Location: Central Asia, northwest of China
Geographic coordinates: 48 00 N, 68 00 E
Map references: Commonwealth of Independent States
Area:
total: 2,717,300 sq km
land: 2,669,800 sq km
water: 47,500 sq km
Area—comparative: slightly less than four times the size of Texas
Land boundaries:
total: 12,012 km
border countries: China 1,533 km, Kyrgyzstan 1,051 km, Russia 6,846
km, Turkmenistan 379 km, Uzbekistan 2,203 km
Coastline: 0 km (landlocked) note: Kazakhstan borders the Aral Sea, now split into two bodies of water (1,070 km), and the Caspian Sea (1,894 km)
Maritime claims: none (landlocked)
Climate: continental, cold winters and hot summers, arid and
semiarid
Terrain: extends from the Volga to the Altai Mountains and from
the plains in western Siberia to oases and desert in Central Asia