PARTNERSHIP FRAMEWORK FOR DEVELOPMENT, KAZAKHSTAN, 2016-2020

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PARTNERSHIP FRAMEWORK FOR DEVELOPMENT, KAZAKHSTAN, 2016-2020
progress in strengthening primary health care. Child 
and maternal mortality rates have fallen and MDGs 
4 and 5 look set to be achieved. According to official 
statistics, the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) has 
fallen nearly sixfold: from 75.8 per 100,000 live 
births in 1990, to 12.6 in 2013. However, despite this 
success, the MMR remains higher than that observed 
in other middle-income countries with a similar level 
of socio-economic development. Target MDG 5B – 
universal access to reproductive health – is not yet 
achieved and particularly requires further coherent 
and integrated action. While Kazakhstan’s Human 
Development Index (HDI) remains high (at 0.757 as of 
2013) the inequality-adjusted HDI (0.667) places the 
country below the level of countries with high human 
development. Meanwhile, Multidimensional Poverty 
Index (MPI) analysis of the HDI further reveals that 
the poor face a significant risk of falling further into 
poverty, due to inequalities in health, education and 
living standards.
Key shortfalls remain with regard to significantly 
reducing greenhouse gas emissions and halting the 
spread of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. Major challenges 
also exist in developing inclusivity; regional and social 
disparities are growing, while gender and disability 
continue to be key equity issues. 
Overall, health outcomes lag behind the country’s rapid 
economic development. Kazakhstan’s life expectancy 
at birth for both sexes in 2013 was 70.45 years: lower 
than in a number of countries with similar economic 
performance. Kazakhstan is one of 18 countries 
worldwide with a high burden of multiple-drug-
resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB): about 5,000 cases 
annually (out of 19,000 total TB cases in Kazakhstan). 
The spread of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) 
is also taking a toll socially and economically: NCDs 
contribute to 84 percent of deaths in Kazakhstan. The 
probability of dying between the ages of 30 and 70 
years from one of the four major NCDs (cardiovascular 
diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases or 
diabetes) stands at 34 percent. Four key risk factors 
are responsible for mortality and morbidity from NCDs: 
tobacco, alcohol, diet and physical activity. Although 
Kazakhstan ratified the Framework Convention on 
Tobacco Control in 2007, and is moving to undertake a 
number of tobacco control measures, implementation 
is slow. A multisectoral package of measures and 
international best practices are available through the 
United Nations system to address diet and lack of 
physical activity as NCD risk factors. Meanwhile, the 
Government is committed to further reducing maternal 
and infant and child mortality rates, which remain well 
above those in developed countries

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PARTNERSHIP FRAMEWORK FOR DEVELOPMENT, KAZAKHSTAN, 2016-2020
Over the past two decades, Kazakhstan has made 
significant progress in achieving gender equality and 
women’s empowerment, and continues to attach great 
importance to this goal. However, the Committee on 
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against 
Women has expressed concern over the persistence of 
patriarchal attitudes and deeply rooted stereotypes with 
respect to the roles and responsibilities of women and 
men within the family and across wider society. While 
recognized international indices on gender equality 
and women’s empowerment in Kazakhstan have risen 
steadily since the mid-2000s, there remain impediments 
to enforcement, because of a lack of adequate and 
efficient mechanisms. Currently, for example, national 
statistics on crimes committed against men and women 
do not disaggregate by form of violence.
In addition, despite the Act on State Guarantees of 
Equal Rights and Opportunities for Men and Women, 
no temporary special measures have been introduced 
to increase and sustain a high level of women’s 
representation on legislative and executive bodies. 
According to the Civil Service Agency, women account 
for just 10 percent of political civil servants and 15 
percent of political appointments (Corps A); in the 
Corps A reserve, women account for only 16.4 percent 
of the total. However, they comprise 54.9 percent of 
Corps B (administrative civil servants). Although the 
number of women in Parliament has increased overall, 
the number in the Senate has fallen twice in recent 
years, currently comprising just 6.4 percent. In addition, 
the legal framework on gender equality contains no 
comprehensive legal definition of direct or indirect 
discrimination in public or private spheres.
Youth issues likewise deserve special attention. The 
Concept of State Youth Policy identifies relevant threats 
and risks as including pressure on traditional value 
systems, paternalism, social infantilism, consumerism 
and risky/unhealthy lifestyles, especially with regard 
to HIV, sexually transmitted infections and NCDs. The 
high adolescent and youth suicide rate, as well as the 
high rate of accidents and external injuries, must be 
comprehensively addressed and researched, to uncover 
socio-economic links to mental health. Given the 
increased trend of mobility from rural to urban areas, 
young women and men in Kazakhstan particularly need 
access to vocational training and other skill development 
centres, to acquire the skills required for the job market. 
At the same time, Kazakhstan has achieved near-
universal enrolment in primary and secondary levels 
of education, and the Government is committed 
to continuing investing in preschool and school 
programmes. Remaining challenges include poor 
quality education, urban-rural disparities, lack of access 
to education for children born to parents not holding 
valid documents (asylum seekers and undocumented 
persons at risk of statelessness), and the identification 
and inclusion of children out of school. Just as important 
is the need to ensure that education reflects present 
and future employment needs, and the promotion of 
equal opportunities. Technical and vocational training 
particularly needs revision, to reflect the modern market 
and the future envisioned by the Government. While 
no obvious gender inequality exists regarding access 
to education, gender education nonetheless remains 
an issue, given that the curricula of secondary/high 
schools and tertiary/higher educational establishments 
lacks mandatory courses on women’s human rights and 
gender equality. A perceived lack of gender sensitivity in 
school curricula and textbooks also aggravates gender 
stereotypes, which affects segregation in the labour 
market. 
The United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on the Right 
to Education has underscored the need to continue 
investing in multilingual education, as well as in the 
integration of persons with disabilities into mainstream 
education, and in enhanced access to education for 
migrants and refugees
7
. Other areas for attention 
include promotion of life skills, including knowledge of 
reproductive health, and risk and anger management. 
These should help young people to thrive in an 
increasingly complex and interconnected world. 
Turning to equitable economic development, labour 
force participation has increased (from 66 percent in 
2000, to 70.7 percent in 2014) while unemployment 
has fallen (from 12.8 percent to 5.0 percent). The 
proportion of women in marginalized and vulnerable 
economic sectors, however, is much higher than 
that of men. Sustainable gender mainstreaming of 
national planning and budgeting continues to require 
addressing, especially in minimizing the gender wage 
gap. According to the Committee on Statistics, in 
Kazakhstan the ratio of the average monthly wage 
of women and men in 2014 was 67.0%. However, 
occupational segregation in the labour market between 
women and men also influences the gender wage gap, 
and women still mostly work in relatively low-paid 
sectors.
In addition, every third person who is classified as self-
employed, lives in a rural area and works on his/her 
private plot. There is a lack of economic diversification 
and a shortage of decent employment opportunities, 
especially in non-oil or non-agricultural sectors in rural 
areas.  
7  Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, Kishore 
Singh, A/HRC/20/21/Add.1