Christianity in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

is the second most practiced religion after Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

. About one-third of the population of Kazakhstan identifies as Christian. The majority of Christian citizens are Russians

Russians

The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....

, including Ukrainians

Ukrainians

Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...

 and Belarusians

Belarusians

Belarusians ; are an East Slavic ethnic group who populate the majority of the Republic of Belarus. Introduced to the world as a new state in the early 1990s, the Republic of Belarus brought with it the notion of a re-emerging Belarusian ethnicity, drawn upon the lines of the Old Belarusian...

, who belong to the Russian Orthodox Church

Russian Orthodox Church

The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...

. About 1.5 percent of the population is ethnically German

Germans

The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

, most of whom follow Roman Catholicism or Lutheranism

Lutheranism

Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...

. There are also many Presbyterians, Jehovah's Witnesses

Jehovah's Witnesses

Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual...

, Seventh-day Adventists and Pentecostals. Methodists, Mennonites, and Mormons

Mormons

The Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, a religion started by Joseph Smith during the American Second Great Awakening. A vast majority of Mormons are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while a minority are members of other independent churches....

 have also registered churches with the government.

There are more Protestant congregations, 93 "nontraditional" Protestant Christian churches registered with the Kazakh government from 2006 to 2007. There are 83 Roman Catholic churches in Kazakhstan. According to a 2009 national census 26% of Kazakhstan's population is Christian

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

. There are two Baptist organizations in Kazakhstan; the Council of Churches of Evangelical Christians and Baptists, with 1,000 members, and the Baptist Union of Kazakhstan

Baptist Union of Kazakhstan

The Union of Evangelical Christian Baptists of Kazakhstan is a fellowship of Baptist churches, also known as the Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists. The Union is composed of almost 200 churches with over 11,000 members, and is a member of the European Baptist Federation and the Baptist World...

, with 10,000 members. 198 churches affiliated with the Baptist Union registered with the government.

Demographics

According to the 2009 Census, there were 4,214,232 Christians in Kazakhstan. Their ethnic affiliation is as follows:

• Russian - 3,476,748
• Ukrainian - 302,199
• German - 145,556
• Minorities - 82,254
• Belarussian - 59,936
• Korean - 49,543
• Kazakh - 39,172
• Polish - 30,675
• Tatar - 20,913
• Azeri - 2,139
• Uzbeki - 1,794
• Uighuri - 1,142
• Chechen - 940
• Tadzhik - 331
• Turk - 290
• Kyrgyz - 206
• Kurd - 203
• Dungan - 191

See also

• Bukharan Jews
  Bukharan Jews
  Bukharan Jews, also Bukharian Jews or Bukhari Jews, or яҳудиёни Бухоро Yahūdieni Bukhoro , Bukhori Hebrew Script: יהודיאני בוכאראי and יהודיאני בוכארי), also called the Binai Israel, are Jews from Central Asia who speak Bukhori, a dialect of the Tajik-Persian language...
  
  
• Judaism in Kazakhstan
• Hinduism in Kazakhstan
  Hinduism in Kazakhstan
  Hindus in Kazakhstan are mainly of the ISKCON sect and by expatriate Hindus from India.The Indian community in Central Asia, which comprises Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, numbers only 2732 out of a total population of 55.5 million...
  
  
• Islam in Kazakhstan
  Islam in Kazakhstan
  Islam is the largest religion practiced in Kazakhstan, as 70% of the country's population is Muslim according to a 2009 national census. Ethnic Kazakhs are predominantly Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi school. From its Geography, Kazakhstan is the northernmost Muslim-majority country in the world...
  
  
• Roman Catholicism in Kazakhstan
  Roman Catholicism in Kazakhstan
  The Roman Catholic Church in Kazakhstan is part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and Curia in Rome.-Demographics:...
  
  

External links

• Pope John Paul the Second visits Kazakhstan