Languages of Kazakhstan

The Kazakh-speaking world:

regions where Kazakh is the language of the majority

regions where Kazakh is the language of a significant minority or sparsely populated areas

Official| Kazakh (national/state language), Russian (official)
National| Kazakh language
Minority| Kazakh; German; Uzbek; Ukrainian; Uyghur; Tatar; Kyrgyz; Azerbaijani; Korean;
Foreign| English, German
Signed| Kazakh Sign Language
Keyboard layout|

ЙЦУКЕН
The Kazakh keyboard.

Source| Languages committee of the Ministry of culture and Sports
Alphabet| Kazakh alphabets
Kazakh Braille
Language proficiency by age group

Kazakhstan is officially a bilingual country. Kazakh (part of the Kipchak sub-branch of the Turkic languages) is proficiently spoken by 80.1% of the population according to 2021 census, and has the status of "state language". Russian, on the other hand, is spoken by 83.7% as of 2021.[1] It has a status of "official language", rather than the "state language" Kazakh, and is used routinely in business, government, and inter-ethnic communication. However, only 63.45% of ethnic Kazakhs and 49.3% of the country's population are daily speakers of Kazakh language, according to the same census.[2]

Other languages natively spoken in Kazakhstan are Dungan, Ili Turki, Ingush, Plautdietsch, and Sinte Romani.[3] A number of more recent immigrant languages, such as Belarusian, Korean, Azerbaijani, and Greek are also spoken.[4][5]

## Languages

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The following table shows the share of the population that can speak the language according to the 2021 census [ru; kk]:[6]

Language  | % | Script

|
|

Russian | 83.7  | Cyrillic
Kazakh | 80.1  | Cyrillic, Latin
English | 35.1  | Latin
Uzbek | 2.5  | Latin, Cyrillic
Uyghur | 0.9  | Perso-Arabic, Latin
Turkish | 0.6  | Latin
German | 0.6  | Latin
Tatar | 0.5  | Cyrillic
Azerbaijani | 0.5  | Cyrillic, Latin, Perso-Arabic
Korean | 0.3  | Hangul
Kyrgyz | 0.2  | Cyrillic, Perso-Arabic
Belarusian | 0.1  | Cyrillic
Ukrainian | 0.1  | Cyrillic
Chinese | 0.1  | Chinese characters
Chechen | 0.1  | Cyrillic
French | 0.1  | Latin
Arabic | 0.1  | Arabic alphabet
Other  | 2.7  | —
Percentage of daily Kazakh speakers in Kazakhstan (2021 Census)

## See also

[edit]

* Demographics of Kazakhstan

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "National census 2021 – Agency for Strategic planning and reforms of the Republic of Kazakhstan Bureau of National statistics". stat.gov.kz. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
2. ^ http://old.stat.gov.kz/api/getFile/?docId=ESTAT464825
3. ^ Higgins, Andrew (12 May 2019). "A Mennonite Town in Muslim Central Asia Holds On Against the Odds". New York Times. New York City. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
4. ^ О родном языке корейцев Казахстана [On the mother tongue of Kazakhstani Koreans] (in Russian)
5. ^ "Kazakhstan". Ethnologue. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
6. ^ National composition, religion and language proficiency in the Republic of Kazakhstan (PDF). Astana: Bureau of National Statistics of the Agency for Strategic Planning and Reforms of the Republic of Kazakhstan. 2023. p. 323.

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Languages of Kazakhstan

Official languages|

* Kazakh
* Russian

Minority languages|

* Dungan
* German
* Tajiki
* Tatar
* Turkish
* Ukrainian
* Uyghur
* Uzbek

Sign languages|

* Russian Sign Language

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Languages of Asia

Sovereign states|

* Afghanistan
* Armenia
* Azerbaijan
* Bahrain
* Bangladesh
* Bhutan
* Brunei
* Cambodia
* China
* Cyprus
* Egypt
* Georgia
* India
* Indonesia
* Iran
* Iraq
* Israel
* Japan
* Jordan
* Kazakhstan
* North Korea
* South Korea
* Kuwait
* Kyrgyzstan
* Laos
* Lebanon
* Malaysia
* Maldives
* Mongolia
* Myanmar
* Nepal
* Oman
* Pakistan
* Philippines
* Qatar
* Russia
* Saudi Arabia
* Singapore
* Sri Lanka
* Syria
* Tajikistan
* Thailand
* Timor-Leste (East Timor)
* Turkey
* Turkmenistan
* United Arab Emirates
* Uzbekistan
* Vietnam
* Yemen

States with
limited recognition|

* Abkhazia
* Northern Cyprus
* Palestine
* South Ossetia
* Taiwan

Dependencies and
other territories|

* British Indian Ocean Territory
* Christmas Island
* Cocos (Keeling) Islands
* Hong Kong
* Macau

* Category
* Asia portal

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Languages of Europe

Sovereign states|

* Albania
* Andorra
* Armenia
* Austria
* Azerbaijan
* Belarus
* Belgium
* Bosnia and Herzegovina
* Bulgaria
* Croatia
* Cyprus
* Czech Republic
* Denmark
* Estonia
* Finland
* France
* Georgia
* Germany
* Greece
* Hungary
* Iceland
* Ireland
*   * Italy
* Kazakhstan
* Latvia
* Liechtenstein
* Lithuania
* Luxembourg
* Malta
* Moldova
* Monaco
* Montenegro
* Netherlands
* North Macedonia
* Norway
* Poland
* Portugal
* Romania
* Russia
* San Marino
* Serbia
* Slovakia
* Slovenia
* Spain
* Sweden
* Switzerland
* Turkey
* Ukraine
* United Kingdom
* Vatican City

States with limited
recognition|

* Abkhazia
* Kosovo
* Northern Cyprus
* South Ossetia
* Transnistria

Dependencies and
other entities|

* Åland
* Faroe Islands
* Gibraltar
* Guernsey
* Isle of Man
* Jersey
* Svalbard

Other entities|

* European Union
* Sovereign Military Order of Malta

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