Nearly One Million Central Asian Gastarbeiters Now In Kazakhstan, Twice Number in 2011 – OpEd

By Paul Goble While the number of Central Asian gastarbeiters in Russia has fallen, their ranks in Kazakhstan have dramatically swollen from 509,000 in 2011 to 945,000 now, an increase with serious consequences for the domestic situation in Kazakhstan and for Astana’s relations with the three donor countries, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.