1. Kazakhstan
and its
neighbours:
A human
development
perspective
Ben Slay
UNDP Bratislava
Regional Centre

2. Kazakhstan: A high human
development country
0.96
High human Medium human
development development
0.79 0.79
0.75 0.74 0.73
0.72
0.70 0.70 0.69
0.68
0.65
0.62 0.62
Human development indexes. Source: 2013 HDR.

3. Rapid progress since 2000 in
Kazakhstan’s neighbourhood
0.8
Russia
• Especially for
Kazakhstan 0.75 Kazakhstan
China
0.7
• Not all neighbours Uzbekistan
have been equally 0.65
Kyrgyzstan
successful
0.6 Tajikistan
o Since 2005
Kyrgyzstan has not 0.55
made very rapid
progress 0.5
2000 2005 2010 2012
Human development indexes. Source: 2013 HDR.

4. Gender inequality index:
Kazakhstan scores well
0.61
0.46 0.50
0.34 0.34 0.36 0.37
0.31 0.31
0.21
0.05
Less -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- More
Determinants: Women in parliament, maternal mortality, labour force participation, education attainment.
Source: 2013 HDR.

5. Remaining challenge: Socio-
economic vulnerability?
80% • Internationally
PPP$4.30/day (KAZ)
comparable
70%
PPP$4.30/day (RF) income poverty
60% data show that:
PPP$1.25/day (KAZ)
o Absolute income
50%
poverty in
40% Kazakhstan has
been eradicated . .
30% .
o . . . But
20% vulnerability to
poverty remains an
10% issue
oSome neighbours
0%
continued to
2001 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2009 reduce
Source: World Bank POVCALNET database. poverty, despite

6. Some challenges for the
green economy
18.0
15.1 Tonnes of CO2
emissions, per-capita
12.0
10.5 (2008)
9.5
7.0 6.5
5.3 4.6 4.5 4.0
Source: 2013 HDR.

7. In conclusion—The most
recent data show that:
• Kazakhstan is making
good progress with
human development . . .
• . . . As are other
countries in the
neighbourhood . . .
• There may still be
challenges to address:
• Socio-economic
vulnerability
• Environmental
sustainability