Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan, which was formerly part of the Soviet Union, reflects this history through the ethnicity of it’s people, language, and religion among other things. The primary ethnic group is Kazakh (approximately 53%) and ethnic Russians (approximately 30%).  The state language of Kazakhstan is Kazakh which is spoken by the majority of Kazakhstani’s.  The official language however is Russian which is considered the language of “interethnic communication†and is spoken by almost all Kazakhstani’s.  Families adopting from Kazakhstan may want to consider learning words in both Kazakh and Russian. The majority of Kazakhstani’s would claim to be either Muslim or Russian orthodox, with an almost even split between the two religions.