Kazakhstan Has Fewer Bazaars Than a Year Ago

The number of bazaars in Kazakhstan fell over the past year, according to the Bureau of National Statistics. At the start of 2026, there were 588 markets in the country, down from 626 in January 2025, Orda.kz reports.

Most of them are in the Turkestan region, where 103 markets employ 15,800 people. But the biggest number of workers is in Almaty: 26,600 people are employed across 37 markets.

In total, 147,600 people work at bazaars across Kazakhstan, which is 2.2% fewer than at the beginning of 2025.

Of the 588 markets, 323 belong to individual entrepreneurs, while 265 are owned by companies. Even so, company-owned markets employ far more people — 111,500 compared with 36,100 at markets run by individual entrepreneurs.

The authorities planned to modernize 100 markets in 2025. In March 2025, Trade and Integration Minister Arman Shakkaliyev said the goal is to bring the share of markets meeting modern large-format retail standards to 70% by 2029.

The government allocated 5.27 billion tenge for modernization in 2025. Shakkaliyev also said that from 2026, markets that have not been modernized will no longer be granted work permits.

Original author: Alexey Afonsky

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