Geography of Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is considered to be a vast nation because of its total area. Its total land area is 2,724,900 km² (approx. 1,052,085 mi²). Continental shelf of Kazakhstan is approximately 0 km² (around 0 mi²). Kazakhstan is located in Asia. Asia is the world’s largest and most populous continent. Asian countries include, but are not limited to, Russia, China, Japan, Hong Kong, and North and South Korea. Kazakhstan has 5 neighbouring countries. Its neighbours include People's Republic of China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan. Kazakhstan is a landlocked country. The average elevation range of Kazakhstan is 387 m (1,270 ft).

Neighbors

Total length of land borders of Kazakhstan is 13364 kilometers (~5,160 miles). Kazakhstan shares its land borders with 5 different countries, and has the same number of unique land boundaries to neigbouring territories. As in the case of Kazakhstan, if a country has the same number of unique neighboring territories as number of land borders, than that country has no non-contiguous sections of a land border. This is in contrast to several countries that have multiple non-contiguous sections of land borders. Kazakhstan has 5 neighbouring countries. Its neighbours include People's Republic of China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The lengths of the land borders of Kazakhstan with its neighbouring countries are as follows:

• People's Republic of China - 1533 km (953 mi),
• Kyrgyzstan - 1051 km (653 mi),
• Russia - 6846 km (4,255 mi),
• Turkmenistan - 379 km (236 mi),
• Uzbekistan - 2203 km (1,369 mi).

Cities

The capital city of Kazakhstan is Astana. The largest cities in Kazakhstan are Astana, Almaty, Shymkent.

Elevation

The average elevation range of Kazakhstan is 387 m (1,270 ft). The highest point of Kazakhstan is Khan Tengri, with its official height being 7010 m (23,000 ft). The lowest point of Kazakhstan is Karagiye Depression. It lies at -132 m (-433 ft), i.e. below the sea level. The elevation difference between the highest (Khan Tengri) and lowest (Karagiye Depression) points of Kazakhstan is 7142 m (2 ft).

Area

The total land area of Kazakhstan is 2,724,900 km² (approx. 1,052,085 mi²). and the total exclusive economic zone (EEZ) is 0 km² (~0 mi²). The continental shelf of Kazakhstan is approximately 0 km² (around 0 mi²). Including land mass and EEZ, the total area of Kazakhstan is approximately 2,724,900 km² (~1,052,085 mi²). Kazakhstan is considered to be a vast nation because of its total area.

Forest and arable land

54,498 km² of Kazakhstan's territory is covered in forests, and forest land comprises 2% of all the land in the country. There are 221,059 km² of arable land in Kazakhstan, and it comprises 8% of the country's total territory.

Read our section on climate to discover what parameters affect these and other biomes of the country.

Natural resources

The most notable natural resources found in Kazakhstan are petroleum, natural gas, coal, iron ore, manganese, chrome ore, nickel, cobalt, copper, molybdenum, lead, zinc, bauxite, gold, uranium.