Kazakhstan (population 15.43 million people)² is an independent republic located in the Central Asian steppe. Covering 2.7 million sq. km (about the size of the fifteen European Union countries), the terrain stretches across steppes and deserts and has a large border with Russia to the north, adjoins China to the east, and Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to the south. Kazakhstan is a land-locked country with borders on two large inland seas: the Aral Sea and the Caspian Sea.³ The official state languages are Kazakh, and Russian which is used in everyday business.⁴

According to the United Nations human development index (HDI), Kazakhstan is ranked 80/177 countries worldwide (value 0.761).⁵ This places Kazakhstan in the group of countries with medium human development.