Kazakhstan
Astana is the capital of Kazakhstan
Until the 1950s Astana (Aqmola), was a tiny mining town. Then Nikita Khruschev announced his Virgin Lands scheme to turn 250,000 sq km of Kazakhstan steppe into wheat fields.
Healthcare in Kazakhstan
299,5 billion tenge are provided for the Kazakhstan healthcare sector in the Republican budget in 2009, 411,6 billion tenge in 2010 and 368,9 billion tenge in 2011. Annually Government invests 25-30 billion tenge for purchase of medical equipment.
Education in Kazakhstan
Following independence from the Soviet Union a major economic depression cut "public financing" for education in Kazakhstan, "which dropped from 6% of gross domestic product in 1991 to about 3% in 1994, before rising to 4% in 1999."