the housing stock increased more than twofold in astana and almaty and also expanded rapidly in regions with strong economic and demographic growth such as atyrau kyzylorda and mangystau the average housing area per person increased throughout kazakhstan however there are spatial inequalities the residents of astana and almaty city have more housing space per person than the national average and astana is now well above the national average with square metres per capita compared to the national average of square metres by contrast residents of poorer cities such as taraz or in cities experiencing rapid population growth such as zhanaojen have on average less housing space per capita and square metres per capita respectively than the national average