The monetary income of Kazakhstan's citizens in the third quarter of 2024 averaged 336,000 tenge per capita, which is an increase of 12.7% compared to the same quarter in 2023. Meanwhile, expenses during the same period rose by 8.9%, as calculated by analysts from Energyprom.kz.
Specifically, 252,500 tenge of this income came from labor activities (of which 220,500 tenge were from wage labor), social transfers (pensions, benefits, scholarships) accounted for 69,900 tenge, around 8,000 tenge were from financial assistance from relatives and alimony, and 5,700 tenge came from other sources.
In the third quarter of 2024, the average expenses of Kazakhstanis reached 295,900 tenge per person, marking an 8.9% increase compared to the previous year. A significant portion of these expenditures traditionally goes to food: 50% of all expenses and 54.5% of consumer spending (which includes total expenditures on goods and services). In several regions, such as Atyrau (60.5%), Zhambyl (61.6%), Jetysu (61.8%), Turkestan (62.3%), and Almaty (63.1%) regions, food expenditures exceeded 60% of consumer expenses.
It is unfortunate to note that a large part of the funds spent by Kazakhstanis continues to go towards food, indicating that the population — at least the majority — is, to put it mildly, not well-off. The purchase of any non-food items, whether clothing, electronics, or household goods, constitutes only 24% of household spending. An additional 17.8% is spent on paid services, and 8.2% goes to other expenses (financial assistance to relatives and alimony, taxes and payments, debt repayments).
Furthermore, according to the National Statistics Bureau (NSB) of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the real purchasing power of the population's income showed a year-on-year decline of 3.6% by the end of November 2024. At the same time, 5.4% of the population, or more than 1 million people (equivalent to 190,000 families), were living on incomes below the subsistence minimum, indicating poverty.
Let's examine the NSB data on household income distributed across decile groups (data in the table). The lowest 10% of Kazakhstanis have an average monthly income of less than 47,700 tenge. Another 10% earn between 47,700 and 55,700 tenge. Moreover, a staggering 70% of the population has average monthly incomes of less than 106,500 tenge. This group accounts for less than 48% of the total income volume in the country.
Meanwhile, the wealthiest 10% of Kazakhstanis receive nearly 26% of the total income.
0 On a global scale, we also cannot boast of high income levels. According to World Data Info, Kazakhstan ranked only 55th in terms of annual income among 90 surveyed countries for the entirety of 2023.
It is worth noting that, as previously mentioned, the largest portion of income for Kazakhstanis comes from wages. In terms of gross annual salary, Kazakhstan ranks only 50th out of 56 countries for which data is available.
1 In conclusion, let’s look at the ranking of Kazakhstan's regions by poverty levels, since we have raised this difficult issue.
With a national average of 5.4% of households having incomes below the subsistence minimum, in the third quarter of 2024, there were four regions — Turkestan, Abai, Jetysu, and Mangistau — where this figure was between 8-9%.
Worse still, 0.2% of the population (equivalent to 6,800 households with 45,200 people) had incomes below the cost of the food basket. Essentially, this reflects a state of extreme poverty. The worst indicators were recorded in Ulytau (where 1.2% of households had extremely low incomes), Abai (0.8%), and Almaty (0.7%) regions, as well as in Shymkent (0.5%).
Lastly, it is important to note that the situation in Kazakhstan has not improved over the years — on the contrary, there has been a regression over the past decade. For comparison: in 2014, the share of households with incomes below the subsistence minimum was 2.9%, while those with incomes below the cost of the food basket were at 0.1%. There is little more to add. Details can be found in the infographic below.
2