The villagers of Kazakhstan are leaving their villages by hundreds of thousands

In 2024, a record number of people left Kazakhstan's villages. This is reported by the analytical agency PKB Data Hub.

According to him, the migration balance of the rural population (arrivals minus departures) amounted to -111.4 thousand people. Such a negative value is observed for the first time since 2000 — in the entire available history of observations.

It is noted that negative indicators are recorded annually. However, until now, the bill was for tens of thousands of people, whereas now it is for hundreds of thousands.

"Tellingly, the migration balance of the rural population is below zero in all regions, with the exception of Almaty (7.6 thousand people) and Atyrau (275 people). At the same time, the most densely populated region, Turkestan, plays a key role in the formation of the overall indicator. Its share is 26% (-29.2 thousand people)," the agency writes.

According to experts, the natural increase could not compensate for the negative migration balance: the difference between those born and those who died was at the level of 96.8 thousand people. Thus, due to both processes — migration and natural movement — the rural population decreased by 14.6 thousand people compared to the previous year. At the same time, the urban population, on the contrary, increased by 266.8 thousand people.

This led to an increase in the share of the urban population in the total population by 0.8% to 63%. According to analysts, such a high level of urbanization in Kazakhstan is observed for the first time.