| Location | Central Asia, northwest of China; a small portion west of the Ural (Zhayyq) River in easternmost Europe |
| Geographic coordinates | 48 00 N, 68 00 E |
| Map references | Asia |
| Area | total: 2,724,900 sq km land: 2,699,700 sq km water: 25,200 sq km |
| Area - comparative | slightly less than four times the size of Texas |
| Land boundaries | total: 13,364 km border countries (5): China 1765 km, Kyrgyzstan 1212 km, Russia 7644 km, Turkmenistan 413 km, Uzbekistan 2330 km |
| Coastline | 0 km (landlocked); note - Kazakhstan borders the Aral Sea, now split into two bodies of water (1,070 km), and the Caspian Sea (1,894 km) |
| Maritime claims | none (landlocked) |
| Climate | continental, cold winters and hot summers, arid and semiarid |
| Terrain | vast flat steppe extending from the Volga in the west to the Altai Mountains in the east and from the plains of western Siberia in the north to oases and deserts of Central Asia in the south |
| Elevation extremes | highest point: Khan Tangiri Shyngy (Pik Khan-Tengri) 6,995 m lowest point: Vpadina Kaundy -132 m mean elevation: 387 m |
| Natural resources | major deposits of petroleum, natural gas, coal, iron ore, manganese, chrome ore, nickel, cobalt, copper, molybdenum, lead, zinc, bauxite, gold, uranium |
| Land use | agricultural land: 77.4% (2018 est.) arable land: 8.9% (2018 est.) permanent crops: 0% (2018 est.) permanent pasture: 68.5% (2018 est.) forest: 1.2% (2018 est.) other: 21.4% (2018 est.) |
| Irrigated land | 20,660 sq km (2012) |
| Total renewable water resources | 108.41 billion cubic meters (2017 est.) |
| Natural hazards | earthquakes in the south; mudslides around Almaty |
| Geography - note | world's largest landlocked country and one of only two landlocked countries in the world that extends into two continents (the other is Azerbaijan); Russia leases approximately 6,000 sq km of territory enclosing the Baykonur Cosmodrome; in January 2004, Kazakhstan and Russia extended the lease to 2050 |
Source: CIA World Factbook
This page was last updated on September 18, 2021
