The Spatial Evolution of Population in Kazakhstan from the 21st Century

Since the 21st century, driven by the oil trade, Kazakhstan’s economy and its society have developed rapidly. The population loss caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union has now been mitigated and there is a steady movement towards expansion of the population scale. However, environment pollution and resource scarcity weight heavily on survival in some regions. Thus, the aim of this research is to analyze the distribution, and the spatial evolution of population in Kazakhstan since the 21st century. Analysis based on the research reveals that the population of Kazakhstan demonstrates a decreasing pattern which evolves from outside to inside, from east to west. The largest population group is mainly distributed in the southern and southeastern areas, especially along the west side of the Tianshan mountain. Also, the urban population remains high in central Kazakstan but low in north and south of the state. Another finding of this research is a clearly differentiated distribution in Kazakhstan. In the final section, this article analyzes characteristics in areas of natural environment, economic development and national policy system are discussed.