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Area: 2,724,900 km² (1,052,085 sq mi) Population: 2006 est. 15,300,000 - Density 5.4/km² (14.0/sq mi) GDP: 2005 estimate - Total $125.5 billion - Per capita $8,318
Nursultan Nazarbayev is currently the president of Kazakhstan. Kazakhstán, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a country that stretches over a vast expanse of northern and central Eurasia.
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Kazakhstan was a republic of the former Soviet Union and is now a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States. It shares borders of 6,846 kilometers (4,254 mi) with Russia, 2,203 kilometers (1,369 mi) with Uzbekistan, 1,533 kilometers (953 mi) with China, 1,051 kilometers (653 mi) with Kyrgyzstan, and 379 kilometers (235 mi) with Turkmenistan. and has a coastline on the Caspian Sea. A portion of the country's territory west of the Ural River is located in eastern-most Europe.
Major cities include Astana (capital since December 1997), Almaty (the former capital), Karaganda, Shymkent (Chimkent), Semey (Semipalatinsk) and Turkestan.
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The climate is continental with hot summers and colder winters. Precipitation varies between arid and semi-arid conditions.
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The prime minister,
who serves at the pleasure of the president, chairs the Cabinet of
Ministers and serves as
Kazakhstan's head of government. There are three deputy prime ministers
and 16 ministers in the
Cabinet. Daniyal K Kazakhstan has a bicameral Parliament, comprised of the lower house (the Majilis) and upper house (the Senate). Single mandate districts popularly elect 67 seats in the Majilis; there also are 10 members elected by party-list vote rather than by single mandate districts. The Senate has 39 members. Two senators are selected by each of the elected assemblies (Maslikhats) of Kazakhstan's 16 principal administrative divisions (14 regions, or oblasts, plus the cities of Astana and Almaty). The president appoints the remaining seven senators. Majilis deputies and the government both have the right of legislative initiative, though the government proposes most legislation considered by the Parliament. Elections to the Majilis in September 2004 yielded a lower house dominated by the pro-government Otan party, headed by President Nazarbayev. Two other parties considered sympathetic to the president, including the agrarian-industrial bloc AIST and the Asar party, founded by President Nazarbayev's daughter, won most of the remaining seats. On December 4, 2005, Nursultan Nazarbayev was reelected in a land-slide victory. The electoral commission announced that he had won over 90 % of the vote. Administrative Divisions: Kazakhstan is divided into 14 provinces (oblys) and three municipal districts (qala).
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The name Kazakhstan is derived from Persian,
meaning "land of the Kazakhs".
With an area
of 2.7 million square kilometers (1.05 million sq. mi), Kazakhstan is the ninth-largest country in the world
by area, but its semi-deserts (steppe) make it only the 62nd country in
population, with approximately 6 persons per km² (15 per sq. mi.).
Population in 2006 is estimated at 15,300,000, down from 16,464,464 in
1989. It is equivalent to the size of Western Europe. 
The terrain extends west to east from the Caspian Sea to the Altay
Mountains and north to south from
the plains of Western Siberia to the oasis and desert of Central Asia.
The Kazakh Steppe, with an
area of around 804,500 square kilometres (310,600 sq. mi), occupies
one-third of the country and is the world's largest dry steppe region. The steppe is characterized by
large areas of grasslands and
sandy regions. Important rivers and lakes include: the Aral Sea, Ili
River, Irtysh River, Ishim River,
Ural River, Lake Balkhash, and Lake Zaysan.
Kazakhstan is a constitutional republic with a strong presidency. The
president is the head of state.
The president also is the commander in chief of the armed forces and may
veto legislation that has
been passed by the Parliament. President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has
been in office since
Kazakhstan became independent, won a new 7-year term in the 1999
election.
. Akhmetov became the Prime Minister in June 2003.