The population of Kazakhstan in the near future may approach the mark of 17 million people. The history of the formation of the composition and number of people living on the territory of this country is interesting in that there were periods when the indigenous population of this region was significantly smaller than the visiting peoples.
The population of Kazakhstan has long been unchanged and from ancient times to the 18th century was about 1 million people. At first, the tribes of the Iranian group lived there, which at the beginning of the new millennium were replaced by tribes of a Turkic orientation. However, everything changed at the beginning of the 20th century, when, during the Stolypin reforms, Russian and Ukrainian families were sent to the Kazakh territories to run the economy. Until now, the share of Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Poles, and others in the north of this country is up to 40-70 percent.
In the 20th century, the famine of the early 30s contributed to the reduction in the number of Kazakhs and other nationalities,when a number of families left the territory of Kazakhstan for China and other Soviet republics. The population of Kazakhstan in those years lost about one and a half million people. After 1935, Kazakhstan became the homeland for a number of peoples of Soviet Russia, who were forcibly deported to this region. Poles, Germans, Chechens, Ingush were transported here. The displacement took place in tens of thousands of people, which led to a reduction in the number of Kazakhs to 30% in 1959. In the 50-60s of the 20th century, the population of the republic was replenished once again due to immigrants who came to develop the virgin lands in this region.
After the collapse of the USSR, immigration flows intensified in the country, as a result of which the population of Kazakhstan lost about 63-64% of the Germans living there, about 28-29% of Russians, 24-25% of Tatars, many Belarusians left (38% of the total number of residents). Instead, the number of Kazakhs proper (by 22%) and representatives of the Uzbek, Uighur, Kurdish peoples (by 11, 13 and 28 percent, respectively) increased.
In its bulk, the population of Kazakhstan professes the Muslim faith. In second place (about 27%) is Christianity. The most common language in the country is Russian. It is fluently spoken by about 95% of the population and about 85% are proficient in both spoken and written language. The Kazakh language is best spoken by Kazakhs and Uzbeks - 98.4 and 95.5 percent, respectively.
Kazakhstan, whose population is in 61st place (at the end of 2012year) in the list of countries around the world, is a country where the urban population is comparable in size to the rural (9.1 and 7.6 million, respectively). The birth rate in the country exceeds the death rate twice. At the end of 2011, 22-23 children were born per 1,000 people, while residents of Kazakhstan are four times more likely to marry than divorce. According to statistical forecasts, by 2020 the population of this state may increase to 18.5 - 18.6 million people. The last figure is calculated taking into account external and internal migration, and the first - with unchanged parameters of fertility, mortality, migration, etc.
The ethnic composition of modern Kazakhstan is more than diverse - about 130 nationalities live here, of which the most numerous are (in descending order) Kazakhs, Russians, Ukrainians, Germans.
