh² Kosovo Northern Cyprus² South Ossetia² Transnistria
Table of administrative divisions by country ¹ Spans the conventional boundary between Europe and another continent. ² Considered European for cultural, political and historical reasons but is geographically in Western Asia.