Kazakhstanis made over 60 million leisure and business trips abroad in the last 13 years

For the last 13 years Kazakhstan’s citizens have made more than 60 million leisure and business trips abroad, Newskaz.ru reports, citing President Nazarbayev as saying December 14 when speaking at a solemn sitting to celebrate Kazakhstan’s independence. “In the first years of independence [gained from the USSR in 1991] it was hard to imagine Kazakhstan successfully solving numerous social issues (…) in the same 13 years the number of foreign visitors to Kazakhstan has reached 46 million. All this testifies to the growing affluence of Kazakhstan”, he said. Citing the data collected by the Organization for Economic Cooperation, President elaborated that in 2012 the number of students from Kazakhstan at foreign universities stood at 65 000. “Apart from holders of the Bolashak state-run bursaries [covering both tuition fees and accommodation], there are tens of thousands of young Kazakhs whose tuition fees are paid by their parents. That is possible thanks to the growing affluence”. “For the last 4 years in which the world has been struggling to overcome the global financial crisis Kazakhstan has raised salaries of teachers at public schools four times (…) back in 1992 the number of cars only stood at slightly over 800 000; this year the figure has grown to 3 600 000. This fourfold increase is another sign of growing affluence”, he said. President reminded that 22 years ago Kazakhstan looked set to see a demographic decline. “The gloomy forecast didn’t come true. The population has grown to reach 17 million. Following the collapse of the USSR back in 1991 the country’s population diminished to almost 14 million. There have been 6 800 000 children born in Kazakhstan since we gained independence”, he said.