The Minister of National Economy, Nurlan Baybazarov, announced during a government meeting on March 19th that in Kazakhstan, there are 112 villages with a population of over 10,000 people. Of these, 18 villages have over 30,000 residents, who are eligible to be granted city status by law. The mechanisms for changing their status are outlined in legislation that came into effect in 2021.
Baybazarov explained that if the population of a village exceeds 10,000 people for three consecutive years, the regional maslikhat (assembly) has the authority to change the status of these villages to that of a city. Currently, the regional akimats (local executive bodies) are reviewing requests from maslikhats, but no final decisions have been made yet.
Vice Minister of National Economy, Bauyrzhan Kudaibergenov, clarified why these villages have not been able to change their status since 2021. He stated that amendments to the legislation were made in 2021, allowing villages with a population of 10,000 or more to obtain the status of a district-level city after three years of meeting the population criteria. The decision to change the status will be made by the maslikhat in conjunction with the akimat, taking into account the opinions of the residents.
Previously, Nurlan Baybazarov mentioned that over the past decade, the number of rural settlements in Kazakhstan has decreased from 6,838 to 6,256, mainly due to the consolidation of villages with fewer than 50 residents into nearby populated areas.
