Kazakhstan (Kazakh. Kazakhstan [qɑzɑqˈstɑn], officially the Republic of Kazakhstan (Kazakh. Kazakhstan Respublicasy), (RK abbreviation) is a state in the center of Eurasia, most of which belongs to Asia, the smaller - to Europe. Population - 18,356,890 people (1 November 2018).

The territory is 2,724,902 km², which is only slightly smaller than Argentina. It ranks 9th in the world in terms of territory, 2nd place among the CIS countries (after Russia), 42nd in terms of GDP at PPP and 64th in terms of population.

The capital is Astana. The largest city with a population of over 1.8 million people is Alma-Ata. The state language is Kazakh. The official language used in the country along with the state language is Russian.

Located between the Caspian Sea, the Lower Volga region, the Urals, Siberia, China and Central Asia. It borders in the north and west with Russia (the length of the border is 7548.1 km), in the east with China (1782.8 km), in the south with the Kyrgyz Republic (1241.6 km), Uzbekistan (2351.4 km) and Turkmenistan (426 km). The total length of land borders is 13392.6 km. The length of the country from east to west is 2963 km, and from north to south - 1652 km. It is the largest country on the territory of the Turkic Council. It is washed by the waters of the inland Caspian and Aral seas. It has no access to the sea and is the largest country in the world with such a feature.

Administratively and territorially it is divided into 14 regions and 3 cities of republican significance, Astana, Almaty and Shymkent. In addition, there is a city with a special status, Baikonur, which until 2050 is leased by Russia and for this period in relations with it is endowed with the status corresponding to the city of federal significance of the Russian Federation; The total area of ​​land leased by Russia is 111,913 km² (4.1% of the country's territory). Economically and geographically, Kazakhstan is divided into Central, Western, Eastern, Northern and Southern regions.