Population:
- January 2006 estimate 15,217,700[1] (62nd)
- 1999 census 14,953,100
- Density 5.4/km² (215th) 14.0/sq mi

GDP (PPP) 2005 estimate:
- Total $125.5 billion (56th)
- Per capita $8,318 (70th)

HDI (2003): 0.761 (medium) (80th)

Currency: Tenge (KZT)

Time zone: (UTC+5 to +6)

Internet TLD: .kz

Calling code: +7

Kazakhstan, also spelled Kazakstan or Khazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a country that stretches over a vast expanse of northern and central Eurasia. A small portion of its territory west of the Ural River is located in eastern-most Europe. It has borders with Russia, the People's Republic of China, and the Central Asian countries Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, and has a coastline on the Caspian Sea. Kazakhstan was a republic of the former Soviet Union and is now a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

It is the ninth-largest country in the world by area, but it is only 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 [1] due to the emigration of ethnic Russians and Volga Germans. Much of the country's land consists of semi-desert (steppe) terrain.