Nearly a Million Ethnic Kazakhs have Returned to Kazakhstan Since 1991

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 24 – Nearly a million ethnic Kazakhs have returned to Kazakhstan since 1991 where they now make up ten percent of the total population and have contributed to the increasing dominance of Kazakhs over ethnic Russians and other groups, according to a new book, “The Kazakh Diaspora and Repatriation 1991-2012.”

            Kulgazira Baltabayeva, the lead author, spoke at the book’s presentation this week. She provided a wealth of statistical data from the book and also updated the figures to include immigration flows over the last three years (np.kz/people/17982-vozvraschenie-na-rodinu.html).

            According to Baltabayeva, between 1991 and January 1 of this year, 952,882 ethnic Kazakhs returned to Kazakhstan and received citizenship. The majority came from Uzbekistan (61.5 percent), but others came from China (14.3 percent), Mongolia (9.3 percent), Turkmenistan (4.6 percent), and Russia (3.5 percent).

            Most of them returned in the 1990s, and the influx has slowed in recent years, the Kazakh scholar says. In 2010, 36,000 came; in 2012, 39,000; in 2013, 33,952; and in 2014, fewer than 9,000. But there is still a large potential reservoir, she points out: “Today, approximately 4.5 million [ethnic] Kazakhs live in 43 countries of the world.”