Burabay National Park in Akmola Province. Credit

Kazakhstan is a country that stretches over a vast expanse of northern and central Eurasia. A portion of its territory equal to 370,373 square kilometres (bigger than Germany) is located to the west of the Ural River in eastern-most Europe.

It has borders with Russia, the People's Republic of China, and the Central Asian countries Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, and has a coastline on the Caspian Sea.

Prior to full independence, Kazakhstan existed as the Kazakh SSR republic in the Soviet Union. It is now a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Kazakhstan is the ninth-largest country in the world by area, but it is only 62nd country in population with approximately 6 persons per km² (15 per sq. mi.). The population in 2006 is estimated at 15,300,000, down from 16,464,464 in 1989 due to the emigration of ethnic Russians and Volga Germans. Much of the country's land consists of semi-desert (steppe) terrain.