Ethnic Kazakh population wants radical change – survey shows

A majority of Kazakhstan’s citizens want serious and resolute changes in the country, a recent survey showed. At the same time, nearly 70 percent of the population have confidence in President Tokayev.  

The survey conducted by the DEMOSCOPE and PAPERLAB research centres with the support of the Conrad Adenauer Fund, aimed to assess the level of public satisfaction with the quality of life and identify the most concerning issues.

The survey found that 65.7 percent of the country’s population wanted “large-sale and resolute changes” in the country.

The desire for radical changes is the highest among ethnic Kazakhs – 70 percent.

Those who believe that the country needs “insignificant” changes made up 24 percent of those polled.

Of those polled about a third see the overall political, social and economic situation in Kazakhstan as unstable and 20 percent as critical, whereas 45 percent think the situation is good.

The most concerning problem for 52.2 percent of those polled is the rise in prices for essential goods, and for 50.6 percent — low personal income.  

Kazakhstan’s citizens are also concerned about the lack of affordable housing (33.4 percent), the low level of social payments (31.2 percent), corruption (29.6 percent), employment issues (27.2 percent), and environmental pollution (23.2 percent).

Dissatisfaction with the quality of healthcare and education in the country is also quite high (23.1 and 18.7 percent respectively). About 16 percent are also unhappy with the transport and utilities infrastructure; and 7 percent with the criminal situation.

The survey also found that almost 40 percent saw their living standards worsen in the past year, about a third said there was no change, and 19.4 percent saw improvement.

Among the institutions of power, President Tokayev enjoys the highest level of public confidence, according to the survey, with 69.4 percent saying they trust him. Those who are “inclined” not to trust him made up 20.1 percent of those surveyed.

The survey showed a polarised public attitude towards the government, with 48.8 percent saying they trust it, and 39.5 percent saying they do not.

Parliament enjoys the confidence of 35.6 percent of the public; 47.7 percent of those polled said they did not trust it.

About a half of the population trusts banks (51.4 percent), the police (50 percent), regional governors (48.2 percent), and religious figures (47.4 percent).

DEMOSCOPE concluded that there were heightened expectations of the government to address political, social and economic issues in 2024.

However, the high level of public loyalty towards the government would allow it to maintain its “inert” approach, as opposed to the expected reformist approach, “as long as it continues to take periodic populist measures”, DEMOSCOPE said.

The survey involved 1,100 people in 17 different locations across the country.

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