Internal migration leaves Kazakhstan villages empty and piles pressure on cities

Its population dropping from 10,000 people to just 216, the village of Zaozerny is one of hundreds of rural settlements in Kazakhstan hollowed out by waves of migration to the country’s ever-expanding cities. The majority of these villages are in northern Kazakhstan, where 1.2 million people have left since the Soviet collapse in 1991, driven out of the countryside by dwindling economic prospects. The shift in population has prompted the government into action designed to stem the flow, with measures including financial incentives to return to the villages and a ban on resident permits in the three major cities for foreigners and repatriating Kazakhs.