Kazakhstan Life & Culture - The Times Of Central Asia

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Games of the Future

From Controllers to Courts: Kazakhstan Prepares for Games of the Future

When the basketball begins in Astana on July 29, two players from each team will sit at screens and chase 19 digital points. After that stage, they will take the score onto a real 2-on-2 court. The physical game continues until one side reaches 39, meaning a lead earned with a controller can disappear beneath the rim. That switch gives the Games of the Future its human appeal. The format asks athletes to handle screen timing, then contact and fatigue on the court. It also creates an unfamiliar training problem. A gifted basketball player can fall behind before reaching the court, while a strong gamer still has to run, defend, and rebound. Before June’s Astana qualifier, Uzbek under-23 basketball player Tolegen Ismatov explained what first drew him to the faster 3x3 game. “I was immediately drawn to the speed, the emotions, and the responsibility for every moment on the court,” he said. The main Games will run from July 29 to August 9. More than 800 competitors from over 50 nationalities are due to contest eight disciplines for a prize pool which stands above $4 million. The events will use four Astana venues, including the Barys Arena and the Qazaqstan Athletics Sports Complex. For local spectators, the event is priced more like a day out than a global championship. Standard tickets start at 4,000 tenge (about $8.50), while phygital fighting starts at 7,500 tenge. Admission to the dance competition at the 12,000-seat Barys Arena is free. The Score Carries Onto the Court Basketball opens the program on July 29. Four players make up each team, with two competing at a time. The digital stage ends when one side reaches 19 points. Play then moves to the court, where the first team to reach a combined score of 39 wins. A tie leads to a free-throw shootout. Football follows the same basic logic. Teams play two short halves in the UFL video game, then move to a five-a-side pitch. In the shooter event, clubs begin with Counter-Strike 2, then move into laser tag, where players must communicate while running through a physical space. The field mixes famous club badges with esports names. Boca Juniors and Valencia Basket are in the basketball draw. Peñarol and Los Troncos FC will meet in football. Dota 2 and PUBG each carry a $1 million prize pool, the largest shares of the total. Kazakh teams also appear throughout the draw, giving home crowds someone to follow in several arenas. GTB KZ opens its basketball campaign against qualifier champion Zagrebacki malisani NITUI. Team KZ begins the shooter competition against Mirage Team. Astana’s PBC Astana is also in the basketball field, while ACF x Allur represents the host country in football. Uzbekistan has a visible place in the regional cast. Dancer Sogdiana Abdukhalikova opens against Lala Gevorgyan on August 6. Her performance will be measured by automated scoring for timing and movement accuracy, rather than a panel holding up cards. A Smaller Event Than First Promised The Astana...

Children's Rights

Kazakhstan Leads Central Asia with 24th Place in KidsRights Index

KidsRights Foundation is an Amsterdam-based international children’s rights organization founded in 2003. Working with Erasmus University Rotterdam, it produces the annual KidsRights Index, which compares how countries uphold children’s rights using United Nations data. The 2026 edition covers 194 countries. Kazakhstan ranked 24th worldwide in the 2026 index. It was the only country from Eastern Europe and Central Asia in the top 25. Its overall score was 0.797. Its highest result was in protection, with a score of 0.944. Health followed at 0.900. Kazakhstan scored 0.847 for life and 0.765 for education. The enabling environment for children’s rights received 0.583. Kazakhstan Leads Central Asia The remaining Central Asian countries ranked much lower. Turkmenistan placed 75th, followed by Kyrgyzstan in 82nd. Tajikistan was 92nd, and Uzbekistan 96th. Kazakhstan finished 51 places above Turkmenistan and 72 above Uzbekistan. The index does not explain the policy choices behind each ranking. It does show wide differences in children’s health and education across Central Asia. Protection and the legal framework for children’s rights also vary. Kazakhstan in the Global Ranking Luxembourg topped the index, followed by Iceland. Monaco placed third. Germany and Norway completed the top five. The Netherlands fell to 22nd after ranking in the top 10 four years ago. The 2026 report linked the decline to rising childhood obesity and higher child mortality. Children’s Rights Under Pressure Conflict-related sexual violence against children rose by 35% from 2024, according to the report. More than one in five children now live within range of armed conflict, which can disrupt schooling and healthcare while forcing families from their homes and driving more children into poverty. The 2026 index added overweight and obesity to its health indicators. KidsRights said the share of children aged 5 to 19 who are overweight or obese now exceeds the share who are underweight. Where Kazakhstan Scores Lower Kazakhstan’s lowest result was the 0.583 score for the enabling environment for children’s rights. This domain examines whether laws and budgets support the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. It also considers data collection and cooperation between state institutions and civil society. The score was well below Kazakhstan’s results for protection and health. It points to areas where the country can improve despite its high overall ranking. The regional gap also shows why Central Asia should not be treated as a single policy model. Neighboring countries recorded very different results despite shared geography. As previously reported by The Times of Central Asia, Kazakhstan is using the digital tenge to track some forms of public spending. The KidsRights Index does not assess the currency project, so no direct link can be drawn between it and Kazakhstan’s ranking.

Marriage Age

Average Marriage Age Rises in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan

Twenty years ago, women in Kazakhstan first married at an average age of about 24. Today, the figure is about 25. Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan show the same gradual increase, although the pace varies from one country to another. Marriage Ages Rise Gradually in Kazakhstan According to Kazakhstan’s Bureau of National Statistics, the average age at first marriage in 2025 was 27.9 for men and 25.3 for women. In 2014, the averages were lower at 27.1 and 24.6, respectively. The gradual rise follows a global pattern. The average age of newlyweds is rising as the number of registered marriages declines. Kazakhstan registered 139,500 marriages in 2019. By 2024, the total had fallen 11.4% to 123,600. Seasonal patterns have remained steady. Most marriages in 2025 were registered during the summer, including nearly 13,000 in July. The bureau tracks both figures each year, and later reports will show whether these trends continue. Urban and Rural Marriage Ages Diverge in Kyrgyzstan In Kyrgyzstan, women first married at an average age of 23.7 in 2024, up from 22.4 in 2000. The nationwide increase was just over a year. Bishkek recorded a much larger change. The average age for first-time brides in the capital rose from 23 in 2001 to 27 two decades later. The increase was nearly four years, compared with just over one year nationwide. Regional differences remain substantial. Women in Batken Region first marry at an average age of 22.7, compared with 25.9 in Bishkek. The gap exceeds three years, showing how the national average combines sharply different local patterns. Men in Kyrgyzstan first married at an average age of 27.6 in 2024. The national average for men was almost four years higher than the figure for women. Annual statistics continue to show wide differences between regions. Marriage Age Is Rising Faster for Uzbekistani Men According to Uzbekistan’s State Committee on Statistics, men first married at an average age of 26.2 in 2024, compared with 21.8 for women. In 2000, the averages were 24.2 for men and 21.4 for women. Over those two decades, the figure for men rose by two years. The increase for women was less than half a year, a much smaller change than in neighboring countries. As a result, the gap between the average ages of men and women at first marriage widened from 2.8 years in 2000 to 4.4 years in 2024. Men are delaying marriage far more than women, and the difference has become a consistent feature of Uzbekistan’s marriage statistics. The trend is unfolding in a country with a young and growing population. As The Times of Central Asia recently reported, Uzbekistan’s 2026 census revealed a larger and younger population than previous estimates had indicated. How Central Asia Compares Internationally People in Central Asia still marry earlier than those in many European and North American countries. In the United States, the average age at first marriage is 30.8 for women and 32 for men. In Norway, it is 36.8 for women and 38.4 for men. Within...

Religion

Opinion: Christian Missions in Central Asia: Religious Freedom and Social Tensions

Central Asia has long been a crossroads of civilizations, cultures, and religions. For more than two millennia, the region has connected East and West, with Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and indigenous belief systems coexisting, interacting, and, at times, competing. Christianity flourished here centuries ago through Nestorian and other Eastern Christian communities, while Russian Orthodoxy endured throughout the Soviet period. Under Soviet rule, religion was heavily suppressed, yet Christianity survived among Russians, Germans, Poles, Ukrainians, and other communities that had been deported or resettled across the region. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, decades of official atheism gave way to a religious revival, creating space for a new wave of missionary activity. The principles of Christian missionary work are similar across denominations, with preaching, charity, education, medical assistance, and moral renewal at their core. In practice, however, missionary efforts in the newly independent Central Asian states evolved far beyond religious services. Amid the economic hardship that followed the collapse of the Soviet system, many churches combined evangelism with humanitarian assistance, language courses, youth programs, computer training, sports clubs, and cultural activities. These initiatives proved particularly attractive to young people, students, socially vulnerable groups, and urban residents seeking new educational and social opportunities. Among the five Central Asian republics, Kazakhstan emerged as one of the most favorable environments for Christian missions. During the 1990s, its relatively liberal religious climate, large urban centers, multiethnic society, sizeable Korean diaspora, Russian-speaking environment, and comparatively open legal framework enabled numerous foreign churches to establish seminaries, schools, charitable foundations, and places of worship. South Korean Protestant organizations became especially active. Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, and Pentecostal churches initially found a natural base within the Koryo-saram community, but their activities gradually expanded well beyond ethnic Koreans. It is at this point that a more sensitive issue emerges. Missionary churches generally regard religious conversion as a legitimate expression of freedom of conscience. Many Muslim families, however, particularly in rural and traditionally conservative communities, view the conversion of their children as a rupture with family heritage, ancestral traditions, and communal identity. Across much of Central Asia, religion is not merely a matter of personal belief. It is closely intertwined with kinship, ethnic identity, marriage, burial customs, and family authority. As a result, active proselytizing among indigenous youth can provoke strong opposition from relatives and local Muslim communities. The issue reflects the interaction between missionary strategies and social pressures such as limited interfaith dialogue, economic hardship, youth vulnerability, foreign funding, government suspicion, and concerns over cultural continuity. When religious conversion becomes associated with financial assistance, educational opportunities, foreign sponsorship, or improved social mobility, critics may portray it as an attempt to “buy souls,” even when churches describe such activities as humanitarian or charitable work. One of the most serious examples occurred in Tajikistan on October 1, 2000, when bombs exploded during a Sunday service at Sonmin Grace Church, a Korean Protestant church in Dushanbe associated with South Korean missionaries. The congregation had attracted local converts. Several people were killed and dozens...

Healthcare

Kazakhstan’s Al-Farabi University Joins Central Asia’s First Flying Hospital Project

Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (KazNU) has joined a project to create what Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Science and Higher Education described as Central Asia’s first flying hospital, a specialized medical aircraft intended to provide healthcare in remote parts of the region. A launch ceremony was held in Almaty last week for the Central Asian Flying Hospital Mission for Ophthalmology and ENT Care. The project uses a C909 aircraft and is being implemented under the global Air Silk Road of Health initiative. The initiative involves KazNU, the Eye and ENT Hospital of Fudan University, and the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC). COMAC has developed a specialized medical aircraft using the C909 regional jet platform. Passenger versions of the aircraft can carry between 78 and 97 passengers, depending on configuration, while extended-range versions can fly up to 3,700 kilometers. The medical version has a flexible cabin that can be reconfigured for medical teams and emergency care in remote areas. It can also be used for patient evacuation. The aircraft presented in Almaty will provide ophthalmology and ear, nose, and throat services. It is equipped with an operating room and telemedicine systems. It also uses artificial intelligence technology to diagnose eye diseases. The platform is intended to support care from screening and diagnosis through surgery and rehabilitation. Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Science and Higher Education said the project is being implemented for the first time in Kazakhstan and Central Asia. During the presentation, KazNU and the Eye and ENT Hospital of Fudan University signed a cooperation agreement to develop medical education and research, as well as professional training. A multilateral agreement was also signed to expand cooperation in ophthalmology between China and Central Asian countries. “The C909 flying hospital mission will give new momentum to cooperation between Kazakhstan and China in medicine, science, and higher education, expanding opportunities for academic mobility, research, and the introduction of innovative medical technologies,” said Bakytzhan Omarov, a board member at Al-Farabi Kazakh National University. The Air Silk Road of Health project is expected to help introduce advanced medical technologies and support joint research. It is also intended to expand access to high-tech healthcare in Central Asia. The initiative comes as Kazakhstan seeks to expand its scientific and medical research infrastructure. The Times of Central Asia previously reported that Kazakhstan opened Central Asia’s first brain research institute this summer.

Podcast

Pannier and Hillard’s Spotlight on Central Asia: New Episode Out Now

As Managing Editor of The Times of Central Asia, I’m delighted that, in partnership with the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs, from October 19, we are the home of the Spotlight on Central Asia podcast. Chaired by seasoned broadcasters Bruce Pannier of RFE/RL’s long-running Majlis podcast and Michael Hillard of The Red Line, each fortnightly instalment will take you on a deep dive into the latest news, developments, security issues, and social trends across an increasingly pivotal region. This week, the team covers a new election date being set in Kazakhstan, with the country's largest party staying off the ballot, rare protests in Turkmenistan over blackouts and economic frustration, the removal of one of Ashgabat's most important religious figures, renewed clashes along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, fuel shortages hitting much of Central Asia, and border swap deals that have seen thousands of people suddenly finding themselves in a new country. Before then turning to our main story this week, where the dramatic end to the Kamchybek Tashiev trials has delivered one of the biggest moments in Kyrgyz politics this year. Special guest: Medet Tulegenov (Director of the Silk Road Research Center).