Kazakhstan, located in Central Asia, is among the top ten largest countries in the world in terms of area, but due to its location on the map it is often perceived as small.
The 2,699,700-square-kilometer country lies between Russia, the world’s largest country by area, and China, the world’s third-largest country by area, which makes it seem so small.
But in fact, the country’s size is so vast that it could stretch from Ireland to Turkey, and its land mass is larger than the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Norway and Finland combined.
Moreover, its westernmost point is closer to France than its easternmost point.
Despite being so large, Kazakhstan has a small population of around 20 million people; population density is less than six people per square kilometer, making it one of the lowest population densities in the world.
The reason for such a small population is that much of the land in Kazakhstan is too dry, making it uninhabitable, resulting in a high concentration of areas in the northeast and southeast.
One third of the country is occupied by the Kazakh steppe. The steppe is characterized by large areas of meadows and sandy areas.
The Kazakh steppe is the largest in the world and covers an area of 804,450 square kilometers, which receives only 200 to 400 mm of rainfall per year.