Population of Astana: dynamics, number and national composition

In 1997, there was the third transfer of the capital in the history of Kazakhstan. From Alma-Ata, she moved to Akmola. A year later this city received a new name - Astana. The population of the capital of Kazakhstan in 2016 reached one million. Who lives in the city today? And how did the population of Astana change over the years?

Astana city and its features

The capital of the largest Central Asian state is located on the banks of the Ishim River, in the middle of the classical Kazakh steppe and surrounded by numerous salt lakes. The Kazakhs laid this city in 1830 to protect themselves from encroachments by the aggressive Kokand Khanate. An important date in the history of the future capital of Kazakhstan was 1961, when Nikita Khrushchev declared the city "the main center for the development of virgin land."

Modern Astana is quite an interesting and well-groomed city, with an abundance of museums, monuments and unusual buildings. By the way, the capital of Kazakhstan is the only one in the post-Soviet space, the transport system of which is represented only by buses. Trolleybuses, trams or underground are not here. And city buses of Astana often do not cope with the capital's passenger traffic.

The population of Astana is about 1 million people. The capital is divided by the river Ishim into two parts. And the right and left bank of the city are radically different from each other. On the left bank, various state institutions, trade and office centers prevail. The building here is quite rarefied. The right bank of the capital, on the contrary, is represented by a dense residential development. A curious fact: in winter the air temperature on the right bank is a couple of degrees higher.

The population of Astana and its dynamics. Paradox of 2016

In the history of the city there were at least two landmark events, which led to a rapid population growth. The first is a complex of state measures for the development of virgin lands, which were carried out in the 60s of the twentieth century. The second event was the transfer of the capital here in the late 1990s. Thus, over a ten-year period of time (from 1998 to 2008), the population of Astana has more than doubled!

As of early 2016, 875,000 people lived in the capital of Kazakhstan. However, on July 4 of the same year, local authorities reported the birth of a million inhabitant of Astana. How can you explain such an unexpected demographic leap? How did it happen that the population of Astana in just six months increased by 125 thousand people?

This is due to an active state policy on the legalization of property and the state economy. As a result, in 2016 about 60,000 previously "unaccounted" employees were registered in the capital. In addition, in March, parliamentary elections took place in the country, preceded by a circumvention of all residents of the city.

According to experts' forecasts, by 2020 the population of Astana can increase to 1.2 million inhabitants. But the country's president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, optimistically stated that in 2050 there will already be 3 million people living in the country's capital.

Other facts about the population of Astana

The last census conducted in 2009 showed that 64% of the residents of Astana are not its aboriginal inhabitants. Mostly these are migrants from other regions of Kazakhstan (mainly from Akmola, South Kazakhstan and Karaganda regions).

The average age of marriage for residents of Astana is 25.3 years for women and 27.5 years for men. At the same time, three out of ten couples in statistics are filed for divorce in the future.

The national composition of the population of Astana is quite colorful. The dominant ethnic group in the city are Kazakhs (about 69%). They are followed by Russians, who are about 21% here. The nationalities, whose number in Astana exceeds one percent, are Ukrainians, Tatars, Germans and Uzbeks. Also in the city is a fairly substantial community of Koreans who found themselves here in the middle of the last century during the mass Stalinist deportations.