The incomes of the poorest 10% of Kazakhstani citizens are 5.7 times lower than those of the richest 10% of the country's residents. The largest income inequality is observed in Akmola and North Kazakhstan regions, according to data from the Bureau of National Statistics. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
The Bureau of National Statistics presented data on income differences among Kazakhstan's population for the first quarter of 2026. Among other indicators, the difference in income between decile groups (funds ratio) was presented. This is a statistical method where the entire population of the country is divided into 10 equal groups by size and distributed by income level – from the poorest 10% to the richest 10% with the highest incomes.
According to this data, for Kazakhstan as a whole, the ratio of incomes of the poorest and the richest residents was 5.66. This means that the richest 10% earned more than five times more than the poorest 10%. The regions with the largest income difference were North Kazakhstan region – 6.5 times and Akmola region – 6.18 times. In Almaty, the incomes of the poorest were 5.96 times lower than those of the richest, and in Astana – 4.86 times.
For comparison, in the US the income gap is more than 10-12 times, and in many European countries it is about 5-6 times.
According to statistics, the average monthly income of the poorest 10% of Kazakhstani citizens is 49.8 thousand tenge. The least affluent account for only 4.17% of all population income. In the middle (fifth) group, the average income per person is 93.3 thousand tenge, and this group accounts for 7.8% of all income.
For the most affluent 10% of Kazakhstani citizens, incomes range from 200 thousand to 2.4 million tenge, with an average income of 283 thousand tenge per month. This group accounts for 24% of all income.
In total, during the first quarter, about 2 million of the least affluent Kazakhstani citizens received income in the amount of 102 billion tenge. For comparison, about 2 million of the most affluent residents earned 578 billion tenge during the quarter.
The lowest total income for the poorest 10% was recorded in the Ulytau region – 1 billion tenge and the Abai region – 2.8 billion tenge. Meanwhile, the highest total income for the richest 10% of the population was in Almaty – 85 billion tenge and Astana – 47 billion tenge.
The Bureau of National Statistics also presented data on income inequality using the Gini coefficient – the most well-known international indicator of wealth inequality. The coefficient value ranges from 0 to 1, where 0 means absolute equality (everyone receives the same income) and 1 means absolute inequality (one person receives all income).
The Gini coefficient for Kazakhstan was 0.283, which generally corresponds to a low level of inequality (from 0.20 to 0.30). However, in some regions the indicator was higher. In Akmola and Pavlodar regions, the coefficient reached 0.30. In Almaty, North Kazakhstan region, and Ulytau region, it exceeded 0.29.