West Kazakhstan Province

West Kazakhstan Province Батыс Қазақстан облысы Западно-Казахстанская область
—  Province  —
Map of Kazakhstan, location of West Kazakhstan Province highlighted
Coordinates: 51°14′N 51°22′E
Country	Kazakhstan
Capital	Oral
Government
• Akim	Bakhtykozha S. Izmukhambetov
Area
• Total	151,300 km2 (58,400 sq mi)
Population (2006-01-01)
• Total	609,300
• Density	4/km2 (10/sq mi)
Time zone	West (UTC+5)
• Summer (DST)	not observed (UTC+5)
Postal codes	090000
Area codes	+7 (711)
ISO 3166 code	KZ-ZAP
Vehicle registration	L
Districts	12
Cities	2
Townships
Villages	512
Website	http://www.western.kz/

West Kazakhstan Province (Kazakh: Батыс Қазақстан облысы, Batıs Qazaqstan oblısı) is a province of Kazakhstan. Its capital is Oral (also known as Uralsk and Ural'sk), a city of about 200,000 inhabitants.

Geography

The province borders Russia and is near the Ural Mountains. The Ural River flows from Russia to the Caspian Sea through the province. West Kazakhstan has the distinction of being in Eastern Europe. It also borders the provinces of Atyrau (to the south) and Aktobe (to the east).

It is traversed by the northeasterly line of equal latitude and longitude.

Demographics

Despite its border with Russia, West Kazakhstan has a Kazakh majority. 69.8% of the population is ethnic Kazakh, while only 27.4% is ethnic Russian. The number of Ukrainians, Poles and Germans are very low due to the geography.

Steppe of western Kazakhstan in the early spring

Administrative divisions

The province is divided into raions:

Name	Area (km²)	Population	Population dens.	Capital
Akzhaik	45,500	25,200	1,8	Ulbishin
Bokey Orda	18,400	19,200	1,0	Saykyn
Borili	55,100	5,600	9,8	Aksay
Kaztal	39,200	18,600	2,1	Kaztal
Karatobe	19,700	10,000	2,0	Karatobe
Zhanakala	23,700	20,800	1,1	Zhanakala
Zhanybek	18,400	8,200	2,2	Zhanybek
Shyngyrlau	19,400	7,200	2,7	Shyngyrlau
Zelenov	53,700	7,400	7,3	Peremetnoe
Syrym	26,500	11,900	2,2	Zhympity
Taskala	19,100	8,100	2,4	Kamenka
Terekti	43,200	8,400	5,1	Fedorovka