WKazakhstan is divided into 14 regions. The regions are further subdivided into districts. Four cities, Baikonur, Shymkent, the largest city Almaty, and the capital Nur-Sultan are not part of the regions they are surrounded by.
WAkmola Region is a centrally located region of Kazakhstan. Its capital is Kokshetau. The national capital, Nur-Sultan, is enclosed by the region, but is politically separate from Akmola Region. The region's population is 715,000; Kokshetau's is 157,000. The area is 146,200 square kilometers. It and Karaganda Region are Kazakhstan's only two regions which don't touch the country's outer borders. Akmola Region borders North Kazakhstan Region in the north, Pavlodar Region in the east, Karagandy Region in the south, and Kostanay Region in the west. Some gold and coal mining occur in the area.
WAktobe Region is a region of Kazakhstan. The name "Aktobe" comes from Kazakh "Ak" (white) and "tobe" (hill); supposedly, Aktobe's initial settlers were able to see white mountains far to the north. The Aktobe regional capital is the city of Aktobe. Aktobe region in the Western part of Kazakhstan. The area is 300,629 km2, which is 11 % of the territory of Kazakhstan. The population is 888,200 persons as of August 1st, 2020.
WAlmaty, formerly known as Alma-Ata and Verny, is the largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of about 2,000,000 people, about 11% of the country's total population, and more than 2.7 million in its built-up area that encompasses Talgar, Boraldai, Otegen Batyr and many other suburbs. It served as capital of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic and later independent Kazakhstan from 1929 to 1997. In 1997, the government relocated the capital to Astana in the north of the country.
WAlmaty Region is a region of Kazakhstan. Its capital is Taldykorgan city, which has a population of 175,200. Population of the region: 2,059,200 peoples.
WAtyrau Region formerly known as Gur'yev, is one of the regions of Kazakhstan, situated in the west of the country around the northeast of the Caspian Sea. Its capital is the town of Atyrau, with a population of 142,500 people; the region itself has 480,000 people. Kazakhs make up more than 80% of the population.
WBaikonur, formerly known as Leninsk, is a city of republic significance in Kazakhstan on the northern bank of the Syr Darya river, rented and administered by the Russian Federation. It was constructed to service the Baikonur Cosmodrome and was officially renamed Baikonur by Russian president Boris Yeltsin on December 20, 1995. During the Soviet period, it was sometimes referred to as Звездоград, Russian for 'Star City'.
WEast Kazakhstan Region is a region of Kazakhstan. It occupies the easternmost part of Kazakhstan, and includes parts of the Irtysh River, Lake Markakol, and Lake Zaysan. Its administrative center is Oskemen. The region borders Russia in the north and northeast and the People's Republic of China in the south and southeast. The easternmost point of the Oblast is within about 50 kilometres of the westernmost tip of Mongolia; however, Kazakhstan and Mongolia do not share a common border, the two countries being separated by a small part of Russia and China. The area spans 283,230 square kilometers in area. Population: 1,369,597 (2020); 1,396,593 ; 1,531,024 .
WJambyl Region is a region of Kazakhstan. Its capital is Taraz. The population of the region is 1,000,000; the city is 335,100. The region borders Kyrgyzstan, and is very near to Uzbekistan. Jambyl also borders three other provinces: Karaganda Region, Turkistan Region and Almaty Region. The total area is 144,200 square kilometres (55,700 sq mi). The province borders Lake Balkhash to its northeast. The province was named after the Kazakh akyn Jambyl Jabayev.
WKaraganda Region, also spelled Qaraghandy Region, is a region of Kazakhstan. Its capital is Karaganda. The region's population is 1,341,700 , 1,410,218 , and that of the capital city is 459,778 .
WKostanay Region is a region of Kazakhstan. Its administrative center is the city of Kostanay. The population of the region is 900,300. The population living in Kostanay is 207,000 which is equivalent to 23% of the region.
WKyzylorda Region is a region of Kazakhstan. Its capital is the city of Kyzylorda, with a population of 157,400. The region itself has a population of 590,000. Other notable settlements include Aral, Kazaly (Kazalinsk) and the Russian-administered Baikonur, which services the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The region borders neighboring country Uzbekistan, as well as three other regions: Aktobe Region, Karaganda Region, and Turkistan Region. The Syr Darya River, flowing from the Tian Shan mountains to the Aral Sea, passes through Kyzylorda Region. The total area of the province is 226,000 square kilometers.
WMangystau Region is a region of Kazakhstan. Its capital is Aktau, which has a population of 183,350 (2017); the entire Mangystau Region has a population of 674,963 (2018).
WNorth Kazakhstan Region is a region of Kazakhstan, with a population of 558 700. Its capital is Petropavl, with a population of 193,300 people. The region borders Russia to the north, and also borders three other Kazakhstan regions: Akmola Region to the south, Pavlodar Region to the east and Kostanay Region to the west. The area of the region is 98,040 km2 (37,850 sq mi), making it the fourth smallest of all the regions of Kazakhstan. The Ishim (Esil) River, a tributary of the Irtysh River, flows from Karagandy Region to Russia through North Kazakhstan Region.
WNur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan. Known between 1998 and 2019 as Astana and before that Akmola, it was renamed Nur-Sultan in March 2019, in honour of the departing Kazakh president, Nursultan Nazarbayev. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmola Region, though administered as a city with special status separately from the rest of the region. A 2020 official estimate reported a population of 1,165,983 within the city limits, making it the second-largest city in the country, after Almaty, the previous capital, between 1991 and 1997.
WPavlodar Region is a region of Kazakhstan. The population of the region was 742,475 ; and 806,983 . ; the latest official estimate was 754,739. Its capital is the city of Pavlodar, which had a population of 360,014 at the start of 2018.
WTurkistan Region, previously South Kazakhstan Region, is the southernmost region of Kazakhstan. Population: 2,469,367 ; 1,978,339 . Its capital is Turkistan. Other cities in Turkistan Region include Sayram, Kentau, Arys, Shardara, Zhetisay, Saryagash, and Lenger. This region and Atyrau Region are Kazakhstan's two smallest regions; both are about 117,300 square kilometers in area. Turkistan Region borders the neighboring country of Uzbekistan, as well as three other Kazakhstan regions: Karaganda Region, Kyzylorda Region, and Jambyl Region. The Syr Darya passes through the region, on its way to the Aral Sea. Also, an oil pipeline runs from Turkmenabat, Turkmenistan to Omsk, Russia through South Kazakhstan. Oil, lead and zinc are refined in Shymkent.
WWest Kazakhstan Region is a region of Kazakhstan. The region has a population of 656,844 as of 2019. Its administrative centre is Oral, a city of about 200,000 inhabitants.