East Kazakhstan Region is a region of Kazakhstan. It occupies the easternmost part of Kazakhstan, along both sides of the Irtysh River and Lake Zaysan. Its administrative center is Oskemen (also known as Ust-Kamenogorsk).

The region borders Russia in the north and northeast and the People's Republic of China (Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region) in the south and southeast. The easternmost point of the Oblast is within about 50 kilometres of the westernmost tip of Mongolia; however, Kazakhstan and Mongolia do not share a common border, the two countries being separated by a small part of Russia and China.It also borders the Kazakh regions of Pavlodar Region (to the north west), Karaganda Region (to the west), and Almaty Region (to the south).

Population: 1,396,593 (2009 Counting results); 1,531,024 (1999 Counting results). 318,800 (as of 4/1/2011) live in the capital. The area has many Russians and Ukrainians; the capital itself has more of those two groups than Kazakhs themselves. The area is 283,300 square kilometers.

The region was created by the merger of two Soviet-era Kazakhstan oblasts: the old Shygys Kazakhstan (East Kazakhstan) Oblast and Semipalatinsk Oblast.

Nature

The region occupies a very diverse range of geographic and climatic regions with the Altai Mountains in the east and the eastern margins of the Kazakh steppes in the west of the region.

Demographics

55% of the population is ethnic Kazakh and 41% is ethnic Russian.

Administrative divisions

The region is administratively divided into fifteen districts and the cities of Oskemen (Ust-Kamenogorsk), Ayagoz, Kurchatov, Ridder, Semey (Semipalatinsk), and Zyryanovsk.

Abay District, with the administrative center in the village of Karauyl;

Ayagoz District, the town of Ayagoz;

Beskaragay District, the village of Beskaragay;

Borodulikha District, the village of Borodulikha;

Glubokoye District, the settlement of Glubokoye;

Katonkaragay District, the village of Ulken Narym;

Kokpekti District, the village of Kokpekti;

Kurshim District, the village of Kurshim;

Shemonaikha District, the town of Shemonaikha;

Tarbagatay District, the village of Aksuat;

Ulan District, the settlement of Molodyozhny;

Urzhar District, the village of Urzhar;

Zaysan District, the town of Zaysan;

Zharma District, the village of Kalbatau (Georgiyevka);

Zyryan District, the town of Zyryanovsk.

The following ten localities in East Kazakhstan Region have town status: Oskemen (Ust-Kamenogorsk), Ayagoz, Charsk (Shar), Kurchatov, Ridder, Semey (Semipalatinsk), Serebryansk, Shemonaikha, Zaysan, and Zyryanovsk.