PRESS RELEASE

86% OF KAZAKH CITIZENS RESPOND POSITIVELY

TO THE COUNTRY'S ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL PROGRESS

 New opinion poll by Ipsos MORI shows widespread satisfaction with the direction of the country and a majority of citizens with a positive attitude towards the economy

    The results of a new opinion poll conducted in Kazakhstan, commissioned by the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and carried out by UK-based opinion research firm Ipsos MORI, have been released by the Kazakh Foreign Minister, H.E. Erlan Idrissov today, on the eve of his working visit to London during which he will hold meetings with the Foreign Secretary, The Rt. Hon. William Hague MP, and Chairman of Foreign Affairs Committee The Rt. Hon. Richard Ottaway MP, and speak at the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House.

    The Kazakh Foreign Minister’s intensive agenda will focus on a wide range of bilateral issues between Kazakhstan and Britain, including the final stage of negotiations of the agreement for the repatriation by land of millions of tons of non-lethal British military equipment from Afghanistan.   Both the UK and Kazakhstan are heavily invested in establishing peace and stability in the region and are committed to working closely together to that end.

    The research results produced by Ipsos MORI show strong support among ordinary Kazakh citizens for the general direction of policy inside the energy-rich Central Asian country.    86% of a nationwide sample of respondents said they felt “positive” about Kazakhstan in general, and 35% said they felt “very positive”.   70% of citizens said they felt positive about the country’s economy, while 81% said they felt the country had become a better place in which to live over the past ten years.

    In the survey Kazakh citizens say they have become significantly more satisfied with nearly every aspect of everyday life in the country – from the identification and elimination of corruption to overall quality of life and general standards of living – in recent years.    They were asked to rate life in Kazakhstan ten years ago, and then asked to rate life in Kazakhstan today.   The increase in perceived satisfaction over this ten-year period ranges from double to nearly six-fold in certain cases, including sizeable improvements in job opportunities (18% say they were “good” 10 years ago; 36% say they are “good” today) and transport infrastructure (6% to 36%).

    When asked about the main challenges currently facing Kazakhstan, 26% of respondents identified jobs as the most pressing issue, while 15% said housing and 11% said economic growth.    5% and 2% of respondents respectively identified human rights and democratic reform as among the main challenges facing Kazakhstan.

The three traits most predominantly associated with Kazakhstan by respondents were its hospitality (50%), its stability (35%) and its peacefulness (34%).   The top seventeen descriptive terms associated with the country are all positive ones.

    Furthermore, an overwhelming majority of citizens agreed that their children’s generation will have more opportunities than their own, and that they are optimistic about the future of the country, with figures of 77% and 80% respectively.

    Further survey results from Ipsos MORI show 90% of respondents think that Kazakhstan’s global standing has improved in recent years, with 50% saying it has “greatly improved”.   A large majority of citizens (90%) supported participation in international trade ("tend to support" 36% and "strongly support" 54%).   Similarly, there was a positive response to increased contribution to combating environmental problems ("tend to support" 32% and "strongly support" 54%).   Such results demonstrate overwhelming popular support for government policies aimed at raising Kazakhstan’s international profile.

    Kazakh Foreign Minister H.E. Mr. Erlan Idrissov, speaking in Astana today, stated:  

    “I am delighted that this far-reaching research, which was carried out throughout Kazakhstan on a scientific basis, has resulted in such a positive endorsement by the people of our country’s steady progress in the last ten years.   We note these results with satisfaction but no sense of complacency, and hope that our international allies share the same approach.”