In 2001 Kazakhstan had an estimated population of 16,731,303, giving it an average population density of 6 persons per sq km (16 per sq mi). Some 61 percent of the population lives in urban areas, making Kazakhstan the most urbanized of the Central Asian republics. The republic’s larger cities include Almaty, the former capital; Qaraghandy (also spelled Karaganda); Shymkent (Chimkent); Semey; and Pavlodar. Astana, which became the capital in late 1997, is a relatively small city located in the north.

The Kazaks are a nominally Muslim people who speak a Turkic language of the Northwest or Kipchak (Qipchaq) group. Fewer than one-fifth of the more than eight million ethnic Kazaks live outside Kazakstan, mainly in Uzbekistan and Russia. During the 19th century about 400,000 Russians flooded into Kazakstan, and these were supplemented by about 1,000,000 Slavs, Germans, Jews, and others who immigrated to the region during the first third of the 20th century. The immigrants crowded Kazaks off the best pastures and watered lands, rendering many tribes destitute. Another large influx of Slavs occurred from 1954 to 1956 as a result of the Virgin and Idle Lands project, initiated by the Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev, himself a Slav. This project drew thousands of Russians and Ukrainians into the rich agricultural lands of northern Kazakstan. By 1989, however, Kazaks slightly outnumbered Russians.