In the first quarter of 2026, Atyrau Region recorded the highest labor productivity in Kazakhstan at KZT 7.69 million per worker, comfortably ahead of every other region in the country. Yet the longer-term trend tells the opposite story. Compared with 2022, Atyrau posted the weakest performance nationwide, with an index of 76.5, meaning labor productivity has fallen by 23.5% over the past four years, while most other regions have seen gains. The figures come from the Bureau of National Statistics’ regional labor productivity data by economic activity.
The full ranking of regions by labor productivity in the first quarter of 2026, from highest to lowest, is as follows: Atyrau Region (KZT 7.69 million per worker), Ulytau Region (KZT 6.60 million), Almaty city (KZT 5.43 million), Astana (KZT 4.54 million), Karaganda Region (KZT 3.87 million), East Kazakhstan Region (KZT 3.32 million), West Kazakhstan Region (KZT 3.25 million), Pavlodar Region (KZT 3.21 million), Abai Region (KZT 2.80 million), Mangystau Region (KZT 2.51 million), Aktobe Region (KZT 2.39 million), Kostanay Region (KZT 2.36 million), Shymkent(KZT 2.21 million), Akmola Region (KZT 2.13 million), North Kazakhstan Region (KZT 2.05 million), Almaty Region (KZT 1.63 million), Kyzylorda Region (KZT 1.56 million), Zhetysu Region (KZT 1.32 million), Zhambyl Region (KZT 1.27 million), with Turkistan Region ranking last at KZT 1.09 million per worker, almost seven times below the national leader.
Ulytau’s second-place finish is arguably the biggest surprise in the ranking. It is Kazakhstan’s youngest and one of its least populated regions, yet it outperforms every industrial powerhouse except Atyrau. The explanation becomes clear when the data are broken down by sector. In financial and insurance activities, Ulytau records KZT 23.76 million per worker, the highest figure in the country and more than three times the national average. In construction, it reaches KZT 11.06 million, again the highest nationwide and more than double the second-ranked region. In manufacturing, productivity stands at KZT 15.22 million, another national record. In real estate activities, the region posts KZT 7.41 million per worker, once again the country’s highest figure. Ulytau is also among the leaders in productivity growth since 2022, with an index of 141.7, equivalent to a 41.7% increaseover four years — the second-best result in Kazakhstan after North Kazakhstan Region.
The growth rankings since 2022 paint a very different picture from the absolute productivity league table. North Kazakhstan Region leads the country with an index of 148.7, reflecting 48.7% growth, despite ranking only fifteenth in absolute productivity (KZT 2.05 million per worker). It is followed by Zhetysu Region (146.8, up 46.8%), which sits near the bottom of the productivity table in absolute terms (KZT 1.32 million). Next come Ulytau Region (141.7) and Abai Region (123.0, up 23%). At the other end of the spectrum, all three of Kazakhstan’s western oil and gas regions have experienced declining productivity since 2022: Atyrau Region (76.5, down 23.5%), Mangystau Region(87.2, down 12.8%), and West Kazakhstan Region (92.9, down 7.1%). In other words, the strongest productivity gains over the past four years have come not from the country’s traditional resource-rich leaders, but from regions that started with medium or relatively low productivity levels, while the three key oil-producing regions have all moved in the opposite direction.
Turkistan Region’s last-place ranking in absolute productivity (KZT 1.09 million per worker) largely reflects the structure of its economy. It is Kazakhstan’s most populous region and has a high share of employment in agriculture and small-scale farming, where output per worker is naturally lower than in industry or finance. Even so, its longer-term trend is not particularly weak. Since 2022, the region has recorded an index of 104.9, representing modest but broadly average productivity growth.
Averaging productivity across all 20 regions, the sectoral ranking is led by mining and quarrying, with KZT 16.58 million per worker. This sector also contains the single highest figure in the entire dataset: KZT 79.17 million per worker in Abai Region, the highest productivity recorded in any sector across any region of Kazakhstan. Industry overallaverages KZT 9.14 million, followed by manufacturing(KZT 8.27 million) and financial and insurance activities(KZT 7.20 million). They are followed by professional, scientific and technical activities (KZT 4.07 million), electricity supply (KZT 3.96 million), construction (KZT 3.26 million), wholesale and retail trade (KZT 3.21 million), and transportation and storage (KZT 3.18 million). The lowest productivity levels are found in human health and social work (KZT 635,300 per worker on average), education (KZT 931,200), and accommodation and food services (KZT 1.01 million).
Differences within individual sectors are equally revealing. In mining, productivity ranges from KZT 79.17 million per worker in Abai Region to zero in Almaty city, reflecting the presence or absence of mineral deposits rather than operational efficiency. Agriculture shows a similarly wide spread, from KZT 4.94 million per worker in Ulytau to just KZT 143,400 in Almaty city. By contrast, education and healthcare display the narrowest regional variation, with productivity remaining relatively uniform across the country, as would be expected in sectors where employment patterns and workloads are regulated in broadly similar ways regardless of location.
Taken together, these findings point to three broader conclusions. Atyrau remains Kazakhstan’s most productive region in absolute terms, yet together with Mangystau and West Kazakhstan it forms the only group of regions where labor productivity has been declining over the past four years. At the same time, North Kazakhstan, Zhetysu and Ulytau are emerging as new productivity growth leaders, suggesting that productivity gains in Kazakhstan are no longer driven solely by oil and gas resources. Increasingly, they also reflect the sectoral composition of regional economies, whether through financial services, construction, or manufacturing.
Lina Yegil kizi, expert of the EconomyKZ.org portal
