Kazakhstan records over 4.5 mln employed women in Q1 2026
The number of employed women in Kazakhstan reached 4.527 million in the first quarter of 2026, up 42,600, or 0.9%, from the same period last year, Qazinform News Agency reports, citing the National Statistics Bureau of the Agency for Strategic Planning and Reforms.
According to a sample employment survey, 3,602,000 women (79.6%) are employed, while 925,100 (20.4%) are self-employed.
Education remains the largest employer of women, with 902,200 workers, representing 19.9% of all employed women.
Wholesale and retail trade ranks second with 877,600 women (19.4%), followed by healthcare and social work activities, employing 426,300 women (9.4%).
A significant number of women also work in industry, with 388,100 employees (8.6%), and in agriculture, forestry and fishing, with 351,200 workers (7.8%).
The highest annual growth in female employment was recorded in real estate activities, up 25.7%, followed by administrative and support services (21.9%), transportation and warehousing (16.2%), and industry (7.6%).
Regionally, the most significant increases in the number of employed women were observed in the Karaganda region (7.8%), Aktobe region (6.5%), Almaty (6.3%), and the Turkistan region (6.1%).
The majority of employed women live in cities. In urban areas, their number reached 3,008,500.
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that women lead nearly half of all active small and medium-sized enterprises and account for more than a third of employment in Kazakhstan’s SME sector.
