Almost 5% of Kazakhstan’s population lived below the poverty line in the first quarter of 2026. The poverty rate increased by 0.4 percentage points from a year earlier, while the number of people living in poverty rose 10%.
The Bureau of National Statistics has released data on Kazakhstanis whose incomes fell below the subsistence minimum in Q1 2026. The agency uses the actual subsistence minimum of 64,200 tenge (approximately $135) per month rather than the official benchmark. According to the data, 173,000 households, or about 1 million people, had incomes below that level, representing 4.9% of the country’s population.
Poverty rises from a year earlier
Compared with Q1 2025, poverty increased both in absolute terms and as a share of the population. The number of people with incomes below the subsistence minimum rose 10% year over year, while the poverty rate increased to 4.9% from 4.5%.
Three regions recorded the highest shares of residents living below the poverty line.
The Turkestan region ranked first by a wide margin, with 8.5% of its population, about 182,000 people, living below the subsistence minimum, up 0.4 p.p. from a year earlier.
It was followed by the Abay region, where 7.6% of the population, or 44,900 people, lived below the poverty line, an increase of 0.3 p.p. year over year.
The Mangystau region ranked third, with a poverty rate of 7.2%, or about 60,000 people. The region recorded the sharpest increase among the three, with the poverty rate rising 1.9 p.p. and the number of people living below the poverty line increasing 31.5% from a year earlier.
Astana remains the least impoverished region
Astana recorded the country’s lowest poverty rate at 2.7%, with approximately 44,500 residents living below the subsistence minimum. However, the number of people living in poverty in the capital increased 34.8% from a year earlier.
The Karaganda region ranked second, with a poverty rate of 2.8%, up 0.2 p.p. year over year, or about 31,000 people.
The Atyrau region ranked third, with 3.5% of its population, or approximately 24,800 people, living below the poverty line.
Large families account for the majority of those in poverty
Large households account for the overwhelming majority of people living below the poverty line. About 788,000 people, or 77.5% of all Kazakhstanis with incomes below the subsistence minimum, lived in households with five or more members.
By comparison, only 86,500 people living below the poverty line belonged to four-person households.
Extreme poverty also increased
Data from the Bureau of National Statistics also show that 25,400 people had monthly incomes below the cost of a basic food basket, estimated at less than 35,300 tenge ($75) per month.
The number of people in this category increased by 50% compared with Q1 2025.
Read also: Wealth gap exposed: How much more wealthy Kazakhs earn than the poor.
