Kazakhstan is an area.
Kazakhstan . Respublika Kazakhstan ) , is a transcontinental country in northern Central Asia and Eastern Europe . Kazakhstan is the world 's largest landlocked country , and the ninth largest in the world , with an area of 2,724,900 km ² . Kazakhstan was the last of the Soviet republics to declare independence during the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 . Kazakhstan 's 131 ethnicities include Kazakhs ( 63 % of the population ) , Russians , Uzbeks , Ukrainians , Germans , Tatars , and Uyghurs .