One of the largest settlements in Kazakhstan is the city of Karaganda. The population here is ethnically, linguistically and religiously very mixed, as in most other settlements in the north of the country. The study of the demographic situation in this regional center is of great interest. Let's find out what the population of the city of Karaganda is in numbers.
Geographical position
The city of Karaganda is located in the central part of Kazakhstan, with a shift to the north-east, on the territory of the Karaganda coal basin, in the middle of an arid steppe. It covers an area of approximately 550 square meters. km In the Kazakh manner, its name is pronounced as "Karaganda."
This city is the administrative center of the Karaganda region. In addition, the village is the cultural and industrial center of the region.
We will talk about what constitutes the population of the city of Karaganda below.
A brief history of the city
But before knowing the population of Karaganda, the ethnic and religious appearance of the city, let's look at when this settlement was founded and how it developed. This will allow us to better understand the essence of demographic changes in the city, as well as find out how the population of Karaganda was formed.
In ancient times and in the Middle Ages, wild steppes spread in the place where Karaganda arose afterwards. The population of these lands led a nomadic economy, and was represented by Turkic-speaking tribes. In the second half of the 15th century, the Kazakh Khanate appeared on the territory of modern Kazakhstan, within the borders of which the ethnogenesis of modern Kazakhs took place. In the XVIII century, this state finally broke up into three parts - zhuzes. The territory that Karaganda now occupies has been included in the Middle Zhuz. In 1740, the Middle Zhuz took patronage of the Russian Empire, and in 1822 it was finally included in its composition.
According to legend, in 1833, on the site of the future city, a Kazakh shepherd boy found coal deposits. Coal will become the economic basis of Karaganda, but this will happen many years later. Industrial coal mining in the Russian Empire from the Karaganda basin began only at the beginning of the 20th century.
The first permanent settlement on the site where Karaganda appeared in the future was formed in 1906 and was called Mikhailovka. But after the revolution, coal mining was stopped, the village was empty.
In 1930, with the beginning of industrialization, mining in the region resumed, resulting in several workers' settlements. In 1931 they were united in the Karaganda Workers' Council. This year is considered the founding date of Karaganda.
The name "Karaganda" this area had long before the formation of the city, and is believed to have arisen from a common acacia shrub - caragana. Although there are several alternative opinions.
In 1934, the village was given the status of a city. This is one of the landmarks that Karaganda survived. The population of the city was originally formed from workers, mainly Slavic nationalities, mainly Russians. But, in subsequent years, Kazakhs from neighboring regions began to move to the city.
In 1936, Karaganda became the administrative center of the Karaganda region as part of the Kazakh SSR.
After the Great Patriotic War, factories were built in the city, various elements of the infrastructure were erected rapidly, the coal basin continued to be developed.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, industrial capacities in Karaganda decreased significantly, which negatively affected the demographic situation in the city. Due to the shutdown of enterprises, many families moved to other settlements.
Population size
Now let's find out how many people are in Karaganda? The number of inhabitants we will now be considered. Both for the current date, and in dynamics.
First of all, find out how many people live in the city today. According to experts, the population in Karaganda for 2016 is about 496.2 thousand people. At the moment, this is the fourth indicator in the country after the largest city in Kazakhstan - Almaty, the capital - Astana and another regional center - Shymkent (Chimkent).
Population density
Now we find out the density indicators that characterize the population of Karaganda in 2016. The density of residents currently in the city is 846 people per 1 sq. Km. km
But is it a lot or a little? Let's compare the population density with a similar indicator for the largest settlement in Kazakhstan - Almaty. In Almaty, the population density is 2346 people. per sq. km., which, as we see, is several times larger than what Karaganda has. The population in this city, therefore, can be considered quite discharged. But has it always been like this? To find out, you need to find out what was the population of Karaganda in previous years.
Population dynamics
As we found out, the population of the city of Karaganda (2016) is about 496.2 thousand people. But how was it before?
In 1959, about 397.1 thousand inhabitants lived in the city, after nine years - 523.3 thousand inhabitants, after 20 years (1979) the population increased by almost half - 578.9 thousand inhabitants. By 1989, in the city of Karaganda (Kazakhstan), the population reached its maximum in history - 613.8 thousand inhabitants.
But then the population began to decline sharply. So, in 1991 it fell to the level of 608.6 thousand inhabitants, after another eight years it fell to the figure of 436.9 thousand. In 2004, the bottom of the fall was reached - 428.9 thousand inhabitants. Thus, over the 14 years of decline, the number of people living in the city decreased by almost 185 thousand people.
But starting next year, the population began to grow gradually. In 2005, it amounted to 436.0 thousand inhabitants, in 2010 - 465.2 thousand, in 2012 - 475.4 thousand. The population of Karaganda in 2016 reached the number of 496.2 thousand inhabitants. This is 67.3 thousand more than in 2004, but 112.4 less than it was in 1989. The population is characterized by such dynamic indicators in the city of Karaganda. The number of 2016 did not even reach the level of 1970.
Reasons for a sharp change in population dynamics
Now let's see why the population dynamics in the city of Karaganda underwent such drastic changes.
The growth of the population of Karaganda until 1989, inclusive, does not cause any special problems. It was a natural process. Moreover, Karaganda is a large industrial city that constantly developed in Soviet times, which meant it required an influx of new labor. People came to work for enterprises in Karaganda from many parts of the USSR. It was labor migration, along with the natural population growth, that contributed to an increase in living in this regional center from 1959 to 1989 by more than one and a half times.
But if the increase by one and a half times in 30 years of the population of the city does not raise any special questions, then how did it happen that over the next 10 years, starting in 1989, the number of inhabitants decreased almost by the same one and a half times? The reason for this is the same industry. Only this time, it was not the increase in the number of enterprises and jobs that played its role, but the curtailment of production, the closure of plants and factories due to the difficulties of the transition period after the collapse of the USSR and the transition from a planned to a market economy. The closure of enterprises, a significant reduction in jobs for the few that remained functioning, caused strong unemployment, which led to the outflow of the population to less depressed regions of the country, as well as abroad, in particular to the Russian Federation. Moreover, the roots of many residents of Karaganda were from Russia, from where they or their parents came in Soviet times to raise the production of the Kazakh SSR.
An important factor was also the transfer of the capital of Kazakhstan from southern Almaty to the city in the north of the country - Astana (former Tselinograd). The new capital was quite close to Karaganda, it needed working hands to equip it, and life in the main city of the country itself opens up very great prospects. Therefore, a significant part of the population of Karaganda linked their future with Astana. Fortunately, I did not have to move far. Unlike Karaganda, due to the acquisition of the capital status, the population of Astana from 1989 to the present has increased significantly. So, if, in 1989, this city was inhabited by only 281.3 thousand people, then in 2016 the population was 872.7 thousand people. That is, over 27 years there has been an increase in the population by more than 3 times. Of course, with the help of a natural increase such indicators could not be achieved. The main factor in increasing the population in Astana is the influx of people from depressive cities such as Karaganda.
In Karaganda itself, throughout the 90s of the last century and the first half of the first decade of this century, the population was decreasing more and more. In Soviet times, the city ranked second in terms of population in Kazakhstan, second only to the capital of the Kazakh SSR - Alma-Ata. Despite the catastrophic drop in the number of residents, this status of Karaganda was able to maintain until the onset of the new millennium. But at the very beginning of 2000, this city in terms of population bypassed immediately two settlements: Shymkent and the new capital - Astana. Thus, today Karaganda takes the fourth place in Kazakhstan in this indicator.
It is because of the rapid decline in Karaganda that this city has such a relatively low population density, which we talked about a little higher. In Soviet times, a lot of people came from other places of the country to live in the city; it was built and expanded. But in the 90s a mass departure of the population from Karaganda began, but the borders of the city remained the same, which played a decisive role in the fact that the population density at this point is so small.
New increase in the population of Karaganda
The decline in the number of people living in Karaganda could not last forever. In 2004, a minimum was reached - 428.9 thousand inhabitants. Starting in 2005, the demographic situation in the city began to improve, and the population was gradually increasing. This trend has been observed up to the present. Of course, the increase in population is far from the pace that it had previously been falling, but nevertheless this is a positive trend. What caused these demographic changes?
First of all, the decline in production, as they say, has reached the bottom. Working enterprises more or less could provide the remaining residents of the city with jobs. There was no longer such catastrophic unemployment as before, which caused a sharp outflow of the population. Now, both the number of city residents and the number of jobs that enterprises were ready to provide, more or less balanced. Which served as a significant factor in stopping the outflow of the population from the city.
The second factor that played a role in stabilizing the demographic situation in Karaganda was the improvement of the economic situation in 2000, unlike the 90s, in the whole country. Thanks to this, all the basic processes in society began to stabilize, to come to a natural norm, including demographic ones.
Of course, the increase in the number of residents in Karaganda at this stage is mainly due to natural growth, that is, the positive difference between fertility and mortality, and not due to population migration, as it was in Soviet times. Nevertheless, even such a small increase is a very positive trend, which suggests that Karaganda has a future.
Ethnic composition
We studied the population of the city of Karaganda. The composition of ethnic groups is no less important for understanding the demographic situation in the village. Let's find out what nationalities live in Karaganda.
The largest ethnic groups in Karaganda are Russians and Kazakhs. Russians lead in numbers. Their share in the total population of this city is 45.6%. The proportion of Kazakhs is 36.3%. In Soviet times, the number of Russians was even greater, accounting for more than 50% of the population. But during the period of Kazakhstan’s independence, a significant part of the Russians left for Russia, and children from mixed marriages, if they had previously preferred to call themselves Russians, now in most cases they indicated “Kazakh” nationality in censuses.
The next largest ethnic group in Karaganda is the Ukrainians. It is much smaller in number than the previous two groups. At the moment, the proportion of Ukrainians in the total population of the city is 4.8%. In Soviet times, there were much more of them, like Russians.
This is followed by the Germans (3.3%) and the Tatars (3.1%). These are mainly the descendants of those people who were deported from the Volga and Crimea during the Stalinist repressions.
Significantly less in Karaganda are Koreans (1.6%) and Belarusians (1.2%).
The city also has Poles, Chechens, Bashkirs, Azerbaijanis, Mordovians, and many other peoples. But their number does not even reach 1% of the total population.
Religion
In Karaganda, there are many religious denominations. Nevertheless, two are considered the main ones: Orthodox Christianity and Islam. In Karaganda, there are several Orthodox churches, a convent, as well as a cathedral, which is the center of the Karaganda diocese. The city has seven mosques to ensure the religious needs of the Muslim part of the population of Karaganda.
Among other religious movements, Catholicism and Protestant movements should be highlighted. The city has many Catholic and Protestant churches. In addition, Karaganda is the center of the eponymous Roman Catholic diocese. This city has the only higher theological seminary in Central Asia. Previously, there were much more Catholics and Protestants in Karaganda, but due to the departure of the German population after the collapse of the USSR to Germany, and partially to the Volga region, the number of supporters of these religious movements was significantly reduced.
There are relatively few followers of other religions in Karaganda.
