Over 3,200 Ethnic Kazakhs Returned to Homeland in Early 2025

In the first quarter of 2025, 3,203 ethnic Kazakhs officially returned to Kazakhstan and received a Qandas status, Orda.kz reports.

According to the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, 48.1% of returnees came from China, 39.5% from Uzbekistan, 5.8% from Turkmenistan, 2.5% from Mongolia, and 1.9% from Russia. The remaining 2.2% arrived from other countries.

In just 1991, more than 1.15 million ethnic Kazakhs moved to their historical homeland,
the Ministry stated. 

Most returnees (60.7%) are of working age, while 31.1% are children and 8.2% are pensioners. Among adults, 52.9% have a general secondary education, 27.8% have specialized secondary education, 17.9% hold higher education degrees, and 1.4% reported no formal education.

To help with integration, the government has designated eight labor-deficient regions — Aqmola, Abay, Qostanay, Pavlodar, Atyrau, and the western, eastern, and northern regions of Kazakhstan — as destinations for settlement.

The 2025 quota is set at 2,309 people, with 642 already relocated as of April 1.

The state provides relocation subsidies of 70 MCI (approximately 275,200 tenge) per family member. Additional monthly housing and utility support ranges from 15 to 30 MCI (about 59,000–118,000 tenge) for one year.

So far, 147 qandas have received this assistance in 2025, and 94 have found permanent employment. To further support resettlement in the northern regions, a program offering housing certificates worth up to 4.56 million tenge per family or covering 50% of the housing cost has also been introduced.

Original Author: Ruslan Loginov