Why Kazakhstan is Insanely Empty

Summary by Krater

This video explores the complex demographic and geographic history of Kazakhstan, examining how centuries of Russian and Soviet policies, famines, and forced migrations drastically altered its population and environment.

From the video

Answers: Why is Kazakhstan so sparsely populated despite its massive size?

• Kazakhstan history
• demographics and population shifts
• Soviet colonization and policies
• Great Kazakh Famine
• Aral Sea environmental disaster

What it concludes

• Kazakhstan is the ninth largest country in the world, comparable in size to Western Europe, yet has a population of only 20 million, resulting in one of the lowest population densities globally.
• Despite having vast arable land and freshwater resources, Kazakhstan's population growth was severely stunted by historical catastrophes, including the 20th-century Russian and Soviet colonization, the Great Kazakh Famine, and heavy losses during World War 2.
• Soviet-era policies, such as the Virgin Lands Campaign and the diversion of rivers to irrigate cotton, led to the catastrophic ecological collapse and near-disappearance of the Aral Sea.
• The Semipalatinsk Test Site, known as 'The Polygon,' was used by the Soviets to detonate 456 nuclear weapons, heavily exposing around 1.5 million people to nuclear fallout.
• Following its independence in 1991, Kazakhstan faced a massive demographic crisis with the emigration of millions of ethnic Russians, Ukrainians, and Germans, alongside a sharp drop in birth rates.
• The discovery of massive oil reserves like the Kashagan field transformed Kazakhstan's economy, making it a major global energy exporter and turning it into one of the wealthiest countries in Central Asia.