Page "Demographics of Kazakhstan" Paragraph 3

The population of Kazakhstan increased steadily from 6. 1 million in the 1939 census to 16. 5 million in the 1989 census.

Official estimates indicate that the population continued to increase after 1989, peaking out at 17 million in 1993 and then declining to 15 million in the 1999 census.

The downward trend continued through 2002, when the estimated population bottomed out at 14. 9 million, and then resumed its growth.

Kazakhstan underwent significant urbanization during the first 50 years of the Soviet era, as the share of rural population declined from more than 90 % in the 1920s to less than 50 % since the 1970s.