Urbanization of Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is the most urbanized country in Central Asia, with about 57 percent of its people living in cities. Despite this fact, most native Kazakhs still live in rural areas, while Slavs and foreigners make up the majority of urban migrants. One major pull factor concerning urbanization is oil. Cities rich from the oil industry tend to be more developed than other cities in the region, attracting immigrants from other countries. Poor land distribution and low standards of living in rural Kazakhstan create push factors, causing farm families to leave the countryside for the security of a city. Although poverty can be found in both parts of Kazakhstan, growing cities like Almaty provide more economic opportunity than subsistence farming.

Kazakhstan relies on oil as its main source of income. Oil-rich cities attracted many Russians and Slavs to Kazakhstan after the dissolution of the USSR, and this led to a greater number of foreigners than native Kazakhs. China has begun looking to Kazakhstan as a major economic tool and is investing in its oil and electricity industries. As a result of this, large numbers of Chinese workers have moved to Astana, creating some cultural challenges. Recently, however, the heavy immigration to Kazakhstan's cities has been stemmed as jobs for the newcomers become scarcer. Russians are moving back to Russia, robbing Kazakhstan of some of its smartest young people.

As urban populations grow due to foreign immigration, some cities may overflow into the adjacent farmland. This creates smaller communities of commercial and subsistence farmers who are forced to fight for resources and land. These cramped farmers are then forced to move to the city, and it becomes a cycle of urban-to-rural-to-urban migration. In 2006, the rural community of Yassy received a brand-new irrigation system through USAID. This helped encourage farmers to continue working their plots and stick to the rural lifestyle.

Overall, Kazakhstan's migration levels have remained relatively stable. Both the cities and the countryside have lower economic classes, but the urban poor generally have a nicer standard of living and better economic opportunity. Current urbanization has slowed due to rising unemployment rates in cities, but the long-term trend seems to be rural-to-urban migration. With oil revenues further improving the large cities of Kazakhstan, there seems to be no reason for a drastic change in the future.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14