SHYMKENT, Kazakhstan — Crude oil production of about 1.86 million barrels per day makes Kazakhstan the richest country in Central Asia.
Oil export revenues — $46.8 billion in 2022 alone — have put a handful of Kazakh elites on the list of the world’s billionaires, while many other well-connected people have also become extremely wealthy in the three decades since the demise of the Soviet Union.
Those petrodollars also mean the Kazakh government has had much more money — compared to its Central Asian neighbors — to invest in education, health care, and other social programs.
Wages are higher, job opportunities greater, and the middle class is better off in many parts of Kazakhstan than in other countries in the region.
Houses such as this one on the outskirts of Shymkent are home to many impoverished families.
But much of the nation’s riches remain in the control of a small political and business elite, and the gap between rich and poor remains enormous — a fact that is partially responsible for deadly riots that pulsed through Kazakhstan in January 2022.
RFE/RL spoke to several Kazakh families living in impoverished neighborhoods in the southern city of Shymkent who have yet to benefit from their resource-rich country’s vast revenues.
Gavhar Aibekova, 34
Gavhar Aibekova and her three children — all under 16 — live in a 25-square-meter ramshackle house on the outskirts of Shymkent, paying about $56 per month in rent.
The single-room house, originally constructed as a temporary outbuilding, is connected to gas and electricity networks, but it doesn’t have a bathroom. There is only one outdoor toilet for all of the residents of seven similar houses on the block.
The widow says she dreams of owning her own home one day, but she knows that dream isn’t coming true anytime soon — if ever.
Gavhar Aibekova and her three children live in a 25-square-meter ramshackle house.
The family depends on social security benefits, including a disability allowance for one of her sons. To supplement her official income — which is below the living wage of about $100 a month — Aibekova takes private cleaning jobs whenever she can.
Having lost her husband four years ago, she admits that she has to leave her children home alone when she works because there is no money for a babysitter.
“We can’t afford to rent a place that has a bathroom and a toilet,” Aibekova said. “The rent of a single-room apartment in Shymkent is about $180 to $225 per month, which is beyond my reach.”
The family have applied for social housing, but with more than 50,000 people in Shymkent on the waiting list, it might take several years until they are allowed to move to a home with indoor plumbing.
Elmira Kemelova has been raising her children on her own since her husband was imprisoned three years ago.
Elmira Kemelova, 33
At Elmira Kemelova’s home — in the same Shymkent neighborhood where Aibekova lives — dinner usually consists of chopped bread that is fried with onions.
Meat, vegetables, and eggs are considered unaffordable luxuries for the mother of two, who works as cleaner at a public bath. Like Aibekova, she often takes up private cleaning jobs to help pay for food and her $45 monthly rent.
At the end of the month there is not much money left in the family budget for clothes, shoes, and other essentials, Kemelova said.
“This month, we had no money left to buy washing detergent,” Kemelova said, pointing to a pile of dirty laundry.
Kemelova has been raising her young children on her own since her husband, a gambling addict, was imprisoned three years ago for committing a crime.
Her children often get teased at school because of their old clothes, shoes, and the dilapidated home they live in, she said.
“We don’t like living in his house either,” she said. “But we don’t have anywhere else to go.”
Aigul Almaganbetova has moved from one run-down rented house to another at least five times in the last decade.
Aigul Almaganbetova, 45
Kemelova’s friend and next-door neighbor, Aigul Almaganbetova, tries to save money so she can one day build her own house.
The widow and her two sons — aged 7 and 9 — have been living in this impoverished Shymkent neighborhood for nearly two years.
The family has moved from one run-down rented house to another at least five times in the last decade.
“Landlords often demand that we vacate their property. One said they needed to renovate the house. Another got tired of my kids running around and making noise. Children are children. They can’t stay quiet no matter how much I tell them. So we had no choice but to move,” she said.
Almaganbetova suffers from a medical condition and relies on a disability payment and other social benefits that total about $270 a month.
Her late husband had bought a plot of land to build a house. Over the years, the family has managed to save 1 million tenge (about $2,260), she said.
Because of inflation and rising living costs, Almaganbetova’s savings are far too small to build her own modest dream home.
“My children cry and tell me, ‘We don’t want to live here’,” says Zhadyra Shoibekova.
Zhadyra Shoibekova, 33
Zhadyra Shoibekova, who works as a technician, is the sole breadwinner of her family of eight since her husband is currently unemployed.
Shoibekova says her older children complain they are “ashamed” of living in the house in the low-income neighborhood they moved to three years ago.
“My children cry and tell me, ‘We don’t want to live here. Why don’t we move to another place?’ I tell them to be patient,” she said.
The family barely makes ends meet on her salary and the child support they receive from the state. Moving to a better area is out of the question in the foreseeable future.
“At times we are behind on the rent and utility bills,” Shoibekova said. “We often have to borrow money.”
She didn’t say how much money she earns. The average salary in Kazakhstan was estimated in January 2023 to be about $775 a month, but it varies widely from region to region.
With 1.2 million inhabitants, Shymkent is the third most populous city in Kazakhstan, behind Almaty and the capital, Astana. The city also has the status of being a province. But it’s not among the country’s wealthy areas.
According to government statistics, the city is the third poorest area in the country — behind Turkestan and Mangystau — with 6.6 percent of the population earning less than the minimum wage. The national average is about 5.2 percent.
Shoibekova’s family hasn’t yet been able to register for social housing and she doesn’t know they will ever be able to afford what many would call a normal home.
Written by Farangis Najibullah based on reporting by RFE/RL Kazakh Service correspondents Dilara Isa, Meyirim Baqytzhan, and Sanat Nurbekov
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