President: Kazakhs never lived as they live now

"In the very beginning 40 % of Kazakhstan people were below the poverty line. Annual inflation in 1994 году was 3 100 %. All enterprises were shut down. There were two million unemployed. GDP per capita was USD 600. This is what we began with. During the first 7-8 years we were struggling for life as a state. Everybody said there will not be such state as Kazakhstan. They predicted chaos in the country. We tried to prove opposite. We were just about to rise when the South-East Asian recession of 1998 hit us. We survived and the growth was 9-11 %. By 2014 poverty had reduced by 3%. 3% poverty can be found anywhere, including the United States. The economy per capita became USD 13 thousand. Population's income has increased 20 times as much. Economy grew 21 times as much. I tell Kazakh people have never in their history lived as they live now", Nazarbayev said.

President noted that the goals set in the Kazakhstan-2050 Strategy to be among 30 most developed countries are no easy to achieve. The current crisis does not allow to approach the target faster. We need new technologies, new staff. Therefore it is important for us that Kazakhstan people receive good education, have good health. This is what all government programs are for.