Good to know
Good to Know
- Almaty is Kazakhstan's largest city and primary economic/commercial hub, generating nearly a quarter of the country's GDP despite no longer being the capital.
- The city exhibits net emigration to foreign countries, though internal migration from rural areas remains positive.
- Technology and fintech sectors are rapidly growing; the government has committed significant investment ($60 million+ target) to develop the startup ecosystem through 2026-2028.
- While national ethnic composition is 63% Kazakh and 24% Russian, Almaty historically had higher European representation; current city-level ethnic data not publicly available in standard sources.
- Major multinational banks and financial institutions have headquarters in Almaty, making it Kazakhstan's finance center alongside Astana's role as the capital.
Key Companies
Kaspi.kz
- Sector
- Fintech/Banking/E-commerce
- Description
- Major Kazakh fintech platform
Kaspi Bank
- Sector
- Banking
- Description
- Major bank headquarters
Halyk Bank
- Sector
- Banking
- Description
- Major bank headquarters
Startup Ecosystem
- Number Of Registered Startups
- 73
Infrastructure
- IT-Square (central location for tech companies)
- Tech Garden accelerator
- Multiple coworking spaces
Recent Initiatives
Almaty Investment Initiative
- Focus
- Technology entrepreneurship and startup acceleration
- Duration
- Two years
- Target Startups
- 250
- Target Investment
- $60,000,000
Top Startup Industries
- Software & Data
- Fintech
- EdTech
Notable Nationalities And Ethnic Composition
- Note
- National-level data; Almaty-specific ethnic breakdown not available in current sources
- Historical Note
- Almaty historically had significant European (German and Russian) populations; recent trends show increasing Kazakh proportions in the city
Kazakhstan National Composition
Kazakh
- Percentage National
- 63.1
Russian
- Percentage National
- 23.7
Uzbek
- Percentage National
- 2.8
Ukrainian
- Percentage National
- 2.1
Uyghur
- Percentage National
- 1.4
Tatar
- Percentage National
- 1.3
Other groups
- Percentage National
- 5.8
Population
- Source
- Bureau of National Statistics of Kazakhstan
- As Of Date
- May 1, 2026
- City Proper
- 2362500
Migration Balance
- External Migration Balance
- -1471
- Internal Migration Balance
- 6934
- Total Balance Jan Apr 2026
- 8405
- Note
- External migration balance is negative, indicating net emigration to foreign countries exceeds immigration from abroad
- Description
- Net migration in Almaty city
Economic Contribution
- Grp 2025
- KZT 37,279,951,500,000
- Grp Growth 2025
- 6.9% real growth compared to 2024
- Share Of National GDP
- 23.4%
Sectors
Sectors
- Finance and Banking
- Information Technology
- Software & Data
- Fintech
- E-commerce
- EdTech
- AI and Machine Learning
Salary Reference
- Junior Software Engineer Monthly
- KZT 477,000
- Note
- Approximate range for top tech firms in Almaty
Employment Dynamics
- Unemployment Rate Q1 2026
- 4.4
- Registered Unemployed June 2026
- 33438
- Note
- Labor market shows relatively low unemployment
In Demand Professional Skills
In Demand Professional Skills
- Software development
- Cybersecurity
- Data analysis
- Artificial Intelligence
- IT project management
- Financial services
- Engineering
AI-generated estimateData refreshed July 2026
Sources cited for this category
These are the sources cited in this local demographics research for this city. Individual figures may not each trace to one of them.
More About Almaty
Data last updated July 2026 · Verify anything important.