Kazakhstan’s population approaches 17 million

    By D. Mukhtarov
    Since the beginning of 2013, the population of Kazakhstan has grown by 42,000 people, Chairman of the Statistics Agency Alikhan Smailov said at a briefing at the Central Communications Office under the President of Kazakhstan.
    "The country’s population amounted to about 16.95 million people on March 1, 2013. In January and February of 2013 the population of the entire country increased by 42,000 persons, or 0.2 percent. Compared to March 1, 2012, the population rose by 236,000 people, or 1.4 per cent," Smailov said.
    On March 1, 2013, the urban population amounted to over 9.29 million people, or 54.8 percent of the total, the rural population - over 7.662 million persons.
    "The natural increase in the population in January-February 2013 amounted to 41.4 thousand people compared to 40.3 thousand in the first two months of 2012. During January-February 2013, the registry offices registered 66.4 thousand births, which is 0.8 percent more than in the corresponding period of 2012," Smailov said, according to Trend.