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Kazakhstan Geography Profile

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LocationCentral Asia, northwest of China; a small portion west of the Ural (Zhayyq) River in easternmost Europe
Geographic coordinates48 00 N, 68 00 E
Map referencesAsia
Areatotal: 2,724,900 sq km

land: 2,699,700 sq km

water: 25,200 sq km
Area - comparativeslightly less than four times the size of Texas
Land boundariestotal: 13,364 km

border countries (5): China 1765 km, Kyrgyzstan 1212 km, Russia 7644 km, Turkmenistan 413 km, Uzbekistan 2330 km
Coastline0 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 claimsnone (landlocked)
Climatecontinental, cold winters and hot summers, arid and semiarid
Terrainvast 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 extremeshighest point: Khan Tangiri Shyngy (Pik Khan-Tengri) 6,995 m

lowest point: Vpadina Kaundy -132 m

mean elevation: 387 m
Natural resourcesmajor deposits of petroleum, natural gas, coal, iron ore, manganese, chrome ore, nickel, cobalt, copper, molybdenum, lead, zinc, bauxite, gold, uranium
Land useagricultural 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 land20,660 sq km (2012)
Total renewable water resources108.41 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)
Natural hazardsearthquakes in the south; mudslides around Almaty
Geography - noteworld'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

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