The West Kazakhstan region is located in the western part of the Republic of Kazakhstan and is the gateway to the central and southern regions of the republic and to the states of Central Asia. The region is located in the central part of Eurasia, in the north-west of Kazakhstan. It is located entirely in Eastern Europe. It borders on the Russian Federation. The total length of the border is 2,423 km. It borders with five regions of the Russian Federation: Astrakhan, Volgograd, Saratov, Samara, Orenburg and two regions of Kazakhstan: Aktobe and Atyrau, connected with them by railway lines, road, water and air transport.
The terrain of the territory is flat. Moreover, the altitude above sea level decreases from the northeast to the southwest of the region. There are several districts in the region according to the features of the relief, including the General Syrt, the Embensky Plateau, the Caspian Lowland.
In the north and north-east of the region there are spurs of the Common Syrt and the Pre-Ural plateau. In the south, within the Caspian lowland, there are sand massifs of Narynkum: Kokuzenkum, Akkum, Karagandykum and others.
Square
151 339 sq. km.
Neighboring regions and countries:
Climatic conditions
Geographical data
There are about 200 rivers and streams with a total length of 4,600 km in the region, including the large Ural, Chagan, Derkul, Kushum, Bolshoy and Maly Uzen rivers, there are 144 lakes in the region, 94 of them are salty. The most significant ones are Shalkar, Fish Sakryl and the system of Kamysh-Samara lakes.
Lake Shalkar is the largest and deepest reservoir of the West Kazakhstan region. The lake accumulates about 1.4 billion m3 of water, the area of the lake is 20,580 hectares (it can increase to 24,000 hectares). Two rivers flow into the lake from the eastern side: Isen Ankaty (Big Ankaty) and Sholak Ankaty (Small Ankaty), and one Solyanka River flows out, which flows into the Ural River. The Ural River flows in the north of the West Kazakhstan region, 250 km of its "steppe zone" is located on the territory of the West Kazakhstan region. To the small rivers of the basin of the The Urals on the territory of the West Kazakhstan region include Chagan, Derkul, Ilek, Utva, Rubezhka, Bykovka, Embulatovka, Barbastau, etc. The Urals is one of the main waterways of special state significance not only in low-water Kazakhstan, but also in Russia.
The region consists of 12 districts and 1 city of regional subordination:
Population 692 919
(november 2023)
GRP 103,2
(for the 1st half of 2023)
Inflation 9,2
(december 2023)
Average monthly salary 314 567
(III quarter of 2023)
Unemployment rate 16 991
(III quarter of 2023)
*Excluding small businesses engaged in entrepreneurial activities.