West Kazakhstan Region Батыс Қазақстан облысы Западно-Казахстанская область |
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Region | ||
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Map of Kazakhstan, location of West Kazakhstan Region highlighted |
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Coordinates: 51°14′N 51°22′E / 51.233°N 51.367°ECoordinates: 51°14′N 51°22′E / 51.233°N 51.367°E | ||
Country | Kazakhstan | |
Capital | Oral | |
Government | ||
• Akim | Altay Kul'ginov | |
Area | ||
• Total | 151,339 km2 (58,432 sq mi) | |
Population (2013-02-01) | ||
• Total | 618,261 | |
• Density | 4.1/km2 (11/sq mi) | |
Time zone | West (UTC+5) | |
• Summer (DST) | not observed (UTC+5) | |
Postal codes | 090000 | |
Area codes | +7 (711) | |
ISO 3166 code | KZ-ZAP | |
Vehicle registration | 07, L | |
Districts | 12 | |
Cities | 2 | |
Villages | 512 | |
Website | bko |
West Kazakhstan Region (Kazakh: Батыс Қазақстан облысы, Batıs Qazaqstan oblısı) is a region of Kazakhstan. Its capital is Oral (also known as Uralsk and Ural'sk), a city of about 200,000 inhabitants.
The region borders Russia and is near the Ural Mountains. The Ural River is the border between Asia and Europe and flows from Russia to the Caspian Sea through the region, meaning western West Kazakhstan is in Eastern Europe. It also borders the regions of Atyrau (to the south) and Aktobe (to the east).
It is traversed by the northeasterly line of equal latitude and longitude.
West Kazakhstan has an ethnic Kazakh population of 69.8% and a significant Russian minority of 27.4% of the population. The number of Ukrainians, Poles and Germans are very low due to the geography.
The region is divided into twelve districts and the city of Oral.
Two localities in the region have town status. These are Oral and Aksay.
The capital Oral is home to Kazakhstan's only professional bandy club, Akzhaiyk. In 2016 the national championship was won by the regional team.