Youth of Kazakhstan: general characteristic
According to the Committee on Statistics, at the beginning of 2017 the number of young people aged 14-28 was 3,994,393 people or 22.3% of the total population of Kazakhstan. At the same time, in urban areas there are 2 274 524 people or 56.9% of young people, in rural areas - 1 719 940 people or 43.1%. Regionally, the largest number of young people is in South Kazakhstan region - 700,722 people or 24.3% of the total number of the region, the smallest number of young people live in North Kazakhstan region - 107,108 people or 19% of the total number of the region.
The age structure of Kazakhstan’s youth at the beginning of 2017 is represented by three groups: the youngest (14-18 years old) - 1 116 126 people or 27.9%, the average (19-23 years old) - 1 284 937 people or 32.3%, the senior 24-28 years old) - 1 593 330 people or 39.9%, which is the most numerous.
In terms of gender, young people are represented almost equally: men - 2 016 915 people or 50.5%, women - 1 977 478 people or 49.5%. At the same time there are significant gender discrepancies in the regions: the cities of Astana, Almaty are characterized by the predominance of young women, for other regions – young men.
Based on the results of the Global Youth Development Index (2016), Kazakhstan, with a total score of 0.668 points, ranks 61 among 183 countries and belongs to a group of countries with a high level of youth development. In 2016 the leaders of this rating were Germany – the 1st place (0.894 points), Denmark – the 2nd place (0.865 points), Australia – the 3rd place (0.838 points), which belong to the group of countries with very high level of youth development.
Youth policy: goals and tasks
The goal of the state youth policy is to create conditions for the full spiritual, cultural, educational, professional and physical development of young people, to participate in the decision-making process, successful socialization and channeling its potential for further development of the country.
The tasks of the state youth policy are:
protection of rights and legitimate interests of young people;
involvement of youth in the socio-economic and socio-political life of the country;
education of citizenship and strengthening of the sense of Kazakhstan patriotism.
Currently, the formation and implementation of the youth policy, as well as inter-sectoral coordination is carried out by the Ministry for Religious and Civil Society Affairs of Kazakhstan. Over the entire period, beginning in 1998, the youth policy was gradually administered by three Ministries (the Ministry of Culture, Information and Public Consent, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Education and Science).
Over the years, the state has adopted special state programs, concepts and regulatory legal acts (RLA) aimed at developing and supporting the youth (Table 1).
Table 1. The list of special state programs, concepts and RLA aimed at the development of the youth
Source: compiled by the author
At the same time, in order to improve the implementation of the state youth policy, the Youth Policy Council of the President of Kazakhstan was established by the Decree of the Head of State on July 1, 2008. Its main tasks include the development of recommendations for the implementation of a comprehensive state policy on youth, informing the President of Kazakhstan on the situation in the youth environment, and analyzing the effectiveness of implementing the state youth policy. Following the results of the recent meeting held on April 13, 2018 in Shymkent, the Secretary of State Gulshara Abdykalikova gave instructions on the formation of values for young people and the organization of leisure.
Values of the youth
The results of the sociological survey conducted by the "Youth" research center in 2017 showed that the most important values for Kazakhstan’s youth are family - 82.4%, health - 57.5%, friendship - 32% of respondents (Table 2). In comparison with the results of the previous year, certain changes in the values of the youth have taken place. Thus, young respondents estimated the value of friendship higher than the material security in life - 32% compared to 15.8%, respectively; and they leaned toward love over career values.
Table 2. The degree of importance of the basic life values of the youth
According to Olga Nikolayeva, a head of the Center for the Study of Kazakhstan's Values of the "Molodyozh" Research Center, the values and attitudes of young people are subject to certain patterns, have a complex structure and are subject to various changes. In this regard, the monitoring study of value orientations of young people allows to track changes, adjust the direction of work on the implementation of the state youth policy.
In general, the youth policy is one of the priority directions of the development of the state. Consequently, the timely response of the state to the ongoing changes in the youth environment is paramount, because young citizens of Kazakhstan constitute about a quarter of the country's population, who in the future will determine the further development of our state.