Charting Kazakhs' Discontent: The Unrest In Numbers, 7 January 2022

Data from the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs shows protest activity has been rising in the region since 2018, including Kazakhstan, where the government is using deadly force to quell a nationwide wave of demonstrations that was triggered by an increase in fuel prices...

While protests over livelihood indicate that many in Kazakhstan find it difficult to make ends meet, government-connected elites stash hundreds of millions of dollars away in foreign real estate, an RFE/RL investigation revealed...

The southwest of the country is where most of Kazakhstan’s oil fields are located -- and where oil workers often strike...

[Infographics in this article show out of the 1,300 protests in Kazakhstan from January 2018 to June 2021, 499 were over livelihood issues – including income, welfare and labour. An additional 91 were over environmental issues.]